WCC Assembly - November 3, 2013

We were each given a bus number earlier in the week for
Sunday morning, when we arrived a BEXCO we found a
long line up of folks waiting for us! "Find your number!"

Sunday morning I had the opportunity to worship in the local Anglican cathedral. It was about an hours journey away from BEXCO and involved walking from the main road up some small roads to meet the church entrance. (Our bus also had a hard time finding it... we ended up at a different church as we tired to find the Cathedral and as a result the driver impressed us all with his amazing u-turn skills while down a teeny tiny back road!) 

New friends while waiting for the buses to church!

The Cathedral is a small parish space with about 50 parishioners on a Sunday morning. There were a few younger members along with some children. The choir was small but filled with powerful voices. A group of us from the WCC Assembly attended the service and felt so welcomed... The division that language can so often provide did not get in the way. We gathered together and filled our morning with prayers, singing, scripture and the gathering around the table. 

Road to church

Preacher and translator 

 

Lunch at the Cathedral 

It was a powerful moment during the breaking of the bread when together in our different languages we said together, "we differ one from another, but sharing in the one bead, we become one body". We were assisted throughout the service by an amazing translator who translated the sermon (a visiting Bishop preached) from English to Korean and translated announcements from Korean to English.  After the service we were invited into the parish hall for lunch, like in Canada a group of dedicated parishioners (here it was probably all women) prepared a traditional lunch for us. I was told it was anchovies soup... A broth with pieces of fish cakes, zucchini, noodles and some other types of fish along with a plate of salad, sweets, mandarin oranges and kimchi - both the traditional spicy and a non spicy white kimchi. I ended up at a table with some of the young women from the parish who spoke English. We were able to share stories of parish life, family life, and my experience of Korea over lunch. I shared with them a photo of my brothers and sisters and they were beyond surprised by the size of my family. What an honour to be in their midst. 
 I had to leave the parish gathering after lunch as the Public Issues committee had plans to continue working back at BEXCO from 3pm - 8:30pm. So a group of us said goodbye to our new friends and boarded the bus to head back to our work. 

 Back to the bus

The Public Issues group put in some dedicated time on Sunday, we worked until we could no longer negotiate grammar and sentence content and structure anymore. When I got back to the hotel myself and one of the committee members decided to grab a drink and some dinner. It was great to just sit and chat about parish ministry in our local context and share the joys and challenges facing our churches today. By the time I got back to my room I enjoyed a relaxing shower and went straight to bed (hence why this is a day late!).