Monday morning catch up!

Hello, praying friends I canot tell you how much I appreciate your support. Your prayers are so critical to the success of this event- as well as my own personal stamina and spiritual wellbeing. All of us flying by the seat of our pants. Every event has last minute glitches, unforseen circumstances that ( most of the time) become last minute blessings.

One example: the opening service on Sunday evening (by the time it began) was sheer joy. Getting to that point was stressful, tedious, and fraught with potential pitfalls. All of our meetings were in a very large ballroom- seating for 1200 people. There is a large stage- big enough to hold a gian altar, podium, seats and full band. However- the band (my responsibility) is made up of me, Michael Guernsey, and 9 Ugandan young adults who- on their own- function as a praise band in their own country. The job is to present a variety of music- from classical hymns to contemporary praise choruses offered in a plethora of musical styles that represent the various nations that are here. SO- not only can there not be too much of a particular style of music, also- outside of English (which is the language of the conference) there cannot be too many songs sung in any particular language or others will feel slighted! Also, using various people in music must be handled gingerly because everyone wants to "offer their gifts." I even had an African bishop come up to me yesterday and tell me he played "good jazz piano" and hinted that he would be available to play for tomorrow's communion service. Continue to pray God grant us gifts beyond our experience in international diplomacy!

Peter Akinola (who because of threats on his life is now under constant body guard) gave the opening address. I would encourage you to read it. It can be found on David Virtue's web site (www.virtueonline.org). He layed out as clearly as I have heard the time line of events which have led to the formation of this conference. He also stated very clearly that while the dillemmas before are both severe and complicated- he has no intention of forming a new church or no longer being Anglican. Quite the opposite: he said (to thunderous applause) "We have been Anglicans. We are Anglicans. We will never be anything else but Anglican."

(Speaking editorially: if the position of this conference is to stay in Anglicanism AND stand together no matter what, then what will the rest of Anglicanism do with this large bloc of of evangelical bishops, clergy and laypeople who represent the numerical majority of the Communion who refuse to accomodate themselves to the theological and ethical revisions in our Communion? People in the world know the import of what is happening, far more than many Episcopalians: there was a press conference last night and Rueters, Catholic news service, National Review, BBC, London Times, the Guardian- only to name a few- were present).

Another example: this morning 1200 people had to be transported to a large lot on top of the Mount of Olives. There is a spectacular view of the old city and is often the view you find on postcards from Jersalem. Getting people there in a large caravan of busses and getting them assembled was its own logistical challenge. BUT there was also going to be a service there complete with litany and music. THEN- to top it all off, a helicopted with a professional photographer was going to fly over and take a panoramic picture of everyone as we overlooked the city. When we arrived, the sound people forgot my keyboard, part of the Ugandan crew missed their bus and arrived late, and some of the bishops who were supposed to assist in the liturgical leadership were not to be found. We had to punt: the brass quartet we had employed to assist us played longer than we had orginially intented and the Ugandan band sang several of their songs as we waited for bishops and the keyboard to arrive. The sound crew got everything going at the very last minute- and to the conference attendee it looked as if everything worked out just as it had been planned. :) Everyone said the service was a deeply moving time of intercession and worship as we overlooked the city together- and it WAS!

THEN- after the service was concluded we all found ourselves in the middle of a traffic jam because the French president is in town today!

Grace to you all!