Friday (Martyrs of Memphis)

This was "one of those days" when it felt like I could never get traction on any one thing because something else kept intervening. I wanted to get a walk in, but it was raining (about which I will not complain, as we have badly needed it). News then quickly came of the death last night of Elisabeth Bettman, wife of one of our retired priests. So there were emails and phone calls and the like in response to that sad development. Trying to clear my inbox of emails took an inordinate amount of time, it seemed. Much of it had to do with next week's trip to Quito, Ecuador for the regular fall meeting of the House of Bishops. I made it home for a lunch of leftovers, then back to the office, where I managed to focus long enough on one thing to get a sermon hatched for my visit to Chesterfield and Carlinville on the first Sunday of October. Then I worked on trying to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Commission on Ministry; time will yet tell whether my efforts were successful. I also got my 2012 visitation calendar roughed out. It's not ready for publication yet, but getting there. After Evening Prayer in the office (wedding rehearsal going on in the cathedral), I headed out to a nearby retreat center for the working retreat of the Department of General Mission Strategy. We had a productive start, and I look forward to tomorrow. This is the work that will begin the process of charting our course as a diocese. There are no templates, no "best practices" to emulate. We're discovering fire and inventing the wheel. It's that fundamental. Scary ... but exciting ... and the Holy Spirit is with us.

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