Some Concluding Thoughts

For now this will be the last post. There are still many things to say, many things to review, but I hope those things can happen in conversation rather than monologue. If you want to see pictures I will be glad to share. I will spend the next few weeks organizing them into something useful. I have hundreds.

A few more general reflections. First, I want to share my amazement with the logistics involved in moving 16 people to four countries and to dozens of places to meet with scores of people in those four countries. From a personal travelers perspective the logistics were both outstanding and too good. They were outstanding in that we encounter no major glitches and even the minor ones were incredibly minor. They were too good in that we never had a moment of down time. Every day we traveled from one setting to another seamlessly. I’ll give you one example. In Turkey we traveled in a large van from the Patriarchate to the harbor. In less than ten minutes we were on the ferry taking us to the monastery - an hour long ride. When we exited the ferry the horse drawn carriages (stagecoaches) took us up the hill in the rain where we met with the Abbot and a professor at the seminary. When we walked out the gate the stagecoaches loaded, we were down the hill in minutes, walked on to the ferry and made our way back to Istanbul. Upon arrival we loaded into the van and were whisked off to a dinner meeting. We had no days where that wasn’t the case. Even our arrival day in London we started by meeting with Lutherans of Great Britain and dinner with their delegation. This made the entire experience so full and rich I simply cannot tell you how many people or experiences we had.

Late yesterday afternoon we had about 45 minutes to debrief this amazing experience. Each person shared one memorable moment or encounter. As we shared our brief reflections I realized that no one will ever comprehend the depth and breadth of these last two weeks, but all of us have been reshaped because of what we heard and saw and shared. I am so deeply grateful to have been a part of this, my gratitude overflows.

In two weeks I took 580 pictures. I have posted a small sampling. Today I post my two favorites. They are not ecumenical leaders or churches, but people going about their daily life of faith and work. The first, at the top shows a class in progress, about two blocks from the Vatican, learning how to make an icon. The class runs for six days straight so that people from all over the world can come to learn the process. The second, a video at the bottom, of two women cooking in a window shop near the heart of Istanbul. I don't know what the food was called. In New Mexico we would call it a burrito...

If we can't translate this journey and the relationships we made into the every day life of every day people as we work for peace between people and harmony among nations then we have wasted our time. In the final analysis these connections have to facilitate greater unity in the church, deeper cooperation between people of different faith traditions and respect between people of many nations, cultures and languages. We experienced a lack of hospitality rarely. For the most part the hospitality we received overwhelmed and humbled us. We were recipients of enormous gifts - the gift of friendship, the extended hand of partnership and the expression of mutual faith in the God of the cross.

My own convictions and commitments changed as the trip progressed. My strongest motivation for participating in the trip had to do with an interest in these different faith traditions and a curiosity about the influence of history and culture on the church. Each day, as we delved more deeply into the ecumenical realities I found my heart and mind changed. I came to see these personal connections as critical for the on-going development of global relations and cooperation among churches. These relations will bear the fruit of unity and peace that lies at the heart of our Christian faith.

The Alliance of Reformed Churches

Photos:

The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey

Dr. Setri Nyomi, general secretary, World Alliance of Reformed Churches

The advantage of spending time at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva is that many organizations and staff people office here. For Monday and Tuesday we had a room reserved and various leaders and staff people came into the room for their briefing to our delegation.

I have already mentioned the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches and the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. Before meeting with the General Secretary of the Alliance of Reformed Churches, the representative of LWF assigned to disaster relief in Haiti spoke with us. To date the ELCA has raised $4.6 million. Your contributions matter! The LWF fill focus now on shelter (both temporary and permenant). With the rainy season approaching and the potential for hurricanes, shelter moves to the top of the priorities, except that it competes with sanitation. Port au Prince is the largest city in the world with no sewer system. The septic tanks and cesspools have created a have created a dangerous situation.

Before leaving the US I asked Rev. Paul Miller, a retired Presbyterian Pastor, to give us a summary of the reformed church tradition. I have included his work below. Thanks Paul for helping out. We walked around Calvin's Church late one night after dinner, but unfortunately had no opportunity to visit. We found the brief time with the General Secretary of the Alliance of Reformed Churches informative and helpful. All mainline denominations face similar challenges both in the US and globally, with the global south remaining more conservative and the US churches experiencing internal strife.

I'll hand this off to Paul.

I suspect that both Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin would be totally amazed to realize that their modest beginnings in Switzerland in the 1520’s (Zwingli-Zurich) and 1530’s (Calvin-Geneva) have produced a world-wide family of 75 million embodied in over 250 church denominations around the globe. This body is now known as the Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational), a body which took from 1875 to 1970 to coalesce, largely and initially to integrate the work of global mission.

Ulrich Zwingli was a fiery preacher, initially ordained a priest who quickly became committed to reform. His impact in rallying the grass roots Catholic congregations in Zurich and immediate environs preceded Calvin’s work by about fifteen years. John Calvin who was born in France in 1509, trained as a lawyer at the University of Paris, came to Geneva in 1535 at the invitation of William Farel and stayed until his death in 1565 save for a three year forced exile to Strassburg, France 1538-1541. If Luther is the “heart” of the Protestant Reformation, Calvin is the “brains”. At 25 years of age, he wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion which he continued to rework for the next twenty years of his life. For Calvin, God is sovereign and in the Institutes, he systematically reflected and argued for that sovereignty as revealed in the work of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit concluding in the fourth book of the Institutes how God’s sovereignty relates to the “body politic”

Luther’s concern, hence his anxiety was “how can I, an unrighteous man ever hope to stand in the presence of a righteous God”? Calvin’s passion was how can we as an unrighteous society reflect in our own communal life the justice, mercy and compassion of a just, merciful and sovereign God ? The question(s) you ask shape the direction in which you will move both theologically and politically. Calvin had a somewhat hopeful view of human potential and human society. He had a militant view of the Church as a witness to the sovereignty of God in all areas of life, no exceptions. When the 13 colonies stewed in their collective juices about breaking with Mother England, Presbyterians in our country were not hesitant causing the British historian at that time, Horace Walpole to write, “ the colonies have run off with a Presbyterian parson”.

Given Calvin’s reading of scripture and the Greek classics, he was persuaded that “authority should reside in ordered groups”, not in individuals (hence no bishops), not in the masses (hence more representative republican than democratic), a model later copied in part by our own country. The word Presbyterian comes from the Greek presbuteros which means elder, hence the authority of the Church resides in elders both clergy and lay. The word Reformed is taken from the Latin phrase. “ecclesia reforma semper reformanda” which translated is “the church reformed always being reformed”, which means we never arrive.

This reforming takes place by fidelity to the word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit as ascertained by the ordered authorities of the Church and by the living out of the truth by all members in all of life. Calvin coined the phrase that all things are to be done “decently and in order” which means reformed churches tend to be sober, thoughtful, intellectual and theological. It has not been unfairly said that “Presbyterians worship God with their minds” the consequences being an emphasis on education, social responsibility and world mission with respect to justice and peace. We have been modest enough to know that we do not serve alone, that God continues to call us into that larger ecumenical family which is the Church Universal. We have something to give and much to receive.

The Lutheran World Federation

Dr. Ishmael Noko the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation shared a brief personal history. As a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe he started ministry as a pastor in a refugee camp. He told us, “No one should be ordained without spending time in a refugee camp. There you meet the son of Mary who fled to Egypt.” He approaches his entire ministry from the perspective of including the least and the last. In addition to the practical education he received from experiences like this he studied with Douglas John Hall (I know Judy Messal has read some of Hall’s work). Noko was Hall’s first doctoral student and is now only months away from retirement. A new LWF General Secretary has already been chosen. Bishop Hanson has been meeting with him during our time in Geneva.

I want to share a few quotes from our time with Dr. Noko. In no particular order, just a sample of his rich thinking:

As Lutherans we are at our best when we do things with and for others. When we don’t we become more cantankerous.

Our educational system teaches us only to talk and not to listen. We need both the capacity and the infrastructure to listen.

All faiths agree that faith works for peace. We can never use faith or scripture to support war. Using scripture to support war is an abuse of scripture.

3,000 to 5,000 people run the world - we see the same people every where we go.

You are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, not of America. You are Lutherans with all the rest of us and your place in the United States means that you are critical to our global life because of your position.

Today we visited Bossey Ecumenical Institute, an educational institution devoted to ecumenical theology and training future ecumenists. The director listed some of the graduates of the Institute including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which certainly helps us understand why he received us so warmly. At the institute students not only study but live an worship with students from many faith traditions and countries every day. They help to plan daily worship and prayer. Then they have to participate as students from other traditions do the same. It helps them to appreciate other Christian traditions, but also become sensitive about how to plan worship and lead worship, and how to pray in ways that include rather than alienate.

The pictures include: Dr. Noko, the chapel at Bossey and a picture of our group at our final dinner together with one person having left this morning and one not in the picture.

I leave the hotel at 5:00 am for the flight home. I can't wait!

The Historic Inquisition (joking) and travel to Geneva

These will be short notes. I will do more, but probably not until I am home. In the time since we left Istanbul the days have been 14 hours from the time we leave the hotel until we return and it is catching up with me.

Saturday we met with two congregations. Congregations rank above Councils in the Vatican system. For example, Cardinal Kasper leads the Pontifical Council on Christian Unity, while the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith has the responsibility to maintain the theological integrity of the Roman Catholic Church. The Congregation for Doctrine became infamous for its work leading the inquisition. They no longer call their work the "defense of faith and morals" they call it "promotion of faith and morals." A softer sounding name. We expected meeting with the Congregation for Doctrine to encounter some response about the Churchwide Assembly action related to gay and lesbian people, but the leaders of the Congregation said nothing. In both Istanbul and Rome, where we anticipated some questions and maybe even challenges, but instead we heard only one message - the dialogues will continue. Neither church is happy with the direction of the ELCA, but they are not prepared to end dialogue. The Pope was clear in his statement to us - we must continue the dialogue and not move away from one another.

Let me jump forward for a moment to a conversation we had today with the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Olav Fyrse Tveit a Lutheran pastor from Norway. In a lunch conversation a couple of people suggested that because of decisions that have been made regarding sexuality the divide between progressive Christians and more traditional Christians has widened, the results being an "ecumenical winter." Secretary Tveit sat and listened for a long time, then he said, "I want to know what is wrong with winter? I come from Norway and I don't find anything wrong with winter. In winter we have time to be together and talk." He went on to say that some things might change, negotiations might progress more slowly, but we will keep working together and our partners in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic communions will not move away from us.

Back to our last day in Rome. We all know the Catholic structure to be hierarchical, what I didn't know is that the hierarchy gets portrayed by the distance from the grave of St. Peter. The closer a Congregation or Council is to St. Peter's the more powerful. The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has its offices inside the Vatican with a wonderful view of St. Peter's while the Councils were down the street outside the Vatican. The Congregation for doctrine employs fifty staff people to review theological positions of theologians and safeguard Catholic doctrine.

In the afternoon we toured the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, but first we stopped at Monsignor Turk's favorite restaurant - a small mom and pop Italian place two blocks from the Vatican. Neither of the owners spoke any English, but we had no trouble communicating. The cook, a wonderfully stereotypical Italian mother made it clear we would eat the enormous plate of salad she prepared before the pasta would be served. Everything came family style, cooked, delivered and coached by this boisterous woman. On my second plate of pasta (I was attempting to eat a light lunch - hah) she looks me right in the eye and says, "Padre, mangia!"

The World Council of Churches

Today's experience went very differently. Here in Geneva it feels like being on home territory for the first time on this journey. Even the body language changed dramatically. Bishop Hanson sat at the head table with the leaders of other churches instead of on the side of the table or away from the other leaders. Here he is the President of the Lutheran World Federation (69 million Lutherans) and works with many of the people in the building on a regular basis. Dr. Noko, the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation said, "You are on a journey, not a trip. A trip can be cancelled, a journey cannot be cancelled because you go as apostles, sent by the church. Every where you have been you represented all 69 million of us, you speak for us, you listen for us."

I will tell you more about our time in Geneva when I have an opening, but now - off to bed.

Notes on the pictures: First snow in Rome in over 25 years. At tonight's dinner we ate with the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation and four Ambassadors to the United Nations in Geneva including Phillip Richard Owade the ambassador from Kenya.

Harvesting the Fruits of Ecumenical Dialogue

Friday we were back to work. Our day began with the group who most relates to Lutherans and ecumenical work within the Vatican - The Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Kasper (a German who just published a book titled Harvesting the Fruits) presides over this council and has championed the cause of ecumenism for many years. He is likely to retire in the next year. Joined by Bishop Farrell, Msgr. Turk and Fr. Fairbanks (from Philadelphia) the conversation went well. Having limited experience with ecumenical work, I watched as these leaders reviewed work that has been done. Like diplomatic work, ecumenism proceeds incrementally. It begins by finding common ground, then exploring it further to determine on what we can agree. The joint declaration on justification from ten years ago still serves as a our best point of commonality, while we continue to move further apart on other things (we don’t talk about those in such high level conversations). We save the difficult talks for times when the presiding bishop and cardinals are not in the room, or when those leaders are together without twenty others present. In short, we document our common ground and move forward incrementally again. Ecumenical work moves at glacial speed, and that is if churches don’t do things like we did this summer by making major policy changes.

I was humbled when Bsp. Hanson said, our church is twenty years old. We sat in a room 500 yards away from the grave of St. Peter. In Catholicism the tradition serves as an anchor for the Church. An anchor can hold a ship steady and keep it from being dashed against rocks or beached on a shore line, but an anchor can also keep a ship from moving. Here I gained new insight into the work of the Vatican. On the picture please note the Icon in the background (Cardinal Kasper sits closest to Bsp Hanson). In the Icon Peter and Andrew embrace representing the Western Church and the Eastern Church embracing as brothers.

Our second stop for dialogue took place in the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. While not as friendly (or intimate - if you can call any of this intimate), Cardinal Tauran impressed all of us with his background in diplomatic affairs for the Vatican and his incisive insight into working with people of other faiths. The Vatican takes the position that “All believers have the same dignity before God.” Note that not all religions are considered valid or equal, but all who believe in God have the same dignity. We talked a bit about Muslims and about Hindus. The Cardinal made a few comments about relations with the Jews and the Palestinian conflict. His time in Vatican diplomatic work informs his engagement of interreligious dialogue very effectively.

After lunch we visited the excavation under St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican has worked hard to verify the tomb of St. Peter. I am about to run out of battery power. If I do I will have to finish later.

From the tomb (I will be anxious to talk about this experience. I simply cannot do it justice here.) we ascended to the main floor of the Basilica. We had a woman from Minnesota as our tour guide. English fluency was a new twist among our tour guides. She is a doctoral student in Rome. She was outstanding.

TO MY RUNNER FRIENDS

I did take run one morning at 5:30. Our schedule has been brutal. The roads in Rome create a real problem - nothing straight, no great landmarks, virtually impossible to keep track of where you have gone or how to get back. I brought my Garmin just for this. After running down the Tiber River I ran back to where I had enter the sidewalk, then I need the GPS to get back to the hotel and without it I would never have found my way. I carried the address so I could ask for directions if I got hopelessly lost, but fortunately the GPS took me within a block. I plan to attempt a run Sunday AM before we leave for the airport. At this point it is a huge trade off between sleep and running - we can't have both.

Ecumenical Tourist

If you are going to be a religious tourist I highly recommend traveling with the Presiding Bishop. On Thursday we started with the Catacombs of S. Calixtus. The nice thing is that the Vatican makes all of these arrangements and choses the tour guides. We have had the best of the best at every stop. The catacombs were constructed outside the walls of Rome. In this location 150,000 tombs lay 20 to 40 feet underground at varying depths. The paths go on f0or 11 miles, with graves dating back to the second and third century. After walking through many passageways and learning how the catacombs were constructed we gathered for Eucharist. Bishop Hanson vested and presided at a simple altar there amidst the graves where Christians gathered during the persecution. Contrary to many popular beliefs no one every lived or hid in the catacombs. There isn't enough air. Christians did, however, gather for brief worship services.

Next we visited The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. This too stands outside the walls of old Rome. In this Basilica lay the bones of St. Paul. While the work of verification here is not nearly as extensive as the work done in St. Peters, the likelihood that Paul was buried here remains high, based on tradition and some science.

Within Rome stand four major Basilicas. We would visit all of them and more before the end of the day. The Abbot of St. Paul served as our tour guide followed by noon prayers with the monks and lunch in their refectory. The picture above shows Msg. Turk, the Abbot and yours truly.

From St. Paul’s we visited St. Mary Major (the largest Basilica dedicated to Mary), St. John Lateran (the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome), the Ecumenical Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island (in the middle of the Tiber River) and Santa Maria Trastevere for evening prayer. The day concluded with dinner and extended conversation with the Community of Sant’ Egidio, a community devoted to serving the poor.

I have included a picture from St. John Lateran’s baptistery. At one point in their history this whole round area (to the bottom of the door) would be filled with water. Candidates for baptism entered the door on one side and exited on the other. The bronze deer come from the Psalm - as a deer pants for water so my soul longs for you O Lord.

Encounter with Pope Benedict the XVI

Wednesday February 10

Wednesday began with an “Encounter” with Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican calls this an encounter because in an audience only the Pope speaks. In this encounter Bishop Hanson brought a formal greeting (cut from 10 minutes to 3 - not easy for Hanson), followed by a prepared statement read by the Pope. Bishop Hanson presented a gift (he talked to the Pope for too long while presenting the gift and the Cardinal told him to sit down) after which we were invited to walk forward and greet the Pope individually. Normally this is the point at which the photographer shoots pictures of each person in such a small encounter. In this case, however, this was not allowed because we had a female bishop in our delegation and a picture of the Pope greeting a female bishop or female pastors might be misconstrued. Instead we gathered for a group picture.

John Brooks from the ELCA news service was not allowed to take photos (none of us were permitted to bring cameras). Only official Vatican photographers make take pictures. Once we were lined up for the group photo (in a particular order) then the photographer was brought in where he used his speed winder and fired off about six pictures in a second and a half. The Holy Father left and that was the end of that. All total of maybe 10 minutes.

Wednesday afternoon we met with leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rome and Italy. We visited their offices and dormitories where they about fifteen students. Here we had a chance to learn a little more about the Lutherans in Italy, a total of fifteen congregations in the country. We worshipped in the Lutheran Church in the heart of Rome, a beautiful church with lovely mosaic and fantastic pipe organ. In comparison to the Catholic Churches in Rome the church was small and spare, but compared to what we are accustomed to it was very ornate.

Istanbul to Rome

Tuesday

I begin this posting with an apology for the delay in posting. Since leaving Turkey on Tuesday we have had extremely long days beginning with breakfast at 8:00 and returning between 10:00 and 11:00 in the evening. I was not even able to call home for three days, there simply was no opportunity. Not all of this time was filled with work, but all of this time was filled. Additionally we have no internet access where we are staying, so with no time to go searching for internet, I was unable to keep up.

Our time in Istanbul concluded with a visit to Hagia Sophia and lunch with the Ecumenical Patriarch. You will note in the picture of Hagia Sophia the Icons on the apse of the church and the round postings from Islam on both sides. Hagia Sophia was first a church in the sixth century then taken by the Muslims and converted to a mosque in the 15th century and then taken by the Turkish government for a museum in 1934 . The process to restore ancient icons and mosaics continues because all of them were covered over with plaster by the Muslims.

We took the second picture during the 12 course lunch with the Patriarch before dashing to the airport for our flight to Rome with a stop in Athens. In the picture notice that only the Patriarch wears clerical clothes. Turkish law prohibits religious dress and symbols in public, but has given special dispensation to the Patriarch. The pastors and bishops have been impressed by the clothes of both the Orthodox and Roman Catholics. We Lutherans just don’t have the good hats. Upon arrival in Rome Monsignor Matthias Turk, a German priest who works in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, greeted us and with vans from the Vatican took us to our hotel. Monsignor Turk has been our host for our time in Rome. At the airport he greeted us wearing a black cassock with red trim (the designation for Monsignor). I asked if I could get special dispensation to wear the red trim on my cassock. He said I would have to first become Catholic, then a priest and then wait many years. I said, “I really just want the red trim.” He said that would be just materialistic. I told him I was ok with that if I could just get the red trim. It wasn’t until Friday that I found a bargaining chip. He loves fudge that he had in the US. I told him I would send him fudge from the US if he would send me a letter on Vatican stationary giving me permission to wear red on my cassock. He made no promises, but I’m sending the fudge just in case.

Istanbul and the Orthodox Church Monday

Another fantastic day. Please feel free to post comments, I love hearing from you. Or, send email, I am checking when I can. Twelve hour days seem to be the norm, but what richness!

Clearly the highlight of today was meeting the Ecumenical Patriarch - a gentle, deeply spiritual man who welcomed us warmly. We spent an hour with him. Bishop Hanson delivered formal greetings, the Patriarch responded with genuine and heartfelt conversation. One concern coming into this meeting was that the decisions of the Churchwide Assembly in August would jeopardize the on-going dialogue between the ELCA and the Orthodox Church. Very early in his comments Patriarch Bartholomew said, "we look forward to continuing dialogue with you." He gave a clear signal, one reiterated by the ecumenical committee with whom we met for two hours after meeting the patriarch, that dialogue would continue. The committee let us know that these "moral"decisions caused "difficulties." Speaking with a staff person later, he told me, "our congregations are very conservative on these matters."

I am finding this a little like diplomatic relations. We listen for signals. Rarely is conversation frank and forth right. Rather, we want to proceed incrementally. Direct questions might be answered with veiled answers. Carefully crafted questions might be answered directly. A careful dance.

If you have interest in the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew please take a look at his interview with 60 minutes. The interview is available on the web and is worth taking a look.

This afternoon we visited the church of the "Holy Savior in the Country." I have posted details from a website in what follows. The Orthodox call in Chora (I1000 - 1300).

Now a museum, formerly a mosque and originally built as "Church of the Holy Saviour in the Country" or "Church of St Saviour in Chora", the structure sat outside the Constantinian Walls. It became encompassed by the Theodosian fortifications some years later, though it was many centuries until it was incorporated into the urban landscape.

Half a century after the Fall of Constantinople, the church was converted to a mosque and its many frescoes and mosaics hidden behind a layer of plaster, in accordance with Muslim prohibition of icons.

No longer a place of worship, today the museum is considered one of the finest examples of a Byzantine church, its magnificent artworks once again on display after ten year’s restoration work in the middle of last century.

Read more at Suite101: Kariye Museum and Istanbul's Old Walls: Brick, Mortar and Mosaic Bring Byzantium Alive http://turkey-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/kariye_museum_and_istanbuls_old_walls#ixzz0eypkLY63

What the article doesn't say is that the church was taken by the Muslims and then by the Turkish government. The government now runs it as a museum - as they do Hagia Sophia which we will visit tomorrow.

I have included two photos. The first of time after the audience with the Patriarch. I took two great shots of the patriarch as I sat nearly next to him, but neither one came out. I attempted to take them without really looking at the camera (I didn't want to disrespect him in any way even - even though his assistant told us we could take all the pictures we wanted). Well, not looking at the camera meant I didn't get a picture - darn! Fortunately John Brooks, the ELCA news person took many pictures. I will post some in the next few days. Anyway, this one was taken during the brief mingle time.

The second picture is from St. Savior in Chora. Take a look at Wikipedia for more history and search the web for some great pictures. This painting (on the ceiling) depicts Adam and Eve being pulled from Gehenna by Christ, after the resurrection. Notice Eve has no left hand because that is the one that held the apple. We found amazing frescoes and mosaics in Chora. A series of three depicted the conception of the Virgin Mary, her childhood and then Joseph's proposal of engagement. The fresco of proposal depicts a number of suitors who come to call. Joseph's staff experiences a spontaneous blossom on top leading her parents to pick him while another man stands in the background weeping because he was not chosen.

Tomorrow, Hagia Sophia and then fly to Rome.

Istanbul and the Orthodox Church

Today proved to be easily the best day of the trip so far. Unlike our reception in London the members of the Orthodox church and the staff of the Ecumenical Patriarch have gone out of their way to greet us and make us feel welcomed. They met us at the airport with two vans to transport us to the hotel. This morning promptly at 8:00 am they waited outside the hotel for us to leave for our trip of the day. They have staff arranged to accompany us the entire time we are here.

The day started with a 40 minute van ride into Istanbul among the most unique cities in the world. Officially 12.5 million people live in Istanbul. Realistically Istanbul is home to 15 million - 98% Muslim. We boarded a ferry to take us to Holy Trinity Monastery and school. Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia. As the ferry made its way we were literally looking at Europe on one side of the straight and Asia on the other. The first stop for the ferry was the Asian side of Istanbul before proceeding on to the Islands. From the stop we looked into the ancient city of Chalcedon the location of the fourth ecumenical council in 451 where the two natures of Christ (human and divine) were hammered out and agreed upon.

A few more stops and we arrived at the island where Holy Trinity Monastery and school sit atop a beautiful hill. The steep road up the side of the mountain prohibits walking (besides, rain fell all day). We loaded into carriages three at a time. These "carriages" are direct cousin of the old west stage coach, each pulled by two horses. The horses seemed very excited to climb the hill and ran at nearly full speed throwing us around in the back like rag dolls - and that's on a paved road. I can't imagine what the old west travelers endured.

The monastery sits on the top a stunningly beautiful mountain overlooking the sea (which sea, I'm not yet sure. A classic case of I have no idea where I am). We arrived as the Orthodox Liturgy at the monastery concluded. We toured the chapel with a wonderful history lesson by one of the professors for the school. The Turkish government closed the school in 1971. More about that tomorrow with photos of the icons in the chapel. A brief tour of the school lead to a formal greeting by the Abbot of the monastery (it too is closed), and Bishop Hanson's formal greetings to him. The Abbot hosted a fantastic meal followed by a tour of the library and a ride back down the mountain. The horses seemed much more relaxed going down than they did going up - what's that about?

The ferry ride back gave a chance for conversation and a nap. Back in Istanbul we had two hours to walk the city, look into shops and watch the people.

Much more when we have a little longer break. For now - off to bed.

TO MY FRIENDS WHO ARE FOOTBALL FANS!

I am in the home of Orthodox Christianity. They love icons and have them of many saints - thus my pick. In honor of All the Saints and our Orthodox sisters and brothers - The Saints!

One more thing. I just read comments. One of you has found the pictures on the ELCA website. We have the ELCA communications director John Brooks and his wife traveling with us. Great couple and he's a better photographer than I. His written work and some pictures on available at www.elca.org and follow the link. But if you want all of his pictures go to http://photos.elca.org I'm taking some of mine from there and posting some that I take. He has his monster camera with him and that's his job. Mine camera is tiny and my job is trying not to do anything stupid.

Yesterday our time with the Archbishop of Canterbury was more brief than we had anticipated. He had some scheduling conflicts and had to move some things around. Even with the abbreviated visit we had an opportunity to tour Lambeth Palace.

In the afternoon we meet with staff from the Anglican Consultative Council. The Council itself meets every three years and relates to the whole of the Anglican Communion. The staff keep the Communion connected globally both on social concerns and ecumenical cooperation. The parallel in the Lutheran Church is the Lutheran World Federation.

We spent all of today(Friday) with ecumenical leaders for the Church of England. In the grand scheme the Church of England is one of the members of the Anglican Communion just as the ELCA is one member of the Lutheran World Federation. With these leaders we explored the state of ecumenical relations from the Anglican perspective. If I had to sum it up I would say the Church of England is experiencing many of the same issues the ELCA faces.

Like us their fastest growing churches reside in Africa. These churches hold fundamental differences theologically and socially. They wrestle with sexuality and the role of women in the church (not something we share). They face future challenges ecumenically and within their own communion just as we do, as all of us interpret scripture and how we will live out the faith.

The highlight of the London stop was a tour of Westminster Abbey and Evensong.

Thursday February 4, 2010

London

Everyone in our group arrived safely, 16 of our from across the US. We met last night with representatives of The Lutheran Council of Great Britain. These are primarily ethnic congregations that continue to speak their native languages. The council represents 10 national churches such as the Churches of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, etc. Each has a pastor supported by the country of origin whose responsibility it is to care for and minister to Lutherans from those countries.

We had a presentation about the Lutheran Council and the work they do followed by some time to chat with each of them over dinner. At nearly 10 million people London may be the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Most ethnic groups have societies that gather in the city so that nationals from all across the globe can meet and speak in their own language, with their own customs. Unlike the American philosophy of a melting pot, many of these groups attempt to retain their identity and still function in society with respect and tolerance for other cultures.

Europe struggles with immigration even more than the US. The obvious similarity being that people emigrate from the south to find jobs in the more prosperous north. The difference being that the immigrants are from Africa, Asia and former eastern block countries. The ethnic and linguistic diversity creates enormous challenges for western Europe.

A NOTE TO MY RUNNER FRIENDS

I took a run this morning. Wow, what a difference at sea level, forty degrees and very moist. Lots of good air made for an easy feeling. But watch out for the traffic, these guys drive on the wrong side of the street! When you come up to an intersection you have to look the other way. I can't get used to it, so I just look both ways all the time. I feel like a bobble head.

London has many young people. On the subway yesterday (the tube) I was among the older people. I suppose most folks my age take cabs or have cars, but the young people pack the train. Out running this morning I saw dozens of runners.

I leave for the airport in an hour for the flight to Dallas/Fort Worth. From there the flight to London is nine hours and I arrive at 7:30 am Wednesday London time. Our first meeting is Wednesday afternoon at 3:30. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks to be something pretty light. That will be the first time the group gathers and we meet one another.

I will offer a few comments by way of background on the Church of England. Since I am only minimally familiar with the Church of England I hope Jeanne Lutz will comment freely on what I post.

Historical evidence suggests Christianity spread to England prior to A.D. 314. During this early history the English church maintained sporadic connections with the church in Rome. The early roots began to decay and Christianity nearly died out. Elements of the Celtic Church remained in Ireland and Scotland. The flames of faith were reignited in 597 when Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine (not St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo: 354-430) to reestablish the church in England. As the representative of Rome St. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and was later appointed the Christian leader (Primate) of all of England.

While the roots of the Church of England date back to the third and fourth century, her independence from Rome came during the reformation of the 16^th century. Over a period of decades England’s ties to the Holy See were strained by both authority and financial requirements, but the catalyst for the final break with Rome came with the Pope's refusal to annul the marriage of Henry the VIII. With one brief period as an exception the Church of England has been independent from the oversight of the Pope ever since.

The more I plan these blogs, the more I see that the vast majority of the church's history has been a reaction to Rome and the Papacy. Clearly all of church history has been a series of reactions to decisions made by those in power. The Papacy drawing the most attention and negative reaction. Even the response to the decisions of the Churchwide Assembly this past August are simply another example of reactions to decisions. Some questions we can ponder - are these theological issues that divide or social/cultural. Most often the divisions get framed as theological, but I suspect there is more behind the decisions than pure theology.

This trip will be like a tour of church schism. While we will talk about ways to bring Christians together, we will need to understand what separated us and ask do those things still separate or are we free to work together? Of course something new will separate us won't it?