A good friendship revisited today







The Very Revd. Andrew B. McGowan is Dean and President at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

He has been in my neck of the woods this week as the guest lecturer for the (Episcopal Church) Diocese of South West Florida's annual Clergy Conference.  His lectures were eloquent, clear, well focused, and at times very witty.

I would not have expected less.  For I know him better as my friend Andrew.

He was a parishioner and priest associate at St. James's, Cambridge, MA  when he taught at the Episcopal Divinity School and I was the Rector at St. James's.

Andrew and his family returned to Melbourne, AU where he took up the post of Warden at the University of Melbourne's Trinity College.  Some of you will remember that I visited Australia in 2011 and spent three or four days with Andrew and his clan.  **

 Of course I got a bit "puffed up"  yesterday when Andy told the assembled clerics that I had been his Rector in Cambridge!

I was able to "pull rank"  so that I could be the chauffeur who drove Andy from our Camp and Conference Centre to Sarasota's Airport for his return flights to Connecticut.

This was splendid. We were in good time, so were able to relax for about an hour at the airport;  time to enjoy each other's company.

We caught up on our  family news; we shared our perspectives on Episcopal Church life; and we engaged in a wee bit of scurrilous Church gossip!

I am in awe of Andrew McGowan's scholarship.

I am grateful to count him as a dear and good friend.

I know that St. James's Cambridge friends will be afflicted with a tinge of envy when they read that I had "good time" with Andy today!


At SRQ




ONE LAST WORD. 

Andrew McGowan talked about what I will loosely call "Church services" (not his words). 

We often ask "is this relevant to me?"   He reminded us of the essential  question: "Is this pleasing to God?"

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**  see this from 2011   http://jmichaelpovey-retiredpoveinsarasota.blogspot.com/2011/12/friends-old-and-new-in-australia.html

Comments

  1. Unknown30 September 2016 at 08:34

    So glad you got to see Fr Andrew and spend some quality time with him.

    ReplyDelete

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