From Luiz At Lambeth

Plucked from the comments because I thought it should see the light of day:

Luiz Coelho said...

All I can say is that as far as I know, some of us are gay, many more are straight... and among us, so far, it has been a non-issue. Even when we touch delicate issues, such as having to block certain people (including Gene Robinson) from some activities, I could feel that our supervisors, and most of the stewards, were really willing to overcome the differences and deal with all those delicate matters as gracefully as possible.

All those days have been such a blessing and the routine of worship 2 (sometimes 3) times a day has really been such a blessing to our spiritual lives. I've been crying on practically all services. Members from all religious orders of the Anglican Communion have joined us in worship. It's such a blessing to have them among us.

Today, Sarah (a steward here from England) preached a lovely sermon on putting our hope in Christ, and not in X, Y or Z. Sadly, many of the delegates (as we were taught to call bishops, spouses and their crews) will already come with an agenda and (God forbid) an unwillingness to worship together. I just pray they really get to pray and worship with each other, and learn more about one another.

We understand here at the University none of the "parties" is allowed to have their center of activities. Some of the fringe events will happen in rooms here, and the marketplace will have booths several of them have rented. However, the first days will be a retreat, and an opportunity for prayer and reflection. I really hope the bishops and spouses engage with their brothers and sisters.

The indaba method of discussion so far looks very interesting, and the objective here is not to have any plenaries, any power struggles, but a final document which represents the voices of the communion, and which gives all sides the opportunity to talk about themselves.

And an extra note that *has to* be said. Most of the rooms and accomodations here are as spartan as they can be without being uncomfortable. Much has been said about Lambeth being a cocktail party and a waste of money. All I can say is that, truly, at least this Lambeth is trying to be as cheap, environment friendly and modest as possible. Most of the people working here are volunteers. Bishops and spouses will basically live in UKent dorms and there's nothing really fancy about rooms that are being used.


From Wiki:

Indaba - The term comes from a Zulu language word, meaning "business" or "matter".

Current usage

The term has found widespread use throughout Southern Africa and often simply means gathering or meeting.

It is also used in the scout movement. The World Scout Indaba is a gathering of Scout Leaders.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, used the expression when he announced, in in April 2008, a move away from plenary meetings voting on formal resolutions for bishops attending the 2008 Lambeth Conference. He introduced "middle sized groups for discussion of larger issues", saying:-

"We have given these the African name of indaba groups, groups where in traditional African culture, people get together to sort out the problems that affect them all, where everyone has a voice and where there is an attempt to find a common mind or a common story that everyone is able to tell when they go away from it. This is how we approached it. This is what we heard. This is where we arrived as we prayed and thought and talked together."