Meanwhile, a sane voice from Canada

The Road to Tanzania
Written by Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
Thursday, 15 February 2007

I write to you from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania... My blogs have not been as frequent as I would like but this time I write to you from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania where I have come for a meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion. The setting is a conference centre on the shores of the Indian Ocean and the weather is between 28 and 31degrees Celsius and very humid. This is an important meeting with many items on the agenda. The questions around human sexuality and what kind of Church we will be are at the top of the agenda. There are issues around whether the new presiding Bishop of the United States can represent her country, discussions about the Lambeth gathering of the Bishops scheduled for next year, the Millennium goals and many other things. We begin with worship and bible study and part of my prayer is that we can truly listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. I believe in an inclusive Church that has its doors open to all and that accepts and welcomes people regardless of the human definitions that we may place upon them – male/female, white/black, gay/straight etc etc. We run the danger of making the Church a club for like-minded people rather than a place of refuge for the sinner and hope for the hurt and vulnerable.

It all came into perspective for me after I arrived at the Dar es Salaam airport at 7:30 in the morning. The drive to the conference centre takes about an hour. Despite being tired my eyes were wide open as we drove over dusty unkempt roads and through a sea of thousands upon thousands of people. Most were standing beside the side of road looking desperate and without hope. Adults and children intermingled and behind them were some of the most dilapidated shacks that I had ever seen. For many these are the only houses they will ever know. Most were patched with cardboard and jammed together. So many different things kept running through my mind – there is no space for these people, hardly an inch of grass for any kind of rest or refreshment, never an opportunity for a quiet moment, pollution and dust a constant feature.

I am going to a meeting with a gospel of hope and a preferential option for the poor and we are debating who is in and whom we are going to keep out. I have been at this long enough to know that it never boils down to one simple question. Meetings like this are filled with all manner of ego, authority and power but as we gather and are preparing to begin, that endless stream of humanity that I saw on my way haunts my memory. I wish we were dealing with what difference a gospel of hope could make in their lives, rather than worrying about strategies for the Primates and the politics that are an inevitable part of such gatherings. Please remember to pray for my brothers and sister who share in these meetings in the next few days. There is a huge amount at stake and the world needs to hear the good news again – that the gospel does not say God so loved the Church – rather it says God so loved the world!

from his blog at
http://generation.anglican.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=235&Itemid=9