On Friday I was treated to a different perspective. Many of us had the opportunity to climb the very long spiral stair case to the top of Bell Harry Tower. The tower was completed in 1498 and is 249 feet tall, at the top is the bell that calls everyone to service. The bell is named for Prior Harry (Henry) Eastry.
Climbing that tower provided a very different perspective. From about the mid-point you can look out on the inside of the church and see the quire and the nave from very different perspectives.
A little further up is a large wooden wheel, it looks a bit like a water wheel at a granary. Two men would have stood inside the wheel and walked in one direction or another to raise and lower building supplies for the tower. It is a “modern” convenience from a different time and culture. Though now tied off the wheel is still functional. The trap door in the ceiling used for the rope and basket is now used for hanging television cameras when a service is to be broadcast.
High upon the tower you can look in all directions and see the city of Canterbury. From this perspective you can see that the town was built around the Cathedral in rings moving out from the center, like rings in a pond when a stone is dropped in. Interspersed among the many old buildings in the city are new buildings dating to the mid 20th century. These buildings were placed there out of necessity; the bombings of WWII had destroyed their predecessors. In many cases the exact date of the bombing that destroyed a particular building could be identified. Seeing these holes in the fabric of the building history is most noticeable from the perspective of the tower.
Climbing this tower provided a very different perspective on this Cathedral, the surrounding town, and the Anglican Communion.
On the surface it would seem that two priests from the same country, both women, would have similar stories. Yet one priest is from a First Nation. There are some aspects of her ministry that have more in common with a First Nation priest from North America than her colleague in the same country. They share different perspectives.
Other members of the Anglican communion can literally face death for what they preach. Speaking out in opposition to a rival group can lead to a quick and final retribution.
Another perspective shows us that in some areas widows and orphans are not cared for, they are cast aside. In that community people can eat for weeks on the amount of money many in the Western world spend on a coffee at Starbucks each day.
We share different perspectives on the Episcopate and Bishops. The US Episcopal Church is often remembered for the advertising campaign that said “You don’t have to check your brains at the door in an Episcopal Church.” Yet in some parts of the Anglican Communion the bishop will tell a priest where to serve, what to preach, and what to believe. One brother on this pilgrimage was informed by his bishop that with his ordination to priesthood only months away he must find a wife and be married prior to ordination.
Or consider the country where Anglicanism is relatively new. If a priests talks about the history of the Anglican Church in terms of King Henry VIII and his desire for a divorce the faith is not received well; however if the history begins with Saint Augustine arriving in England in 597 there is great acceptance. It is simply a matter of different perspectives.
This pilgrimage has provided a very different perspective on many areas of ministry and of the Anglican Communion.
My prayer from Canterbury is that you are blessed by different perspectives,
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