“God calls us to respect one another. This, in part at least, involves respecting people’s territories, traditions and protocols; seeking counsel and consent; and, caring for one another. Respect is also about being welcoming and inclusive. When respect is fostered, harmony presides. When respect is denied, harm is caused,” says Aunty Dr Rose Elu in her Lambeth Conference Anglican Indigenous Network address
“Our group facilitator, Kate Venables, led us in the conversation, asking the group how we experienced lions in our lives. So I translated the stories of two Dinka women in our group from the same village who said that when they were young girls, they used to look after the cows. One of the Bishops’ wives shared about how she protected a cow from being eaten by a lion as a young girl. The lion jumped from a tree onto the back of a cow,” says Rachel Jimma from St Bart’s, Toowoomba
“Stewards were run off their feet during the conference, but we were able to join in the worship, even if that meant singing and dancing from our fire exit posts. Every morning service was a joyous pick-me-up. Services were said and sung in different languages,” says Stacey McCowan from the Community of The Way
The Lambeth Conference was a series of remarkable surprises and examples of God’s gracious action as we gathered before God’s face and prayed. There was a beautiful and deeply moving sense of coming together, and in so doing truly meeting each other — learning from each other, committing ourselves to love across difference
Reflections
