Dear Members of Our Saint Andrew’s Community:

One of our most memorable and most spiritual experiences happened when Arthur and I stumbled on the Greyfriars garden in downtown Canterbury and a stone’s throw from Canterbury Cathedral. There must have been almost three acres of gardens, including an open one acre field of wildflowers. There was a stream coursing through the garden with the Greyfriars’ chapel straddling the stream. This ancient brick chapel was built by the Franciscans in 1325 A.D.!

While strolling through the gardens we met Brother Eric and Brother Max, two Franciscan monks sent by their monastery in San Francisco. They were spending a month here in Canterbury praying for the Lambeth Conference and for all the bishops attending. We also met The Very Rev. Rowan Smith, dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Capetown, South Africa. I told his story in my last letter. Prior to that job, he had served as assistant to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We saw him almost every day, and he has become a good friend who has agreed to read and comment on the manuscript of the memoir I am writing.

There was to be a Eucharist at 12 noon, so we went to the chapel about ten minutes ahead of time in order to give us time to meditate in this enchanting place. The Eucharist began as soon as the Cathedral Clock finished striking noon. The celebrant and preacher was a female priest from New Zealand. The Old Testament reading from Jeremiah was a call to repentance and change. The Gospel reading from Matthew was a reminder not to close ourselves to new possibilities. The preacher spoke of a book entitled Walking with Christ in Today’s World. When we are young children, we see a tree, and it is a whole tree, because we do not know what its parts are. Then as we reach adulthood, we learn to see and identify the parts of the tree. This process continues until we can no longer see the whole tree for its parts. As we grow older, we begin to return to the simple version of the whole tree, enabling us to experience the “joyous freedom of simplicity.”

I wish for all of you the “joyous freedom of simplicity!”

In Jesus’ love,

Sam and Arthur from Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England