WCC Assembly 2013 - Monday, October 28

Wow.
It has been quite a day. A good day but a very full day. It feels like it has been two days in one. I was up at 6:30am today, left the hotel at 7:30am with the agenda for the day beginning at 8:30am and we kept going agenda item after agenda item until 8pm... and that was with us ending thirty minutes early. I don't think I'm going to be staying up very late for the next thirteen days!

Today was the start of the Youth Pre-Assembly.

Around 400 young people (delegates, observers, community members, stewards) gathered together for the first day of the pre-assembly. And like I said, it was a full day filled with people, presentations, conversations, singing, sharing and learning. We started the morning off with our opening prayer time together, it was a rather lovely and simple liturgy... I really liked it  (beware youth group members... parts of this might be coming back with me to add to our time together!). The singing is the best... and I think I can safely say we're a not bad sounding group! 

We heard from the WCC General Secretary who said a number of things that will stick with me for awhile one being a good reminder, "Everything we do we do as God's beloved and mandated children, asking God to lead us into the life God has created - praying for justice and peace." And at the end of his time talking about the presence of youth at the Assembly he said, "By being with you I realize even more why it is so important that you are here. You not only can ask the questions but you also need to participate in the answers." It's helpful for me to hear from the leadership in our church (which is so much a part of my expereince in Canada) that my role here is not the "youth" role but one of listening and contributing like everyone else. 

We reviewed some stuff around meaningful participation during the Assembly including consensus decision making and how the nominations process works. For lunch today I had my first experience of Korean food since I've arrived... I'll share some more about Korean food another day. Some pieces I really enjoyed and others were a new taste and texture. 

Thematic Family Groups

After lunch we met in our Thematic Family Groups; I am in the Reconciliation Family Group. One of the highlights of our Family Group time together was hearing from Father Michael Lapsley. He is one of those people who I could listen to for hours (or read for hours). He talked about listening and about how as young people we can play an important role in reconciliation and healing if we're willing to listen and he encouraged us to "while at WCC that we listen to the heart of the other". To listen with an "open heart so that we may be open to being changed... as we hear one another's humanity we can be changed. Listen not only with your head but also with the heart and let your heart be changed." There is lots on the web about Father Michael, I encourage you to go read a bit of his story.

The late afternoon and evening was devoted to the Korean Session, Korean Evening Prayer and an Agape ceremony and Korean meal with leaders of the ecumenical movement. Learned Korean history, sang Korean songs, watched Korean dance, prayed a traditional Korean evening prayer service and ate Korean food. You can watch a short video of Korean Culture Presentation here.

Korean Culture Presentation

As Father Michael said in his closing, "Go into the world and be kinder, gentler and more just!" 

WCC Assembly - Sunday, October 27

Arrived at the Tokyo Airport

I arrived safe and sound at my hotel in Busan late on Saturday evening after an incredibly long day of traveling. Never before have I done international travel so this was a very new experience. I am very grateful that airports in Canada are like airports in Tokyo and Busan and I'm even more grateful for English being spoken in the airport and on flights.

The shuttle bus trip from the Busan airport to my hotel was significantly longer then I expected it to be. Although it did provide some time for me to get to know the delegate from the Episcopal church in Hawaii who sat next to me. Jasmine, also a young person (any one under the age of 30 is classified as a "young person" at the WCC Assembly), is also attending her first Assembly and we both were experiencing many of the same feelings of anxiety, fear, nervousness and excitement. It was helpful to connect over these feelings in such a mutual way.

After checking into my hotel room, catching up over tea with my friend Nick (here also as a Canadian Anglican delegate), I unpacked a few items took a long awaited shower (why do long travel days always make you feel like "ick"!?), post on Facebook and message my mom so everyone knew I was alive and well and then I crawled into bed looking forward to a long nights sleep.

Buildings along the oceanside 

I woke up at 1:45 more confused that I've ever been before. I was fully convinced that it was 1:45pm but couldn't understand how that could be, but it couldn't be 1:45am because I felt like I had been asleep for much longer. Checking the time back home just confused me even more! It wasn't until I noticed that it was still dark out that I was relieved to realize that it was indeed 1:45am and I still had hours of sleep time left! And so I slept until 9:30am (after waking up briefly at 6am and 7am).

I spent the morning and early afternoon with Nick and a few of the people he's already met and worked with here at the Assembly. I discovered that I'm really not an adventurous food person (it probably didn't help that I had no idea what time or day it was, where I was or what meal it should be time for!), I'll figure out a way to work around that! We all sat at the beach and enjoyed conversation, the sunshine and shared moments of laughter and stories. My, I love the ocean view and smell!

Rocks and ocean waves!

Mid-afternoon I was ready for bed but determined not to sleep until bedtime... so Jasmine and I met up and did some Busan city wandering. We had lots of fun, us two nervous directionless young females in a large foreign city! The ocean became our direction point... if we could get to the water we could get to our hotel (so we told ourselves). We had three goals: find a grocery store so that fruit and a few other breakfast/snack type stuff could exist in our hotel (really, who has time to find breakfast when you have to be on a shuttle bus between 7:30 and 8:00am in order to get to your meeting?!); find dinner; and see the city without getting too lost! We managed all three... in the midst of accomplishing those goals we saw street-side insect or small ocean creature roasting; walked down market ways filled with fish, eels and more fish for purchase; encountered a massive crab and explored different stores.

Massive crab... yes, it was in a tank!

I think I can say that by the time we got back to the hotel we both felt very empowered in our ability to spend some time in the city without getting too lost or frightened and without knowing the area or the language! And now we even have breakfast food and have enjoyed a very non-Korean-traditional meal (we just wanted to eat something we knew would not be spicy or filled with fish) consisting of pizza and salad at pizza hut.... and the fact that the menu came to us in english was a very welcomed surprise at this point in the evening!

City street market

Tomorrow the Youth Pre-Assembly begins and now that it's coming on 10pm I'm looking forward to a shower and bed!

World Council of Churches 10th Assembly

I've spend the last few months preparing for the WCC Assembly which is taking place in Busan, South Korea. I arrived in Busan last night in preparation for the Youth Pre-Assembly which will begin tomorrow, the Assembly itself starts on October 30th. I am excited, overwhelmed and nervous - but it's all good!  I've been asked lots of questions about what the Assembly is so here is a starting point and a helpful history of the Assemblies of the World Council of Churches and the significant role they've played in the life of the ecumenical movement over the past 65 years.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday... Fall is here!

1. I'm beyond excited about tomorrow... about staff meeting, community, love, home. About conversations, preparations and planning. Tomorrow is the start of fall routine and I'm happy that is is here again.

2. It's quiet here at Sorrento Centre... here at home. The youth staff have left, the guests have left, the place is quiet. I miss the people who had gathered here, I miss the staff who are also my friends, but I'm also very excited for for the quiet and the slower pace.

3. I'm in teacher mode... and in sticky note planning mode... This is how I imagine planning children's ministry, youth ministry and young adults... will I still be using this organized and colourful system in a months time? Who knows...

4. I received an email this afternoon with an invitation that has me feeling like I can't say no (and I say this feeling honoured, not limited!). It sad the following, "I am writing to you today to invite you to accept to be nominated to serve..." and at the end of the email, "By this letter I am requesting you accept to service on the assembly..." Hehe... oh dear... I doubt I have a valid reason to say "no"!

5. I am waist deep in 2014 planning for Sorrento Centre... Summer has just ended, my fall programming soon to begin with 2014 already in the middle of it's planning. Wow!

6.  I have to decide in the next few days whether I'm going to a gathering with colleges, for a while I was thinking that I wouldn't because I'm already going to be away so much... but now I think that I might need that college time!

7. I spent my Saturday sick on the couch. But after one day I was back to (near) full functioning. It took: Emergen-C, Echinacea Water, cough drops, two boxes of kleenex, VapoRub and season 2 of Call the Midwife.

8. I discovered how lovely it is to have my radio in my living room rather than bedroom... CBC radio all the time! (yes... sometimes I'm like a 65 year old!)

9. I'm back to meal planning, life scheduling and ministry planning and dreaming. Love it.

10. 51 day until I leave for Busan...

Oh, Hello September

Woah - Hello September! When did you arrive?

September will always feel like "back to school" time. Time to bring out the pants and socks, the new notebooks, the pens and the backpacks. Time to leave the flexible summer days behind and enter into the schedule filled with school, extra-curricular activities, and youth group. It's time for packed lunches, late night paper writing, Saturday sleep-ins and life being organized by the agenda book.

For the second year, September does not have me going back to school (although late-fall may see an online course). September now means cooler days, a more relaxed schedule and the next set of projects and deadlines approaching alongside a very full schedule. September still has the joy of bringing out the fall wardrobe (I'm one of those people who love fall and winter clothes!) and doing some preparations for children and youth ministry in the church... which is sort of like school preparations!

My work has the summer months as the most full and most busy months of the year. The summer months are filled with some of the most joyful and holy days as people gather together to form community, to pray, to play and to learn. Which means that when the fall days come I have both a more relaxed and more flexible schedule alongside a more full schedule as commitments beyond Sorrento Centre come back to life and the meeting commitments I have made fill up many days and weeks of the year.

At the Cathedral everything starts up again in September: Sunday School, Youth Group, Young Adults, Staff Meetings, Bible Study, Parish Dinners, and the list goes on and on and on! And I am so excited and so ready to continue the planning and get back in touch with everyone. Alongside this my National Church commitments begin again: meetings, readings, writing, gatherings, traveling. There is much new for this year, namely - heading off to the World Council of Churches in South Korea as one of the handful of delegates representing the Anglican Church of Canada. Excited. Terrified. Honoured.

For me, the fall days also are the days when I get back into my cooking and preparing of meals. And I love cooking and baking - so when the time comes for me to get back into the kitchen I find myself filled with peace.

Fall means planning, traveling, preparing, cooking, resting.
Fall means new challenges and opportunities.
So, as much as I am surprised that September has already arrived I am also so very ready for it!

How to stay sane...

When your house goes from only you to 4 people overnight!

My lovely brothers and sister have come for a visit... Taylor, Rhys and Aaron are all here for the week. This is fabulous and so what I need and I like to think also what they need. The thing is, my schedule hasn't changed - it is still the middle of the summer with a full week of programming with 110 people on site ahead of me. The other things is - I'm still tired with no solid sleep time in sight. And we have a wedding this weekend in Vernon for a cousin (yay!) followed quickly by the start of our final week of programming! The season is full right now.

I'm grateful for the energy my brothers and sisters bring with them and the way they are able to be both mature and fun at the same time. We hit a few road blocks once in a while (getting up in the morning - eek!). So in preparation for their arrivial I tried as hard as I could to make sure that things were as organized as possible. Here are a few of the ways I attempted to do just that:

- We're all eating meals in the dining room on site, this is great because it means no food preparations, cooking and clean-up for me. But kids still want to eat snacks! On my counter is a container of all the "odds and ends" from my cupboard that they can enjoy at any time, including: trail mix, crackers, rice cakes, rye crackers, peanut butter, nutella, granola bars, etc... And in my fridge: pickles, pepperoni sticks, cheese sticks and sliced watermelon. And they grab something when they need it.

- A laundry basket is in a central location for all dirty clothes... once this basket is full laundry must be done ASAP!

- They are all registered in programming at Sorrento Centre. Why?! Because otherwise they'd be inside all day while I'm working and they'd end up so bored. I'm hoping for a flexible enough schedule that I'll be able to spend chunks of time with them in the afternoons. But if I can't, they are old enough to go to the beach (lifeguards on duty) and play around site without me.

- I'm aiming for a 10:30pm bedtime - earlier if possible! This means technology off, lights out and heads on pillows! The kids arrived at my house with their summer sleep schedule... stay up all night and sleep all morning/afternoon. Well, let's just say breakfast is served at 7:30am these days!!! So an early bedtime is a must! (If not for them... then for me!)

- I've entered into the week thinking about fun and flexibility. We all need to have fun but we also need to all be able to live with some flexibility. On my end (that work project CAN wait until a different time) and on their end (oh, Melissa needs to ditch basketball for a few moments and go help someone at the office).

It's already off to being a great week and we're having a great time together!

On Rest

It's hard sometimes working in this lovely fast paced world... in this lovely fast paced workplace.
It's hard sometimes to know that all I need to do is rest... to pause... to be quiet for but a moment.
And to also know that it's so hard to make sure it actually happens.
It's hard to make sure that I keep that time sacred and to ask that others be respectful of that sacred time.

I know it's not impossible to do this and have this time.

I'm grateful for the many mentors that I have to teach me how to do this by their example. It's by watching them take time to rest and pray that I am reminded of how important it is and how much my soul yearns for and needs that time. And I know that Jesus found that time, even though it was hard to come by. Hard to carve out those sacred moments of alone time.

And sometimes I'm good at trying. Sometimes I find myself on my deck with a book (which ends up not being as wonderful as I imagined it might be) and settle down in a chair and the phone rings, a guest needs help finding a camping spot. And so I go, because my time is not only my own but more importantly because I care. And I care deeply for the people who come to this place and their time here.

But then I try again... deck, chair, heavy eyes... this time with the cherry chocolate chunk Haagen-Dazs ice cream (aka: a little bit of heaven!). A bit of deliciousness to enjoy during the few moments of quiet.

In the next few weeks I hope to find more mini-moments for the restful, sacred, needed places of quiet and alone time.  And I hope to find more moments of conversation, sharing and laughter with friends. Why? Because I need to for my self-care and overall well-being and because I need to show myself that I can engage in work and ministry that calls for my time and attention minute after minute and also have the ability to pause.
To breathe.
To stop.
To rest.
To pray.
To sleep.
To be.

That I can find the balance and that the balance can be good.

(this may take a lot of cherry chocolate chunk ice cream! :) )