ON THE GROUND AND ON THE MOVE

I've been very busy since the plane landed, and my journey so far has brought me through London where I visited the Church House of the Church of England and went to Evensong at Westminster Abbey and then went to dinner and back to my room at St. Matthew's House where I slept for nearly 12 hours.

Moving out from London I finally got to the correct train station, avoiding the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to board a train for St. Albans where I was met by Jeanette Gosney who brought me to meet with the Local Ministry Team for five churches in four small rural villages called "The Hartford Hundred."

We traveled on to the city of Luton where I met with the LMT of a two church parish and learned how Local Ministry is carried out in an urban setting quite different from where I spent the afternoon. I stayed with the Vicar and his wife in a vey nice home.

Today Jeff Mercer, the consultant for St. Mary's, Redborn came to pick me up. We arrived in time for the 9:30 Team Morning Prayer service. Then we walked over to the Village Cricket field where the church has "Coffee on the Commons," an outreach to moms who drop their kids off at the school next to the Cricket Hall.

I met with individual members of the LMT in a 1-1 way, learning about marriage preparation and baptismal preparation at St. Mary's. Then I went to lunch with the Vicar, Will Gibbs, and his curate Lucy. At the home where I will spend the night I met with the team member who runs small group ministries, and then we went over to Hayden's for home communion led by Doris, a lay minister with whom I will stay tonight. Her husband David is an attorney whose chief client is the Church of  England.

At the vicarage I am catching up on email from Bishop John who is returning from Okinawa today, with Andrew Tyler who is returning to England from California tomorrow, from two people from Northern California, and from Sandi Holmberg in Minnesota, all from a couch here in Redborn.

Tomorrow I meet at the Cathedral with the Archdeacon of the Diocese, attend an ecumenical service at the cathedral, and do some sightseeing at the Cathedral and if possible, some ancient Roman ruins.
Saturday I will move on to visit with Bishop Holbrook.

Are you exhausted reading all this? Imagine having to tote around a 50 pound suitcase etc.

I am learning a lot and sharing a lot also.