The bishops are coming, the bishops are coming! Oh, and the president, too.

This week, UCU is hosting the bi-annual Provincial Assembly, akin to General Convention, in which the bishops and leaders of the 34 dioceses of the Province of the Church of Uganda gather for legislative business.

Since this is the last Assembly for which the Archbishop will preside, the President was invited, and he accepted.

The morning services are open to all, so I attended.  Of course, I had to greet Archbishop Orombi (and the other bishops and people I knew), and he told me to go register for the Assembly.  Archbishop said... so I did.

No, it's not wrinkled; the light was poor when I took the photo.

Of course, since the president was coming, security was tight.  UCU security was out in good numbers, as were the army, and the Ugandan version of the Secret Service.  One of their agents asked me for my staff ID prior to the service.  Tragically, I don't yet have it; fortunately, another staff explained that I am new then took me to sit with him.

The Vice Chancellor, Dr. Senyonyi, preached on Acts 20:17-38, as the theme for the Assembly is leadership succession.  Canon Amos, who rescued me from the Secret Service-type, whispered to me after the reading from Acts, "can't you feel the tone?"  And indeed, it does feel that we're beginning the long good-bye to the Archbishop.  The Archbishop is beginning a three-month tour of the Province, saying good-bye.  He's coming to the Mukono cathedral on 9 September, and he made a plea for no long speeches or programs.  We'll see how that works out; he's rather beloved by all.

Archbishop Orombi led the morning session with humor and grace, as one would expect.  The president, while calling himself an "amateur Christian," gave a decent talk on the command to subdue the earth in Genesis 1:28 and Africa's need to master subduing the earth to better the people.

The president later noted that the Archbishop doesn't lecture him publicly, and that he returns the favor.  In an age of very public political rebukes flying around the media (yes, it's an international phenomenon!), I very much appreciate the grace with which the president spoke of the Archbishop's integrity.  I'm sure they don't necessarily agree on much, though to me, that kind of public statement is high praise indeed.