Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace.
I write from my room in the Hilton Hotel overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the runway of the San Francisco International Airport. Since yesterday morning, URI Global Council members have been arriving from our first face-to-face meeting of the entire GC since 2010 in Amman, Jordan.
I met Archbishop John Baptist Odama, trustee from Gulu, Uganda, yesterday evening and helped him get settled before having dinner with trustees Sherif Awad from Egypt and Musa Sanguila from the Philippines, along with staff member Maria Crespo from Argentina, who has arrived early to help with translation, and Shiema Zikria, who is helping with logistics for this meeting.
After months of planning and preparations, the meeting begins late this afternoon with a reception, dinner and an opportunity for the trustees to get to know each other. Our formal sessions will begin on Wednesday morning.
The staff from around the world will arrive on Thursday and there will be combined GC and staff meetings through Monday, 11 March, with our annual Circles of Light gala on Saturday, 9 March. The GC will depart on 12 March, while the staff will continue meeting on its own for two days, departing on 14 March.
I know these days will be filled to the fullest with building new relationships and doing work on behalf of URI’s global community. I will do my best to send out postings, perhaps not every day, but hopefully every few days, to keep you informed about what is happening here.
In the mean time, I ask that you hold the success of this meeting in your prayers and meditations.
Thank you for all you do to bring light into the world.
Faithfully,
Charles
The Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director, United Religions Initiative
