Thursday

  • Usual routine. Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • "Revised and extended" (to use C-SPAN lingo) my homily for Lent I, Episcopal Parish of Alton.
  • Phone conversation with Fr David Boase over details of my visit to Alton Parish on Lent I, and the Lenten teaching series I will be giving there on Wednesdays.
  • Personal brainstorming re broad areas of mission implementation. This included fooling around with some organizational chart software, which was kind of fun.
  • Appointment with Fr Dale and Deacon Joan Coleman, bearing much positive news about goings-on at St George's, Belleville.
  • Lunch appointment with John-Paul Buzzard of St John's Chapel in Champaign. He's an organ builder and I'm an organ geek, so we easily kept ourselves amused.
  • Back to the mission implementation flow chart work referenced above.
  • Phone conversation with Ann Wilt, Bishop's Warden at St Michael's, O'Fallon, regarding their search process.
  • Continued with study and research in preparation for the Alton Lenten teaching series.
  • Spoke by phone with Fr Ashmore as he wore his Chair of Examining Chaplains hat.
  • Took the time to manually enter names, dioceses, and email addresses for the 26 other bishops who attended the Canterbury program with me. It isn't like I'll be in frequent contact with very many of them., but it was nonetheless a valuable exercise. It made my sense of connection to them just a little bit stronger. Many of them minister in environments that are many times for challenging than my own, with natural catastrophes and violent civil strife just a normal part of their world. It is important that we hold one another in prayer.
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.

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