St. James, Chilaw and St. Clement, Puttlam

Just about everthing has changed since my last post, and it all happened at the last moment. I get the feeling it is going to be that kind of a summer!

It all started on Friday, when I went with the sisters to a lecture at the Cathedral. When last you read this blog, I was on my own for a couple days as all the clergy were at clergy synod. Well, this lecture was the wrap up for that, and once again the sisters were kind enough to bring me along. When we got there Sr. Lucy took me around the garden, and showed me all the kinds of trees (they have teak trees in the garden!). We also looked at the labrynth they have, which is very difference from others I've seen. The path is made of different materials at different points, from grass to gravel to huge rocks. I think that it is indicative of the changing paths of our lives. Anyway, it was quite nice.

The lecture itself was on "Is Science Very Different From Religion?" given by a Christian engineer from the University of Sri Lanka. He was very good, arguing that science and religion share many of the same qualities (albiet in different quantities) and showing how that goes against many of the major arguements that the militant scientists and athiests use. It was interesting- I agreed with much of what he said, but could see how a scientist who was not religious would take issue with parts of it.

Anyway, at the lecture I ran into my supervisor, Fr. Jayasiri. "Hi" he said "I've been talking to some people about hosting you. You leave tommorow".

"Ok" I thought "last minute, but what the heck, right?" I didn't come to this country to tell them what I should see and when, and after a week in the convent, I was ready to do some other work, and see more of the country.

Fr. Jayasiri stopped by the next afternoon to give me more details. He has a schedule for me for May, which involves quite a lot of travelling, so this blog should stay interesting a while longer. He also briefed me a bit on Chilaw, which is where I was headed that night. He used to be the rector here, back in the eighties.

Fr. Sam came by to pick me up at 7:00. I had my big backpack all packed and ready to go when he pulls up in this tiny hatchback with his wife, son and mother already in the backseat, and a whole bunch of luggage. We wedged all my stuff in somehow, and I went to get in. To give you an idea of how small his car is, our shoulders actually bumped when we got in at the same time. We took off through the Colombo traffic.

I don't know if I've said a lot about the traffic here, but for a small town boy, it's terrifying. There are horns all over the place, people passing people, moterbikes and three wheelers cutting in and out, just avoiding being run down by the enormous trucks that make up a large part of the traffic. Fr. Sam had asked about how I was adjusting, and I said fine, but the traffic took some getting used to. "Well" he said "It could be worse" I wasn't sure...compared to Canada, this was nuts! Then he went on "there are two clear directions of travel, right? And no rickshaws... not many bikes... few pedestrians..." All of a sudden the traffic looked pretty straightforward!

Fr. Sam is very friendly, and we had a good talk over the two hours it took us to get to Chilaw about the Church of Ceylon and the Anglican Church of Canada, how they are the same, and how different. He finished school in 2003, and was priested in 2005, so he is quite young.

There was one other thing about that drive. As we were speeding away from the Convent he looks at me "We have an English service at 7:00 tommorow. Wanna preach?" How could I say no? I had all of 12 hours to prepare!

Flashforward to this morning. The English service is quite small - 4 in the congregation, and Fr. Sam and I. The sermon was a bit awkward- amazing in my head, but not in my mouth. I think I'm a little out of practise from last summer! If people keep asking me to preach at the last minute though, I'll soon get back into it.

The second service was a mixed Sinhala/Tamil service. The youth of the parish were taking a leadership role this Sunday, and the St. James Mother's Union was joininig the Sri Lankan Mother's Union. I didn't understand a bit of the service, of course, although again could follow where we were. At one point, during the sermon, Fr. Sam's tiny kitten wandered into the church and curled up for a nap under my cassock. One of the choir promptly removed it!

Fr. Sam asked me to come up to the altar with him at communion- all the servers, the Lay Eucharistic Ministers and apparently me go up for that. I did my best to stay out of the way, but was never quite sure where I should be. Fr. Sam was very good about pointing and gesturing though. I was asked to distribute the bread (the roti, a local flat bread), which I was very honoured to do. Also very able, which turned out not to be the case when he asked me to perform the abolutions (clean up after communion). Although I've helped with this and seen it done a thousand times, my mind went blank! Usually in a case like that you can look to the servers for help, but they had no idea either. Between us we managed it, and it was at least on my part, a reverent sort of fumbling. I mean, I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I was doing it reverently. Which is a first step, I always think!

After the service I chatted with a few of the congregation as we drank tea on the steps, surrounded by coconut trees. Did I mention that St. James is in a coconut grove? With a view of the lagoon? And a cow?

There was breakfast after the service as well, and then the people who had come up with the Mother's Union from Colombo came over the vicarage with us for lunch. Not right away of course, so I sat and chatted with the Mother's Union ladies for a while.

After lunch we were off to point 2 of the parish, St. Clement, Puttlam. This is a small Tamil congregation about an hour from St. James. It also has a lagoon view and a coconut grove. The congregation and the church are small. The church was full, and I counted 60 people. They have a lay leader who takes care of things most of the time, and Fr. Sam comes out twice a month for Eucharist. This service was in Tamil, of course, and so again I was only able to follow the basic structure. The good news was (for me) that when Fr. Sam asked me to perform the abolutions I was ready, and had practised in my head, and so was able to do it both reverently and correctly. It helped that the lay leader was assisting me, and he clearly knew what he was doing.

After the service we sat drinking milky sweet tea under the trees as a breeze from the lagoon played over us. Later, we ate supper together, sitting in a circle underneath a giant palm tree as the day faded quickly into night.