- Task planning and email processing at home, Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
- Worked on refining my sermon plan for this Sunday (St James, McLeansboro).
- Attended to some relatively minor administrative tasks and decisions.
- Met with Bob and Judy Ellison from St John's, Decatur, regarding some concerns pertinent to the life of that parish.
- Lunch at home.
- Began the process of designing my homily for Easter IV (May 15), at St George's, Belleville.
- Took a few minutes to assemble a blog post using already-written material, stimulated by a request from a former-parishioner college student.
- Noticed that my sense of balance was suddenly compromised whenever I tried to walk, this following sinus pressure (with stopped-up ears) for the last 24 hours. Made a visit to an urgent care clinic at got myself diagnosed with "eustachion tube dysfunction." Now the proud owner of a nasal steroid spray. (This was time out of my afternoon I could not really afford to lose, but it seemed prudent to seek medical attention.)
- Returned to the office in time to work for a while on a short musical composition for my "seating" liturgy a week from Sunday. (If you must know, it's a congregational antiphon for the Magnificat, which will be chanted by a cantor.)
- Evening Prayer in the cathedral.
- Off to Decatur yet again, this time for a congregational meeting at St John's, wherein I tried to get everybody on to the same level of knowledge with respect to the events leading up to the departure of Fr Reischman, and announcing the appointment of Fr Dick Sawn as priest-in-charge. Took about an hour and change to say what I needed to say and respond to questions. St John's has been one of the anchor parishes of the diocese, and can be that again.
- Home around 8:15, with chicken and fixin's from Popeye's in hand. After consuming the meal, back to my compositional efforts. Mission now accomplished (that particular one, at any rate).
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Ten years ago, minus about six weeks, I served as the supply priest for Trinity, Lincoln six days before my consecration as Bishop of Springfield. Today I was there for the final regular scheduled canonical parish visitation of my episcopate. (I have a few more gigs on my calendar: March 7 in Mattoon, the Chrism Mass, the Triduum at the cathedral, May 30 in Cairo, and June 27 back at the cathedral--May 2 is available and not yet spoken for--but the every Sunday routine of my life for the past decade (in a larger sense, for the last 32 years) is at a major flex point.) As much as it could have been in the midst of a pandemic, this morning at Trinity was luminous. We confirmed eight adults, six of them qualifying as "young." My homily had to compete with the sounds of active young children. (I would much rather do that than have no kids in church.) Trinity is one of the exciting points of light in my ministry in the diocese. I took my time getting out of Lincoln because I wante...
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