Saturday and Pilgrimage

30 of us have been on a journey together.  We are so different and yet so the same.  LGBT priests gathered together to tell our stories.  There is so much pain and struggle and sense of isolation.  About a third of our number are women priests.  Although being LGBT clergy is what brings us together, being human in the church is what we talk about.

We had prayers in one of the lovely churches three times on Saturday with different groupings of priests presiding with very different styles.  We have sung Taize hymns in Latin together and have recited the Lord's prayer together, each in our own language.  It's such a wonderful sound to hear when 30 people are each praying this familiar prayer together but all around, you can hear several languages saying the same thing.

We now have concluded our personal story-telling.  As each person comes forward, we write our name on the chalkboard.  I have included a picture of the board taken before all names were written.  Even in the writing of the names, individuality shines through.  As we get to know each other, there is increasing depth in our sharing.  Different nationalities have different ways of sharing.  Norwegians don't share easily.  A few others have shared very emotionally their stories of struggling to find meaning in church and ministry.  It is a healing thing for people to share their stores together.  It is how community is built.

It is refreshing to walk across the road to get to one of our two usual churches.  The air is bracing and it clears the mind from so many words.  After lunch, we went to the church for meditation.  Psalm 39 was read in 11 languages, one after the other.  It was a meditative exercise.  From church, we set off on our pilgrimage to an ancient church of St. Mary. The roads were snow covered and footing was sometimes treacherous especially going up or down the many hills.  It was only a 4 kilometer walk but seemed like more because walking was difficult.  At one point, an official of some sort (at least she was wearing a uniform) drove by us with a horse and sulky.  That was unexpected.  We passed several farms along the way.  We were relieved to sight St. Mary's on a hilltop.  The church is ancient, and unheated.  It contains the oldest pulpit in Norway, from a few years after the reformation.  We went in, amazed at the age, the simplicity, the beauty.  We sang a hymn together - again each in our own language.  Familiar melody but surrounded by very different words.

Our organizers had arranged for us to be picked up so we didn't have to walk back to the guest house.  We had free time for about two hours.  I took a nap.  We gathered again at 5:30 to continue our discussions of finding relevance in ministry and keeping our faith.

We had dinner at 7 and then went to church for evening prayer followed by a party.  We gathered in a room we had not seen which was really cozy and candle-lit and very conducive to conversations.  I was with my friends from the conference in Kiev.  I finally called it a night around midnight but was too tired to blog when I got back to my room.  I went down the hall to take a shower and crashed.   I didn't sleep well because I was thinking about the presentation I have to make Sunday morning.  It's one thing lecturing to the general public.  It's all together different to be lecturing to highly educated peers.  There's something ironic about a man talking about feminist and liberation theology to a group women priests.

I suspect this blog entry has been kind of somber.  I feel that way this morning.  To be a minister in MCC is difficult sometimes but to be with priests who are in churches where they are not always welcome is an eye-opening experience.

Here's a link to yesterday's pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nundabud/20101113?authkey=Gv1sRgCIHRxqzc-9_QtgE#