London & Cambridge Bound

Flying to Britain tomorrow for a week of lectures at Cambridge led by Kallistos Ware and Andrew Louth (among others). John Roberson is accompanying me, and I am grateful for his friendship - lets see if I can teach John to drive on the other side of the road!

First stop is London, where we will meet up with Mark Dupere who is over from the Netherlands doing some performances in the UK. I'll give John the drive-by tour of the city and then we're off to see good friends John and Dawn Singleton in Ilford (which is in northeast London). John leads Lifeline Community Church and Ministries, and does just incredible work in third-world relief and missions. I'm preaching there Sunday morning, so do pray for them!

After lunch we're off to Cambridge and check-in at Sidney Sussex College, drinks, and hopefully a jet-lag free night of sleep before lectures begin Monday am. We'll be looking at the nature of God as Love, and the way in which this love is made manifest - and is also perverted - in human relationships. Obviously this is going to involve some heavy-lifting on the Trinity, but there will also be some lectures on CS Lewis' work with regard to love and eros, the Song of Songs, and some discussions of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Love in the Syriac fathers, and Love in the writings of Augustine of Hippo and Maximus the Confessor. A final session on God as Love and Man as Love should provide an excellent capstone for the week, ending Friday at noon.

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post from there, but I'll try to get something done so long as I can get the internet connections to work out.

With each day beginning and ending with vespers, combined with the opportunity to gain some quiet time for reflection on the banks of the Cam, it goes without saying that I am trusting and praying for a certain measure of personal renewal as well - 'times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.'

Thanks for your prayers!