Friday

  • Usual routine at home. Then off to the Secretary of State's driver services facility (known in some states as DMV) to atone for my carelessness and get a duplicate of the registation renewal and license plate sticker that were paid for but lost. For a price, of course.
  • Took a phone call from a UTO staffer responding to my cries for help from last week when I was a victim of their buggy website for submitting grant applications. It took me about 30 minutes to reconstruct the long online application, but this time it went through. Application submitted (on behalf of the Diocese of Tabora).
  • Wrote a note of thanks (via email) to Bishop Braxton of the (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Belleville for the time he spent with us Wednesday morning at the end of our clergy retreat. At his request, I also emailed a photo of the two of us together to his administrator.
  • Processed a load of emails.
  • Lunch at home.
  • The afternoon was an exercise in patience. When I got my car serviced yesterday I was told that the right rear tire has a slow but irreparable leak. Since I already have 49,000 miles on them, I thought I would get two new ones and try to squeeze another 5-10K miles out of the others. So I "stopped by" a tire store near where we live, thinking I could get this done and still make it back into the office for an honest afternoon's worth of work. It was not to be. Four tires and a wheel alignment later, I got back to the office at nearly 5pm. I was not happy.
  • Within an hour back at my desk, I flesh out an already-begun rough version of a sermon for Ash Wednesday, and sketched the second of five address for the priests retreat in the Diocese of Albany in April. Evening Prayer in the office.
  • Had dinner with Brenda and three Nashotah House seminarians who are in town to meet with our Commission on Ministry tomorrow. Due to the crazy circumstances in the church these days, we are adopting them midstream.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Saturday

Out the door at 8:30, headed south. Arrived at St Paul's, Alton at about 10:15. Presided over the installation of the Revd Cindy Sever as Rector of Alton Parish. It was an energetic and lovely ceremony. After the post-liturgical potluck I headed further south still, arriving at St James', Marion in time for their regular Lord's Day celebration, which occurs on the eve thereof. Presided, preached, and laid hands on one person renewing her baptismal vows. Dinner for vestry and spouses at the home of St Andrew's, Carbondale parishioner Trish Guyon, which is always an elegant affair. By now she knows what I like to drink and what I like to eat, so it's pretty special.
Read more