Indaba Gifts

The Conference planners have decreed that the bishops should just meet and sit and talk - no resolutions, no statements, no position papers on the great issues facing the world - just sit and talk. They will be talking in groups of 40.

In group work speak they will be put into max-mix groups of senior bishops, junior bishops, multi-continent bishops, liberal and conservative and all in between - you get the picture. The theory goes if they talk long enough they will either all get along or run out of steam - which ever comes first. We'll see. If each bishop uses 5 minutes for an introduction and says something minimal about their diocese, it will take 200 minutes or 3 plus hours just to say hello. If you follow this theory, it will be about Christmas before they will be able to discuss the schismatic issues if ever.

I don't consider myself an expert in group or organizational dynamics - I was just the President of NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Scienes - but 40 is too large a group for adequate and in depth sharing. Little beyond the surface will be mined in such a large group. But no one asked me.

40 presents another challenge. Each bishop was asked to bring a gift to share with the members of their Indaba group - the G-40. Funny how we can ascribe things African when it suits our purpose. The theme for the 2009 General Convention of The Episcopal Church is on Ubuntu - a Xhosa concept - Indaba is Zulu.

Back to the gifts. What to take? Aided and abetted by Violet deLagarde, we selected Lands' End canvas bags with the shield of the Diocese of Long Island . I think these are really hot looking bags but why didn't I consider how much 40 bags weighed.

I give thanks that they are only travellng one way and wonder about the 39 gifts that Bishop Walker will receive in return. We can only hope they will be light or that he will just receive gifts of the spirit.