Diocese of Down & Dromore

Some people have compared this Lambeth Conference unfavourably with 1998. That is not surprising, because we all see things in different ways. But there are at least two elements of our time together which have been more or less the same: the weather and the London Day. The weather, as in '98 is scorching hot: hot enough for me to have changed into shorts and tee shirt, so that I can imagine in the few brief moments when we are free, that I am really on holidays! Mind you, the illusion doesn't last too long, as the programme is pretty packed from early in the morning until late at night. This afternoon I hope to go to a fringe meeting on Transsexualism, followed by a lengthy seminar on the Anglican Covenant - how's that for variety.

The London Day was great. It meant being up at 5.45am, and arriving back from London at 8pm, but was well worth it! The day started with a Walk of Witness against poverty, when we walked from near the Cenotaph, past Downing Street, on to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, across Lambeth Bridge and on to Lambeth Palace. The theme was:  Keep the Promise - Halve Poverty by 2015. When we arrived at Lambeth we had excellent- even brilliant- speeches from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prime Minister. Quite honestly, I had never heard Gordon Brown in better form: he spoke passionately, without looking at a note, for 20 minutes, with real and detailed knowledge, and you could see his Presbyterian background coming out as he quoted three Old Testament prophets: Amos, Micah and Isaiah, from memory. There was a real sense of church and government working together, and a desire on is part for the Anglican Communion worldwide to hold governments accountable. This all took place under the banner of the Micah Challenge, which is an organization set up to monitor the Millennium Development goals, and has its own website.

I felt a bit like a hypocritical politician as we all tucked into a superb lunch in a marquee on the lawns of Lambeth Palace consisting of Lemon and Thyme scented breast of chicken with fresh asparagus and porcini mushroom relish, and summer bean and coriander tomato, basil and mozzarella, plus hot minted new potatoes. And for dessert: Dark chocolate and Raspberry Tart with Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, and Coffee and White chocolate raspberries: Jane must be keen on raspberries, and they were very good!

Then it was off to see the Queen, who looked her usual stunning self. She calls it her ‘purple garden party', as all the bishop are clad in purple cassock, and wishing they could whip them off to reveal the shorts underneath! Again, a brilliant time. One of the moving moments for me was to meet one of my young people from my time as curate in Carrickfergus, Alan Wallace, who is the events manager for the whole conference. It is a wonderful joy to meet up with people whom you saw potential in the early days of ministry, and to see them secure in the Lord and serving the Church.

If you want to hear more, I hope to be speaking with William Crawley on Sunday Sequence, and will report again on Monday.

+Harold

 

TO VIEW BISHOP HAROLD'S EARLIER REPORTS FROM LAMBETH GO TO THE NEWS/EVENTS PAGE (SEE TOP OF THIS PAGE). WHEN NEWS/EVENTS PAGES OPENS CLICK ON ‘OLDER NEWS ITEMS'ON THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE.Photographs: ' © Lambeth Conference '