Later we got into a
conversation with him on many topics, and migrated to the subject
of the Church of Scotland. He mentioned that he was ordained,
which was a bit of an understatement - it was at that point we
noticed that he was wearing a ring with a purple stone.
We were blessed, it
turned out, to be traveling with the Most Rev. A. Bruce Cameron,
Bishop of the Diocese
of Aberdeen and Orkney and Primus of the Church of Scotland.
He proved to be eminently approachable and personable. For a couple
of American Episcopalians (a sister church of the Church of Scotland),
it was a golden opportunity to share opinions and ideas on where
the Church was going and how to deal with the wide diversity of
beliefs in our communities.
Meeting Bishop Cameron
was also a pleasant coincidence for us as Episcopalians. The history
of the Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church of the United
States have been intertwined since Samuel Seabury, the first Bishop
of the Episcopal Church in "the colonies" was ordained
by three Church of Scotland bishops in Aberdeen in 1784. The churches
have been in close association ever since. For more history, see
their Web
site.
The best moments in
travel are when you stumble upon something so important to you
that you would have gone out of your way to find it had you known
about it. Instead, God puts it squarely in your path. This was
definitely one of those moments.
