August 2, 2008
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Well the end is in sight. Two more days to go. Yesterday was a full day. We began, as usual with worship, led by the Church of Pakistan. The morning was pretty much the norm, Bible Study and Indaba. We looked at John 15:1-17 "I am the true vine ..." The first of two Indaba sessions on the Covenant was a lively, heated discussion on the concept of covenant and what exactly that would involve. As you might guess, the opinions were all over the map. After a quick lunch it was off to the day's reflections hearings. We looked at the gathered reflections from the previous day on human sexuality. Again, much discussion, some word smithing, and every variety of opinion. Then is was back for Indaba #2 of the day. More conversation on the Covenant proposal, specifically on the St. Andrew's draft of the proposed covenant. We seemed to universally dislike the appendix to the draft and its decidedly legalistic approach. At one point the conversation swirled around the 4 Instruments of Unity and various thoughts about them. Another 1-1/2 hours of work.
Evening Prayer and off to a reception hosted by Affirming Catholicism US and Affirming Catholicism UK and giving a short speech. I got an interesting perspective on the day from a young seminarian from the US who is the recorder for my Indaba group. While I found the day exhausting, He was invigorated. He shared a paragraph he had journaled for the day describing his thoughts. He said, "It was like sitting and watching at Nicea, Constantinople, or Chalcedon. The Church working out its history."
Perhaps we are living in the middle of an historic moment in the life of the Church. One that will be seen as at least approaching the great councils of antiquity. I pray he might be right.
God good blessing on you,
Bishop Keith
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Well the end is in sight. Two more days to go. Yesterday was a full day. We began, as usual with worship, led by the Church of Pakistan. The morning was pretty much the norm, Bible Study and Indaba. We looked at John 15:1-17 "I am the true vine ..." The first of two Indaba sessions on the Covenant was a lively, heated discussion on the concept of covenant and what exactly that would involve. As you might guess, the opinions were all over the map. After a quick lunch it was off to the day's reflections hearings. We looked at the gathered reflections from the previous day on human sexuality. Again, much discussion, some word smithing, and every variety of opinion. Then is was back for Indaba #2 of the day. More conversation on the Covenant proposal, specifically on the St. Andrew's draft of the proposed covenant. We seemed to universally dislike the appendix to the draft and its decidedly legalistic approach. At one point the conversation swirled around the 4 Instruments of Unity and various thoughts about them. Another 1-1/2 hours of work.
Evening Prayer and off to a reception hosted by Affirming Catholicism US and Affirming Catholicism UK and giving a short speech. I got an interesting perspective on the day from a young seminarian from the US who is the recorder for my Indaba group. While I found the day exhausting, He was invigorated. He shared a paragraph he had journaled for the day describing his thoughts. He said, "It was like sitting and watching at Nicea, Constantinople, or Chalcedon. The Church working out its history."
Perhaps we are living in the middle of an historic moment in the life of the Church. One that will be seen as at least approaching the great councils of antiquity. I pray he might be right.
God good blessing on you,
Bishop Keith
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