The host of the Spouses’ Conference, Jane Williams, wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, says the spouses are ”˜looking at some of the most urgent issues facing us as human beings made in God’s image.’
And, as the conference approaches its final week, she spoke about the stories the spouses have been telling: ”˜I feel as though I can hardly bare for it [the conference] ever to end because there are 550 of us and obviously the proportion of stories I have heard is still quite small of all of those people. And every single one has the most extraordinary story to tell.
”˜We have heard some stories of amazing hardship, fantastic hope, often the two together – hardship and hope.
”˜I spent a little while yesterday talking to the bishops’ wives from the Congo and as you know, Congo has been through a long period of war and civil unrest. And the kind of rebuilding work that all of those women are involved in within their dioceses is just so uplifting; to hear what they are doing on hardly any resources and they are doing simply out of love of God and love of the people God has given to them.’
Prayers for the bishops’ wives may be found here and here.
Heh, I surely hope Jane Williams won’t “bare” for it! Unless, of course, the bishops’ spouses are planning to do a semi-nude calendar for charity, a la the “Calendar Girls”! 😉
I listen to Bishop Benjamin Kwashi and his wife tell of her torture and their near martyrdom.
We Christians living in North America and Great Britain truly live a pampered and sheltered life compared to the lives lived by many Chrisitians in the Third World.