Thank You Most Holy Trinity

Eons ago during the opening festivities, Trinity Church, New York City, was being thanked and the Archbishop of Canterbury called it Most Holy Trinity. I imagine he wanted to say Most Wealthy Trinity but then while true, that would have been tacky.

Trinity hosted what I would call a reunion dinner but they were reluctant to do that so I won't. Last summer, Trinity hosted a gathering in Escorial Spain, focused on issues of partnerships. This dinner was a renewal gathering of those who had participated in the Walking to Emmaus consultation in Spain.

So now let me get the fluff out of the way first. Each table had a lovely floral centerpiece and beige, gold and orange tone napkins folded in the shape of a heart. We all had place cards. Each guest received an autographed and dedicated copy of Jim Lemler's new book and the women received a pendant created by the Rector's wife, Tay Cooper. Each piece of the hand-made kiln-fired clay was silk-screened with the Emmaus foot-print and each woman's name was fired in as well. A greeting card from Dr. and Mrs. Cooper was also at each place setting. One more bit of fluff - a bottle of Tabasco graced each table. That seemed to be a very inside joke.

Dr. James Callaway, Deputy for Anglican Partnerships, opened the limited program and then turned it over to Bishop Rob O'Neill (Colorado) who offered one of the most profound thoughts of the week in describing the Walking to Emmaus process. "Walker, there is no road. The road is made by walking it." He honestly said the thought was not his and that he had heard it in his Bible Study Group. It really fit the occasion.

Bishops Singulane (Lebombo, Mozambique) and Curry (Suffragan, Connecticut) shared stories of their partnership. Bishop Curry was wearing a cross made from a destroyed AK-47. Removing and destroying those weapons was an important ministry of Bishop Singulane. Bishop Curry went on to relate that wearing the cross reminded him of the need to work on gun violence in the urban areas of Connecticut.

Bishop Singulane took us back to Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence and the 1963 Toronto Conference and then worked us forward. It was good to be reminded that everything old is new again.

Canon Musoke-Lubega, the Trinity Program Officer for Africa, invited us into table discussions of how we had benefited from the Emmaus Process. My table mates were The Primate of the Indian Ocean, the Bishops of Cape Coast, Ghana, Western Massachusetts and Long Island, the spouses of the Bishop of Atlanta and Suffragan New York and The Anglican Observer to the United Nations. We had good conversations at the table. It was good renewing old acquaintances. The Primate of the Indian Ocean had attended Afro-Anglicans II and Bishop Sarfo of Cape Coast had attended the pre-Lambeth Consultation in Pretoria that I had been of part of this past spring.

To a person, all were able to thank and commend Mrs. Helen Wangusa, the Anglican Observer, on her presentations to the Conference especially the one on London Day.

In addition to providing me with a change of dinner venue, the Emmaus Meal and Renewal presented an alternative reality to what was going on outside beyond that venue. Ten percent of the Lambeth Conference participants were in that room, ten percent of the Lambeth Conference participants were focused on partnership, ten percent of the Lambeth Conference participants were holding Communion as dear and ten percent of the Lambeth Conference participants were making the road by walking it.

Thank you Most Holy Trinity for sharing your largess to help in building up the Kingdom.