This morning we heard exposition on 2 Samuel 7 by Vaughn Roberts, a Rector in Oxford. Again, very solid presentations of the scope of redemption. And the Mothers' Union of Nigeria sang for us. Everyone was on their feet, cheering and clapping!! Vaughn spoke about the King, how he is chosen by God and descended from David and enthroned forever.
After our small group, we heard presentations in the Anglican Identity workshop from Steve Noll and John Rodgers. They were great, and addressed questions of whether the Communion should be confessional or conciliar or both, about church discipline, about the essentials of the Anglican Movement, and about where we go from here. Again, the papers will be posted on the internet long before I arrive home, and are well worth a careful read. There is great unity developing on our path forward - but important questions remain.
The solid teaching, and the personal conversations with so very many people of different backgrounds, and the city of Jerusalem - all together make a fertile and rich mixture where God's voice is powerfully speaking.
This afternoon, I went with 10 people and Jack Gabig (who led us) on a long walk through Old Jerusalem (again). We retraced the likely steps of Jesus on his last days, starting at David's tomb, then going from the upper room (or one like it), to Gethsemani, to the place of his trial, to the place of his imprisonment, to the place of his execution. In every place we stopped for prayer and Bible reading, and often took in the major moments of Old Testament events that would have been in sight (like the tomb of Absalom as we walked across the Kidron Valley to Gethsemani). We also stopped at the Lion Gate (otherwise known as St Stephen's gate) where we marked his martyrdom and read his story. It was a good, long, three hour prayer walk. We ended up with a long dinner at the Armenian Tavern (great food) and then I caught a cab home.
I am compiling more notes of the things that God is speaking to us, which I will try and post this weekend. But right now, I am exhausted. Time for some sleep.
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