Thursday morning

Hi all!

So, this is an amazing consultation. After my last post, I went on the chapel tour. WOW. Again I say, WOW. The decorations are fantastic, the history everywhere. And our tour guide had a great sense of humour, so none of us took ourselves too seriously. Each of the decorations has deep meaning, and I thought walking over the grave of Henry the 8th in my sandals was amusing.

We've got VERY full days here. We start the day with morning prayer at 7:30 and Eucharist at 8:00. Breakfast is 8:30 and our first session starts at 9:15. Each day has a theme. We engage in bible study, then have a book/film review. There's LOTS of discussion. Then in the larger group again we have a guest speaker for a 2-hour session, giving us an expert view of the topic in how it relates to the church. Then we have lunch (at this point I already feel like my brain will burst!) After lunch we have time for reflection, which usually means we get caught in informal conversations. Back in our small groups and without our facilitator we spend an hour unpacking and theologising about the topic and what messages/questions/nuggets have stayed with us; then we have choral evensong with a professional choir. Prior to dinner our small groups have one of the group presenting their paper and we get to chat about that - the paper is not normally on the same topic but still very good conversation. Pre-dinner drinks and dinner tend to be quite opulent, and there's usually some after-dinner conversation or programming planned. VERY full days. Today is the thirs day of this pattern; even if I were to only have had these past 2 days of scheduled conversation the trip (and expense) would be worth it!

The first day we discussed today's church - what does the church look like in today's society, what is the role of the church, how do we as clergy adapt/engage/be involved in the changing society. The Bible study was on living in community (Acts 2.40-47), the book review was on Anthony Trollope's The Warden. Yesterday our topic was doing theology in a pluralistic world - biblical study of Babel (Genesis 11.1-9) and film review of The Social network. Good stuff. Today we're heading into Equality with Class Divide; studying Philemon and Wilkinson and Pickett's book The Spirit Level. Should be an engaging day, to say the least!

The people here are fabulous. I'm the only Canadian (the only North American!); though there are folks here from Nigeria and all around the UK and Ireland. There have definitely been some cultural discrepancies and conversations. But the protocol of St. George's House is full inclusion and involvement, and it's being carefully followed. We're all being challenged, being invited to deepen/broaden/re-investiate not our faith but how we express it in and from our own contexts. My brain was full to bursting on day one; by the time we get to the end of this I'm going to be so over-the-top it'll be insane. VERY glad I'm taking some holiday time to do some immediate reflecting!

The location really is beautiful. The castle itself is lovely, though I've not gone too much into it yet. We stay in St. George's House, worship in the chapel, have sessions in the Vicar's House and other smaller buildings. We do have passes to wander around, so I've been into town a few times but the flocks of tourists are overpowering. I'm intending to wander around over to Eton at some point, and to do as much of the castle as possible during my time here. And yes, there are OODLES of photos forthcoming!!