Last night I had dinner with one of my closest friends among
the purple siblinghood, Prince Singh of Rochester. This HOB has not been the
occasion of my customary bourbon bacchanal. But Prince helped me put away some
of the double oaked Woodford Reserve that I’d brought all the way from San
Francisco for the occasion.
Today began with Holy Eucharist at Good Sheppard, Taipei. It
was a lovely bilingual (English/ Mandarin) service celebrated with solemnity
and grace. We sang Cwm Rhondda. There is something about Asian voices singing a
Welsh hymn, especially in Mandarin. The depth of faith in this congregation was
palpable. Somehow seeing the same structure of the Eucharist observed in Taipei
that most Episcopal Churches observe in the United States was beautiful in its
unity, and reinforced for me why it is such profound thing to practice the
spirituality of common prayer instead of reworking the liturgy to express what
we personally happen to be feeling at the moment. See http://bishopdansblog.blogspot.tw/2014/08/6th-epistle-to-nevadans.html
After Eucharist, we had dinner in the courtyard. I sat and
conversed with Keith and Suzie Whitmore of Atlanta. I told them the stories of
the last attempted cross burning in Macon and how Sr. Megan Rice is now doing
time for exposing the security vulnerabilities of our nuclear arsenal. They were
a great audience, and told me things of much more practical importance, like
how hard it is to get tickets to Packers games.
The afternoon session put bishops and spouses together to
discuss the spiritual lessons of this whole Asian experience. Some of us who
had been skeptical about it have become believers.
Then came the Fireside Chat. Sorry folks, that part is
confidential. But I can tell you it was all good. No plots to subvert the faith
or undermine the laity.
As darkness fell, the tropical storm arrived with impressive
winds and drenching rains. I had the good fortune to dine with Bishop Katharine
and her husband Dick. We talked of nutrition and recipes. We told stories of
colorful characters in Nevada. We learned a lot from each other and I felt my
life made better by knowing these good, funny, and brilliant people.
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