A Visit with the Archbishop of York

Last week I recieved an email stating that I was nominated by the staff at Time for God to accompany them at a meeting with the John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. After making sure the meeting would work into my own schedule, I gladly accepted the invitation. I didn't really know what to expect.





Thus, I boarded a train and traveled two hours up to the beautiful city York. The city still contains many medieval features like the wall that still surrounds much of the old city and tiny cobblestone streets that you can barley fit a car through. It all seemed amazing, that is, until I stepped off the train and nearly got blown off my feet! You see, Janurary and February for England is the time when winter Gales are at their finest. The day that I spent in York was a shining example of this. Record winds up to 80 mph were reported on the coast of the Irish Sea and more than a dozen ships were affected- some being blown against their will streight into the high cliffs and rocks. This system was continuing it's way southward and was hitting the city of York just around the time we were meeting with the Archbishop. It seems sometimes that not even the hand of God can stop hearty North Country people from going about their daily lives, let alone a measley storm with hurricane winds. Thus, my train remarkably got into the station relativley on time and more important- was only five minutes late going back to London. Even with the horizontal rain outside, people still came into the pub where we ate lunch before the big meeting and were quite cheerful and almost oblivious to the conditions around them. An amazing thing indeed.





The purpose of our meeting with the Archbishop was that of begining a relationship. Jon Sentamu recently agreed to be a patron of the organization Time for God and we were there to describe what the organization was all about and how he could help us. Archbishop Sentamu is an inspirational character who originally comes from Uganda. His passion for political stability on the African continent rings throughout his whole being and is best exampled by his refusal to wear a preist collar until there is peace within the currently politcal unstable country of Zimbabwe.





He was extremely down to earth and welcomed us all with a wonderful spirit to the Archbishop's Palace in York. What was most intriguing about his character and presence was his "no fluff" tone of speach. Every word he said meant somthing and it turned out that he spoke relativley little throughout the entire meeting. It inspired me to see how such a well known leader could talk so little. After the meeting, Claire (the other volunteer who was invited to come and who ironically was also from Uganda) and I braved the conditions and made it to York Minster before our trains departed. After the noise and cold weather outside, it was nice again to come into a space of such peace and tranquility. I now am back in London again inspired by the Archbishop to be ever more of a listener. I think it is somthing all of us could learn.

From left to right: John (Chair of the Time for God Board of Trustees), Archbishop of York John Sentamu, me, Claire (another Time for God Volunteer), David (CEO of Time for God).