Monday, July 28, 2008

Dear Members of our Saint Andrew’s community:

It is a memorable experience – Arthur and I are meeting and making friends with Anglican clergy and laity from all over the world. We are so pleased to be able to share it with you all!

There are 5 categories of activities/events here at Lambeth which is meeting at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England:

1. The meetings of the bishops and archbishops – these are not open to the public – they consist of Bible study in small groups and discussion of issues facing the church.
2. Parallel meetings of the Bishop’s spouses – these are not open to the public.
3. Our meetings which are called “Alongside Lambeth” – each day we study the same Bible passage that the bishops are studying (this study is held at the marketplace), and then in the afternoon we have a speaker on relevant topics at
St. Stephen’s Church in Canterbury – these are open to anyone who wishes to participate.
4. The Marketplace, which is open to the public, meets in 2 large halls – it is 2 exhibit halls with booths sponsored and manned by church organizations and businesses doing business with the church.
5. Activities in the evening which are called “Fringe Events” – these are open to the public, but you have to sign up for them as space is limited – for example, on Saturday night we attended a Eucharist sponsored by Integrity, a US organization advocating for gay and lesbian people, and by 2 British organizations advocating for women and for gay an lesbian people – CA (Changing Attitudes) and the Inclusive Church Network. The celebrant was Archbishop Carlos Touche-Porter, Anglican Archbishop of Mexico, and the preacher was Canon Lucy Winkett on the staff at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It was an awesome service!

Our overall purpose in being at this conference is to learn to practice “Compassionate Listening.” The term Compassionate Listening was first coined by Gene Hoffman, a Quaker who wrote “an enemy is someone whose story we have not heard.” This kind of listening means listening to everyone on all sides of issues – the oppressor as well as the oppressed – seeing the humanity in all. We’re used to empathizing with the victim – it’s harder to listen to the victimizer – but all are dehumanized in the interaction. It’s especially challenging to listen to those with whom we deeply disagree. How can we listen and build bridges to all slides?

We need to listen with the heart and speak from the heart. Inside everyone is a core of goodness or God-ness. We want to try to connect from our own core of goodness – our heart to the heart of the other – in order to find connection, respect, love and other core values. It can be a healing experience if you deeply listen to someone with whom you disagree. We also need to listen on different levels. The other person has a beautiful core essence, and we as listeners are looking to connect with their humanity, and searching for what core values are important for them behind their words, and what core values feel threatened or missing for them.

God bless you. In Jesus’ love,

Sam and Arthur