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Matters of vocation and ministry are very much live in our diocese at present – as they are right across the whole of the SEC. ‘What kind of ministry’ is a big influence on ‘what kind of church’

I found myself involved in quite an intense discussion on Basecamp – which is the Project Management System through which we talk to one another and keep Casting the Net in track – to mix metaphors and in spite of the fact that it isn’t a project.

I attempted – unsuccessfully – to have the last word. It’s more about formation than function – and something to do with the character which is then shaped by calling

The priest and rector is a person in whom the spirit dwells – a person who thinks and speaks from places deeper than just what he or she thinks or what people want to hear. A person who is deeply empathetic and responsive to people – but not dependent on their approval. A person of deep emotional intelligence who understands intuitively – perhaps better than they do themselves – why people speak, think and act as they do. A person who offers leadership – knowing that the journey is the journey of the people and that her role is to shape the direction, to encourage and if necessary to challenge. A person who cares and loves unconditionally. A person in whose life their own faith has been transformative

It’s no secret that we have been having difficulties in some our congregations. People care so these things are deeply felt. From the perspective of the Diocesan Office, it can look like a series of problems. But it’s people. So on Tuesday I did what I’ve done before – went with Kenny our Dean and sat in the Vestry and let people come in ones and twos and threes and just tell us how they felt. We met 14 sets of people over four hours. I think it’s important to do that in a small church where people expect you to be accessible. And when you hear the people it offsets your frustration with the issues.

Last night I headed west to Killin at the head of Loch Tay where we have a beautiful little church with a faithful congregation. The falls in the middle of the village were at their most dramatic. Ladd, the retired priest who has faithfully ministered there for the last twelve years, is going to retire – really this time. I sat down with the Vestry – which was most of the congregation – and we faced the future with hope

People sometimes ask about ‘my’ cathedral in St Andrews – not understanding the history or the presence of our beautiful building in Perth

St Andrews University has just done some work on creating images of what it might have been like

http://blogs.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/openvirtualworlds/st-andrews-cathedral/

It’s good to be back and not to be going anywhere for a while. It’s a rule of life for me that I should come back with fewer e mails in the Inbox than when I went away, And I just about managed that. An entry in my Facebook from Alison notes all the things I have lost and found over the last few weeks. I’m most proud of the recovery of my cycle helmet which I hadn’t seen for more than two weeks. As one does, I had been thinking back to work out where I left it. I had a eureka moment – appropriately enough in the swimming pool yesterday – when I became convinced that I had left it in the dry (sic) cleaners. And so it proved to be. The self-appointed guardians of my mental state don’t know whether to despair of the absent-mindedness that left it there – or to be impressed by the mental powers which recovered it.

Today we gathered to lay to rest Ian Watt, faithful priest and servant of the church. Ian gave a lifetime of service – Provost of our Cathedral, Secretary General of the SEC, Rector of Kinross – people from all of those places and more gathered to give thanks for his life, the richness of his ministry and its impact on many people

At the Commendation in the Service, I found myself saying something like this:

At every funeral, we stand in the presence of death and proclaim the resurrection.
At every funeral through the tears of our loss we declare an unaccountable joy in the life that is to be

Of all the things I miss … strangely it is funerals. In Portadown, there were industrial quantities of tea and cake, people calling, ‘sorry for your trouble’ – and then a funeral which represented the patterns of a community which was still in touch with the roots of faith. We would all – sometimes hundreds of us – end up standing around an open grave

We didn’t do much of the softening of ‘Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of ….’ which is so common in Scotland. And I wish that the funeral industry would allow us to recover what I think is the essential of funerals – that our resurrection hope is tested and given reality by the sadness of our loss. As it was today.

It goes without saying that the preacher removed my jacket in his haste to get to the Crematorium. But I got that back as well.

The involvement of visitors from other Provinces in the General Convention came to an end this morning with the Eucharist – a huge event as everything about this event is huge.

One reflects – as I do about our own province – about where it is going and how things are. Morale is good. People are as always warm, friendly and hospitable. There’s change in the air. Historic endowments produce less money than they did. Numbers are down as American secularises. There is talk of restructuring – widespread feeling that this is necessary and inevitable. But less confidence that a way can be found to achieve it.

Some is visible already. The House of Deputies passed a resolution to sell the church’s HQ in New York. No decision about where it might move to – and it requires a similar vote from the bishops. But it would be a significant move to leave New York – a move away from the old Protestant establishment rooted in the North East – maybe toward the new economic centre of America in the South. The liturgy was half in Spanish – and that tells you something as well.

The church has moved on. I saw Gene Robinson – now retired – and Mary Glasspool, suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles – both gay and partnered. And the Diocese of Pittsburg was named in the list of dioceses making a thank-offering. This diocese has been re-formed after the previous bishop led it out of the Episcopal Church. So some of the sound and fury of the past has receded.

I’ve enjoyed it and made a lot of useful contacts. It seems a long way away but it is extraordinary how alike we are and how much the shared Scottish-American history still lives!

Things have been a little confused here today. Some of the people whom we were meeting in the vast open spaces of this huge convention centre looked – how shall we say – a little different. And then it became clear that we were sharing the centre with a large (sic) group of body-builders. Much recourse to ‘muscular Christianity’ and all that.

I saw a sermon receive a standing ovation at the Eucharist. I have heard Bishop Michael Curry preach twice before. It is extraordinary – pure African-American with the most subtle use of oratory. Today he was commemorating Harriet Beecher Stowe – author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin which inspired anti-slavery movements. He had hardly got going when he produced this wonderful alliteration – ‘she changed things by the power of her pen and the strength of her soul’

I’ve been trying to work out the complexities of what is going on here – the budget, the role of the Presiding Bishop, etc. I’ve been working with Canon Phil Groves of the Anglican Communion Office to develop support for the Anglican Communion Continuing Indaba Programme.

I took some time to look at the Exhibition Hall where there are over 1000 stands. Having checked out the clerical outfitters to see if they could provide a lightweight cope – for a lightweight bishop – I spent some time with the theological colleges. I found them immersed in the same issues as we are but, as always, a bit ahead. I made some really useful contacts,

And then I went for a meal with the Class of 2009 from the College for Bishops. This year group is the basis of my understanding of what is going on here, I’m part of the group – not a visitor or an outsider – because we travelled a fascinating road together, It was great to be with them again. But i can’t begin to eat meat in the quantities which American do. And tomorrow morning at 7 am – the programme is relentless so that any extras have to happen out of hours – I’m meeting Bishop Philip Duncan who was my ‘coaching bishop’ during the College for Bishops programme. We met regularly on Skype but haven’t met ‘in the flesh’ as it were.

And home overnight tomorrow

This is the House of Deputies of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church at work yesterday.

My understanding of how all this works is very limited. But there are nearly 1000 people taking part in this meeting. When I was there, they were voting on the ‘amendment to the amendment’. Fascinating for those who like that kind of thing – but I went off next door to the House of Bishops where I was ‘recognised’ with other visiting bishops. I have quite a few friends there – mainly from my involvement in their College for Bishops training programme.

But I gradually understand the following rather scary facts:

They do have joint sessions but it is essentially a bicameral body meeting every three years
The content of resolutions is not agreed before they get here – rather that is determined by a series of hearings at which anybody can speak. I hope to do that today.

We started yesterday with a bit of visiting in the Diocese of Indiana. This is the Cathedral in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It has been at the heart of a series of social and outreach ministries for those for whom the American dream became a nightmare.

It was, as these visits are, very impressive. Voluntary-rooted agencies like these can still deploy remarkable financial fire-power – one budget was $20. Even more impressive and enviable was the obvious resource of a cohort of people available to be employed as leaders, managers and directors of these projects. They kept saying that the ‘not for profit’ sector is highly developed here and you can see that.

The Julian Center
John P Craine House
Dayspring Center

Unusually …. when I think about visiting similar projects in South Africa and elsewhere …. I saw a lot of tired and sad eyes among those who were using the various facilities. If you fall through the net in America, you can fall a long way. Here is a contrasting picture …

The day ended with a dinner for the visiting Primates hosted by the Presiding Bishop. Among those around the table are Mexico, Philippines, Japan, Wales, Brazil, Korea. We all know one another – particularly since we spent a week together at the Primates Meeting in Dublin last year.

Regular readers will know that I have a great affection for America – rekindled in the post-George W Bush era.

I think it’s something to do with the combination of complete anonymity with a sort of folksy notion that we are all part of some mythical small town or running a gas station on Route 66. So I had breakfast on the ground floor of this astonishing hotel – note the vaguely retro adornment on the glass lifts – and met a group of teenagers on an exchange with the Ulster Project

I like the language – Harold MacMillan’s comment about ‘two nations divided by a common language’ comes to mind. So I was asked within ten minutes of arriving if we had had ‘pushback’ on the Anglican Covenant. Then there’s the constant semi-official use of circumlocutions – of which my favourite is ‘at this time’ for the slightly more incisive ‘now’

Weather forecasts here are a bit of a joke since the weather is always the same – hot – 30C yesterday. But then this whole city is arranged so that you can go all over the place without ever going outside. So what’s the point – apart from the damage to the environment. But then Frequent Flyers can’t say too much about that.

Then there is the food. We are tending to eat less and be more vegetarian. No sign of America going that way.

And finally I had what is remembered in our family as a Vons moment. We were doing a house swap in Pacific Palisades near Santa Monica. Vons is the big supermarket at the end of Sunset Boulevard – I rang up to find out the opening hours. ‘We’re open 24 hours’ was the simple reply. Today I asked, ‘where do I find a cell phone shop?’ – thinking of the little shop on Methven St which unlocks phones and imagining myself in the back streets of Indianapolis. The answer was ‘down the escalator in the lobby and into the Mall – tons of them there.’

I’m getting a slight ‘end of term’ feeling at this point. The ferry for Donegal is booked. Poppy has her bucket and spade packed. The reading list is being prepared ..

But just for now I am in Indianapolis as a guest of the Episcopal Church at their General Convention. This is the three-yearly meeting – their major legislative moment. It’s one of the biggest gatherings of its kind in the world. And they invite Primates from other provinces to come and join them

So I’m here until Sunday and I’m doing what I enjoy most – making contacts and building relationships.

I have three things in view. One is to make sure that the Scottish-American connections are in good order. And they are. Two is to build relationships among the visitors from the wider Anglican Communion. Three is to try and find my way into the smoke-filled rooms in which the Anglican Covenant is being considered – it’s important that hesitancy about the Covenant does not translate into anything like hesitancy about the Communion.