I am on the plane, flying home from Windsor, Ontario, where the meeting of bishops from Canada and the United States has just concluded. It was a remarkable gathering, and I just want to try to give you a taste of what it was like, and what it was all about.

The idea for this gathering began in 2000, during the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meeting that summer in Denver. Michael Peers, who at that time was the Primate of the Anglican Church in Canada, addressed the House of Bishops, sharing with us about ordeal the Canadian Church was having, coming to grips with cases of sexual abuse which had occurred years before in the Church-run resident schools for Native children, all across Canada. They were trying to respond pastorally, and with sincere regret and penitence about what had happened, in the name of the Church. They were also faced with multi-million dollar suits, which quite literally threatened the institutional survival of the Anglican Church of Canada. One of their dioceses (Caribou) did in fact go bankrupt and had to disband. (Some of you will remember the story, as told by Jim Cruickshank, their former bishop, who was the Chaplain at our 2003 Diocesan Convention.)

Michael Peers also talked with us in Denver in 2000 about the experience of Lambeth 1998, when the Canadian and US Bishops discovered themselves to be in a similar place, with regard to much of the rest of the Anglican Communion, and he expressed his great admiration and respect for our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, in the midst of those growing international tensions. He expressed a desire for our two Provinces (in the US and Canada) to walk together as partners, as well as neighbors. Those of us who heard him speak were duly moved.

At the conclusion of the Denver Convention in 2000, I found myself rising to suggest that it might be time to organize another gathering of US and Canadian Bishops. The last time it had happened was in 1993, at Niagara, Ontario. Tom Ray had attended, and I knew from his report that it had been an important and helpful encounter. Frank Griswold asked me to initiate such a gathering, and so planning began.

As things happen in the Church, it has taken five years for the gathering to finally happen. The biggest challenge was finding a time on the calendar which would make sense given the flow of events on both sides of the border. It was agreed that the best plan was for the US bishops to join an already scheduled meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops, and we settled on the Windsor location, because it is right across the river from Detroit. (In fact, as we met, the big picture window behind the podium looked out across the river towards a magnificent vista of the Detroit skyline.)

Early in our planning, our design team decided to focus our vision out beyond the immediate tensions within the Anglican Communion. We agreed that our theme would be "The Horizon for Mission in North America". We arranged for Walter Brueggemann, a hard hitting prophetic scholar, who electrifies the passages from Hebrew Scriptures, to be the key-noter. He was truly inspiring. He opened up Isaiah and the Psalms in a way that reminded us of God's call to us to turn back from consumerism and militarism as false attempts to establish security in our day. His words clarified for us the imperative to mission. (I would be glad to share with you copies of his talks, which were given to us in printed form. Let me know if you're interested.)

We then gathered in various small group configurations to explore such topics as

• ministries "Beyond Borders" with Native ("First Nations" people)
• theological education for all
• urban (inner city) ministry strategies
• rural ministry strategies (cluster ministry, team ministry, mutual ministry, etc)
• environmental ministries (Care of Creation)
• public advocacy issues, coming out of governmental issues being faced in our two nations
• relationships with the rest of the Anglican Communion (the new Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Kenneth Kearon, was with us)
• ecumenical partnerships (Raymond Schultz, the National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada also was with us)

I was especially moved by a video about the life of Gladys Cook, a Dakota woman who suffered terribly from the institutional racism of both Canada and the United States, and who has in her later years become a powerful healer and counselor for young native women and others. I ordered a copy of the video, and I plan to show it at our Senior Summer Camp, and to share it with those who are developing our Anti-Racism training.

We were overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Canadians, and especially the Diocese of Huron, who were our hosts. On Saturday evening, we went across the river to Detroit for Evensong at the Cathedral of the Diocese of Michigan, and then a final banquet at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This morning (Sunday) there was a gala Eucharist at a nearby parish (All Saints in Windsor), which was very moving indeed. Both Primates (Frank Griswold for our Episcopal Church, and Andrew Hutchison for the Anglican Church of Canada), as well as the bishops from all over the United States and Canada, processed in and joined that local congregation. They were so moved by our visit that they erected a plaque, marking what they consider "an historic occasion".

At one time, we had expected Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to join us for the conference. It was a disappointment to us that he could not come, but the truth is that the focus of the conference did not require his presence to be successful. He did send us a letter of greeting, and a group of us met informally at one point during the weekend to discuss a response. A draft will be circulated and finalized through email over the coming days. Its purpose will be to offer a voice from our two Provinces about the positive and good things happening in the US and Canada. We sometimes get the impression that the only voices being heard in the UK are those which declare negative and doomsday perspectives. If this gathering in Windsor, Ontario accomplished anything, it affirmed the strong and vital partnership of our two Provinces and the exciting life and mission we share.

This was an important gathering. I was honored to be a part of it, and to have played a part in pulling it together.