Imagine a circle marked out on the ground. Suppose this circle is the world and that the center of the circle is God. Leading from the edges of the circle to its center are a number of lines and these represent the paths of ways of life that men can follow. In their desire to come closer to God the saints move along these lines toward the middle of the circle so that the further they advance toward the middle of the circle the nearer they approach to both God and one another. The closer they come to God the closer they come to one another; and the closer they come to each other, the closer they come to God.
Such is the nature of love. The nearer we draw to God in love for him, the more we are united together by love for our neighbor; and the greater our union with our neighbor, the greater is our union with God.
St. Dorotheus of Gaza (6th century)
In those words I believe we have a vision of the promise and the challenge of the Anglican Communion.
This Conference is a wonderful venue and program for each of the bishops and spouses to draw nearer to God and to our neighbor. We are attempting to move along those lines that bring us closer to God and to each other as we worship and pray together; study the Scriptures and exchange viewpoints and experiences from our different contexts in Bible studies, Indaba groups and various programs.
This is by no means easy. There are serious disagreements among us. There is frustration with aspects of the Indaba group process. There are moments of dismay and discouragement. But we are here for God and for one another and, by God's grace, we shall continue to listen to God and to each other, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
I am gaining new insights and facing new challenges every day that I am privileged to be here. Keep me in your prayers, as I hold you in mine. And watch out: when I get back, I will have a lot of ideas to share about our mission and ministry in New Jersey!
Faithfully yours in Christ,
+George
