Wednesday


  • Pre-breakfast trip to the doctor's office to get blood drawn for labwork. Happy to notice that it's not as insufferably hot as it's been.
  • Paper-reading, tea-drinking, muffin-eating, and task planning at home.
  • Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Discussed the status of our electronic backup systems in the office, and our general IT infrastructure needs, with the Diocesan Administrator. We agreed that these are areas that need attention and help from someone more techno-geeky than ourselves (and Sue and I are both moderately geeky).
  • Did a first reading of five more contest essays. This is Round 2 of the judging process. There was some very interesting material in this batch.
  • Lunch from Taco Gringo, eaten at home.
  • Updated the Office of Transition Ministries (OTM, formerly CDO--Clergy Deployment Office) online portfolio for the interim position at the Chapel of St John the Divine in Champaign with some fresh information provided by their vestry. (This is something the Archdeacon would normally do, but since he's away on study leave, it's good for me to be cross-trained.)
  • Reviewed, approved, and processed a request from a priest to solemnize the marriage of a divorced person.
  • It took four phone calls and an email, but I think we've got the logistical details of my scheduled August 13 visit to Redeemer, Cairo worked out. When there isn't a resident priest-in-charge, and when it's a cooperative venture with the ELCA congregation in the same town, and when the ELCA synod is "between bishops," things can get a little complicated.Whew.
  • Conceived and hatched the sermon I will deliver on said visit to Cairo, as well as the next morning at St James', Marion.
  • Dashed off two more emails--one administrative and one pastoral--and left one more voice mail (administrative).
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring 2018 House of Bishops, Day 3

Image
We have new stricter social media rules now in the HOB--no photos taken during a session without the permission of those in it. So ... I'm having to be more creative about finding pics for the blog, because I'm not going to take a panoramic group shot and then contact everyone whose balding head shows in the photo! Once again, the day began with Eucharist. This time, though, I took a pass, and opted for a vigorous walk on a brisk morning. Having looked at the liturgy sheet in advance, there were enough triggers that I knew the net spiritual effect for me would be negative. #selfcare  I will say, however, that HOB worship has gotten incrementally less problematic during the tenure of the current Presiding Bishop, and I give props for that. When we convened at 10:15, there were the usual announcements, then a whirlwind set of summary reports from bishop members of the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) and the Task Force on the Study of Marriage. The full report
Read more

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Image
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
Read more

Saturday (St Charles, King & Martyr)

Substantive phone conversations with the rector of Lincoln, the President of the Standing Committee, and the Canon-to-the-Ordinary. Attended the live-streamed memorial service for a former clergy colleague, and continuing friend, with whom I was in serious conversation about coming to the diocese less than a year ago, who died quickly of COVID at age 66. Then, earlier than I actually needed to, but wanting to get out of town ahead of the snowstorm, I packed up and headed south to Lincoln, where I had time to do some significant reading before hitting the sack.
Read more