Cross Cultural Visit between Lichfield Diocese and Qu’Appelle Diocese Sept/Oct 2022

What an amazing visit. The opportunity for Rev Sara Humphries and myself, to meet with so many lovely people, as we were welcomed and accepted into their lives, homes and churches.

A diverse country with a diverse landscape. But the overarching welcome prevailed. The Anglican Church on a World mission stage.

Bishop Helen was most hospitable, opening her home to us for the majority of our stay, along with her husband Stephen, who self-states he is the ‘Bishop’s Wife’. They made us feel like we were at home, if we moved away and travelled for a few days, it was always like coming home, when we got back to Regina.

Charles Dickens said:

“It is Christianity to love our neighbours as ourselves and to do good to all men and women as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes and enable us to live and die in peace.” 

Christ enables us to love each other, no matter what appears to be our differences, growing in fellowship together, listening and sharing our individual stories, giving time and space to the other. The three weeks took us from West to East and back again across Saskatchewan, and the Qu’Appelle Diocese, meeting clergy and congregation from several of the churches and parishes.

The country is so vast, and it took us no time to understand that distance, is measured in hours, not miles!! Driving for 3 to 4 hours is not uncommon to reach your destination.

We were asked on numerous occasions, the best thing, the worst thing, and the most unexpected thing we had encountered on the trip, Sara and I agreed on all counts.

The best thing: The friendly people and warm welcome everywhere we went.

The worst thing: The driving time to get from place to place.

The most unexpected thing: The similarities of the weekly liturgy and here we added a second thing: The continuing issues: historical and current between the Indigenous peoples and the settlers.

The trip was a resounding success, and we continue to pray for the people of Qu’Appelle Diocese and for the continuing relationship we have across the water.