It's good to be Home

August 10th, 2018 by Carl Buffington

Today, Friday the 10th of August, a parishioner had surgery early in the morning, and a deacon is getting married in the afternoon, or has already been wed depending on when you read this. We can sing, "Ruan and Dennis are Going to the chapel and..." well, you know the lyric, and we all say, "Alleluia."

And all sorts of other events in our parish family are happening. It's so good to be home with you all, to pray together, to celebrate together, and to grow together. I am sincerely grateful to our Lord!


Bishop Masimango, Bishop William & Me

My recent trip to Africa was a whirlwind. I left on Thursday morning, following a day behind Canon Christopher, from MCO to Doha, and then on to Kigali - about 22 hours in the air. I went to meet with Archbishops Kolini and Masimango, and bishop William to talk about the work of reconciliation, and that we did - talk, pray, and plan. There were also a number of Archdeanery missions that Archbishop Kolini had set up, where we taught, and so there was little time deal with jet lag.

Saturday evening we were assigned parishes to preach in. I concluded my sermon last Sunday, in Remera, Rwanda, to about 700 English-speaking Rwandans on this note, "It's good to be home."

(That is Fr. Antoine, the rector, sending off the children and introducing me).

I shared with them that many years earlier, after preaching at the cathedral in Kigali, I sat on hill and called our senior warden, Craig Reilly, (Kigali is 6 hours ahead of Florida) before the early service, and asked him to thank our home parish family for supporting me on this trip. It was very special indeed.

You see, after our son AJ was killed in an auto accident, Archbishop Kolini called and shared how he had recently lost a son recently and invited Barbara and me to come and spend time with him in Rwanda. We became fast friends, and so over the years, when I return, Rwanda has become a home where it is also good to be. It's good to be home.

So once again, not from a hill in Rwanda, but a computer in Winter Springs, FL I thank you all for supporting my visit, for your love and prayers, and for being here! It is good to be home.

Blessings & Thanks Again to You All!

PS I intend to share in greater detail about the this journey - in the sermon - and especially about a truly transformative event that happened while there, and how I leaned into the spiritual disciplines I shared in the parish letter to guide me through it.

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Posted in Friday Epistles

About this author:

Carl Buffington

Carl Buffington is a bishop in Anglican Mission International (AMI). He has been in ministry for over forty years. He lives in Florida with his wife Barb and their two golden retrievers, Sammy and Tilly.

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