WCC Assembly - Thursday, October 31

Today was my first day with committee meetings. I serve on the Public Issues Committee which prepares public statements for adoption by the assembly. We meet throughout the Assembly mostly during our lunch breaks but our small working groups (I'm currently on the group that is working on the draft of the "Human Rights of Stateless People") meet at other times (usually during breaks or the evening if required). We will also spend all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon meeting together.

So, why do I say "first day with committee meetings" like it makes a difference? Well... because it does! During our committee orientation and welcome we were told that this is the most labour intensive and demanding of all the committees (I'm pretty sure that over the last five year the meaning of my name has changed to "serves on committee that have way too much work!")... we are the visible face of the WCC, we are responsible for our voice in the world. It's very interesting work but it makes for very long days. I leave my hotel somewhere around 7:40am and I arrive back in the evening around 9:15pm, with meetings now taking up the lunch break it's taken the pace of the day to a whole new level. I am though, honored to be part of this important committee and work.

Our our way to the Theme Plenary session 

Some thoughts from the day:

- Our mornings (from 8:30-10:15am) are filled with prayer, scripture, song and study. We gather for morning prayer at 8:30 and from there move into our Bible study groups. I am in a small Bible Study group (small being around 50 people...) and will meet with the same group throughout the meeting. We break into about five smaller groups of 10 or so people as we spend time discussing and exploring the days reading. Today we looked at Genesis 2:4b-17.

Greetings from the Prime Minster of Korea

- In today's Theme Plenary session we received greetings from the Prime Minister of Korea. In order for this to happen we went through some tight security... our name tags were checked and we had to go through metal detectors before entering into the auditorium. The Prime Minister shared some comments with us and ended by saying "we hope that we can have peace in divided Korea and we hope that the WCC will pray for us as we hope for this peace."

- One of the highlights of my day was listening to Mr. Michael Sidibe who is the Executive Director of UNAIDS. Sidibe shared many stories with us and shared about the goal of having no new AIDS diagnosis and no more discrimination against those who live with the disease. He shared that we need a new paradigm of leadership, one that is more inclusive and more people focused... that in the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS we need to reach people where they are in their families and communities. His dream is that by 2015 we will be able to say to the world, "no more babies are born with HIV."... We must be inclusive if we want justice and peace, heath care and education must be for all, no one should be left aside and all should have access to treatment.

Regional Meetings

     0 deaths due to AIDS
     0 discrimination
     0 new cases of HIV
I can't wait to see this become reality hopefully within my time. When you close your eyes can you see this dream coming true?

- I look part in the Ecumenical Conversation called "Evangelism today: new ways for authentic discipleship".

- We met in our Regional groups this evening for a meeting/conversation on the theme of the Assembly, how we as a region can impact the Assembly and the important issues in our region. This is the only time that we will meet as a region.

I have some reading on Human Rights of Stateless People to do before sleep takes over (and it's already past my bed time!) but you can see the second edition of Madang Live sharing what happened yesterday as the opening of the WCC Assembly took place here.

WCC Assembly - Madang Live 1

Go here to view the first of the daily video summaries "Madang Live":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfW2UFSJc58&feature=player_embedded

WCC Assembly - Wednesday, October 30th - Things have started!

The "disciplined and diligent delegates at orientation 

It's been quite an amazing day... amazing people, amazing sounds, amazing words, amazing sharing, just amazing. The 10th Assembly of the WCC formally started it's meeting today and my goodness are there a lot of people here... it's a good thing that BEXCO (the convention center we are meeting in) is literally massive.

This is going to have to be a quick overview of the day because I am tired tonight and it's only day one of our ten day meeting. So, here are some pieces from the day:

5000 People gathered together for the Gathering Prayer

- I learned this morning as I sat in the orientation session that a) not many people decide to attend this session and b) I probably didn't need to be there... I'm glad I went but my experience was that I had received the information during the Youth Pre-Assembly already; read the materials in the information sent out before the Assembly; or that coming from my work back in Canada I already know how a number of the processes work (ie: consensus, nominations, etc...)

- There are 700 youth (people under the age of 30) present at this Assembly in many different capacities. The WCC General Secretary told us that this is the youngest Assembly yet!

- The Assembly delegates are made up of 52% women and 48% men.

Standing room only during Gathering Prayer

- Our time in the Gathering Prayer was probably one of the highlights for me... like really, when does one get to be part of worship with 5000+ people in the room? 5000 voices in many different languages all praying together prayers of lamentation and thanksgiving... 5000 people listening to the Word of God... 5000 people raising their voices in song.

- During the Gathering Prayer the room was so packed that there was only standing room at the back... how lovely would it be for this to be a problem we had on Sunday mornings?

- Our Opening Plenary session brought many greetings from all sorts of people including a letter from Pope Francis, greetings from the local community, thoughts from four young people and (the most powerful part in my opinion) a dramatic opera and dance presentation by local Koreans sharing the 5000 year history of Korea and the quest for justice and the hope for peace.

Full auditorium for the Opening Plenary

- We heard reports from the General Secretary and Moderator  and ended our "work" time for the day with our first Business Plenary which included matters that were referred to the policy reference committee and the public issues committee and the approval of our assembly committees and leaders. This plenary included consensus decision making, long line-ups at microphones and between the hearing of the above mentioned reports and this session we managed to get 45 minutes behind schedule!

Korean dramatic opera presentation 

- Evening Prayer tonight was Anglican Evensong... nice and familiar!

WCC Assembly - Tuesday, October 29 - More reflections

Today I wrote for the Anglican Church of Canada WCC blog, so if you're looking for more reflections on the last day of the pre-assembly you can read them here: http://www.anglican.ca/resources/wcc2013/youth-pre-assembly-day-2/

WCC Assembly - Tuesday, October 29, Peaceful Protests

"Jesus is the Christ National Protest against WCC"

As the WCC Assembly begins to meet in Busan, Republic of Korea with the support of many local churches it became obvious that not all of the Christian churches in Korea support the WCC and its work. Today we encountered a peaceful protest consisting of hundreds of Korean people who do not support the work of the WCC and who are not happy that we are meeting here.

I say "peaceful protest" partially because that is what I've been told it is but mostly because that is what I've experienced it as. Life in any free country, people are welcome to their own opinions and views and expressing those opinions and views in peaceful ways.






We have a great Korean Host Committee who is keeping tabs on this protest and who are dealing with it. We also have a large number of police on the grounds of BEXCO (where we are meeting) who offer a peaceful presence to make sure that everything goes well.

It's important to remember that this protest is probably going on because it stems from the history of Korean churches and their WCC involvement - it's not necessarily directed to us who are here today but to the historical memory and encounters.

Peaceful police presence 

This article was shared on the WCC Youth Pre-Assembly Facebook page from the Korean Times and provides some background information.

Regardless of all this going on - all continues to be well, I still feel very safe here and we continue to gather and feel welcome!

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!