Remember Allie Graham for whom we asked a little financial help to defray her travel expenses to work as a steward at Lambeth? Help came in, thanks to you, my readers and others, and she is now there and blogging at Tales From A Lambeth Steward.
The picture above shows what the stewards will wear as they perform their duties. They look like outfits for traffic guards, which I suppose they are in a way, shuffling people here and there to their proper places.
Below is a picture of Allie with our beloved Luiz Coelho. Allie says:
In case you are interested, here is a picture of me with fellow blogger, Luiz Coelho.
Luiz and I both serve on the Stewards Worship Group, and its been wonderful working with him and getting to know him.
Allie, we are quite interested. Don't they make a lovely couple? Go to Allie's blog to see more pictures and read about the work the stewards will actually be doing.
In the next day or so, I hope to make a list of bloggers at Lambeth and post it on the sidebar for the duration of the conference.
UPDATE: I fixed the picture of Allie and Luiz a little.
Hi Mimi!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm not really a person of secrets, given the nature of my work, I'd just ask you to omit the information on the next-to-last paragraph. Mostly because as stewards we cannot officially identify with any "party".
So far, it's been a wonderful experience. Allie is a sweet girl.
Thanks Grandmere!
ReplyDeleteAnd "hi" Luiz!
Hi Luiz! It's done, mon cher. It's good to see your picture. What are you wearing in your gravatar? Pajamas? You look great! Are you blogging the conference? Let me know, and I'll post a link.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing as I type this at the thought that you are a member of a "party". Pay no mind to me. I'm just being silly.
Allie, you're quite welcome. I'll be checking up on you.
ReplyDeleteLuiz,
ReplyDeleteare you not blogging from Lambeth? I couldn't find anything at your usual place.
Prayers continue for you both, and for this Lambeth.
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.
ReplyDeleteAll 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.
Ah, some videos so far:
ReplyDeletehttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6356707331501899177
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8238546338697307866
Luiz, thanks for the report and for the videos. I'm pleased to hear that there's a lots of praying going on. That's a good thing, surely. It's a mystery to me why everyone can't join together to pray and talk. What harm could come from that? Not all would go away of the same mind, but perhaps the love of God would bring healing to those gathered.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I could move a long comment like this one of yours up to a post, along with a video, if you'd like. If you'd rather not, then I understand.
Dear Grandmere -- hope you'll highlight for your readers the Lambeth Conference LGBT Anglican Portal which will end up containing more than any of us have time to read or watch I think. There's going to be an emphasis on links and videos.
ReplyDeleteJan, I am making my list at this moment, and I added your suggestion to the list. It may take a while for me to gather the information together.
ReplyDeleteMimi, you can repost what I've written, of course.
ReplyDeleteAlso, do check some of the videos we are "producing" informally here. If you go to any video, such as this one (new one):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7695372857416918346
and click on "more from user" on the far right, you can check the new videos I'll be adding.
Blessings to all!
PS.: Visit http://lambeth.luizcoelho.com :)
Does my heart good to see some of "us" meeting in Real Life® :)
ReplyDeleteDavid, been there, done that, but unfortunately, you were not there. Maybe next time, love.
ReplyDelete