Photos at the WCC: November 4th

I have spent the last three days basically in committee. Drafting a document meant to guide a huge global fellowship of churches for the next seven years in a group of 40 can really take a lot of time. So you're getting some random pics.

Me, waiting for the train, looking windblown.

The president of the Lutheran World Federation brought greetings, and some of my best friends are Lutherans, so...

I don't have a photo of the rabbi who is the president of a large consortium of Jewish communities working on interreligious issues. And obviously I don't even have the name written down. But he said something that really struck me: Jews and Christians are partners in waiting. Jews wait for the Messiah to come, and Christians wait for the Messiah to come again. We tend to demonize each other, but we are actually partners. And he got a lot of applause when he said it is important to continue working for a two-state solution: a Jewish state of Israel, and a Palestinian state.

Teatro Ekumenical with the National Council of Churches of the Philippines.

I never drink regular soda unless it's Mexican coke mixed with rum, so let's just say today's committee meeting represented a break-down for me. Roasted vegetable sandwich without the bread, fruit, and Korean Coke.

Then we were in committee meeting from 12:15pm until 6pm, so we missed the workshops and ecumenical conversations. But we made it through. Then there was a closed session on election of WCC presidents (click here and see how many women presidents there are!!!). After electing presidents, we had a contentious conversation about nominations to the Central Committee. It was closed, so I can't really say anything, except that perhaps some churches feel entitled to more seats than there are available. That is all.

After business session, McCormick alumni/ae and students dinner hosted by David Esterline!
Beautiful fruit. Best buffet of my life.

Alumni Woo Jin Seong (we overlapped by a year before he and his wife went to Claremont School of Theology for PhD programs... now he teaches at Hanshin University and is on faculty for the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute at the WCC GA) and Raafat Zaki (on synod staff).