Doubly refreshed
When Liz and I planned a winter holiday for 2007, we were, quite simply, looking for somewhere warm, with a good hotel, for a bit of R+R, in a place that would be a little ‘different'. We found it, in Thomson's Early Bird Bargains, in a place called Natal, near the equator in Brazil. Natal lies close to the most easterly point of Brazil, only three hours time difference from London, and closer to Senegal in West Africa than it is to the South of Brazil (which is a country as big as continental USA).A day before we left, I was to make a phone call, which would literally make our holiday doubly valuable. We rang Denis Johnston of SAMS (Ireland), and asked him where we should go to church on the Sunday. Denis said he would find out, and contacted us with the news that the local archdeacon would collect us for the weekend, and take us to Joao Passao, two hours drive away. Well, why not? We hadn't seen much other than the hotel and the beach, and this was an opportunity to see real Brazil, and have fellowship with the church there.On the Sunday, we were taken to worship in one of the eight missionary outposts of the local parish, in a place called Consolidor. The people there had just lost their church building the previous week, because a road was being built through it! There were meeting in the open air, under the trees- about 30 or 40 people. It was wonderful. I, of course, was asked to preach, and was almost hit by a mango falling from the tree which was giving me shelter!Then, in the evening, we were invited to the Pro-Cathedral of the Resurrection for the Eucharist. A congregation of about 200, all ages, there for the evening. The service lasted about two and a half hours and, although we couldn't speak a word of Portuguese, we knew exactly where we were in the liturgy, and what is more important, that we were brothers and sisters in the Christian family. It was one of those churches you would just long to return to, where real people shared their real lives, with warmth, humour, and the presence of God in the midst. The Sanctus was sung to that wonderful tune ‘Santo, santo, santo' to which our own Bishop Edward Darling has written English words in the Church Hymnal, and the Lord's Prayer (very movingly) to The Sound of Silence!One of the tragic things is that the diocese we are speaking about is the Diocese of Recife, where, whatever the ins and outs, Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti and about three-quarters of his clergy, have been removed from the province because of their conservative stance, and had to find refuge as Anglicans under the Southern Cone, and Archbishop Greg Venables. We talked about that, but I found no hint of rancour or bitterness - simply a growing, serving, evangelizing church, exuding everything best in Anglicanism. To be honest, I'm not even sure of the local people knew there had been an issue. If they did, they had put it behind them and were getting on with the business of the Kingdom.All of this might encourage others. When you go on holiday, it can be a great opportunity to meet other fellow-believers, and to see that life of another part of the Anglican Communion, or even the wider church. Don't miss the chance if you have it. It can make your holiday doubly refreshing!+Harold