Friday

Only a day after a transatlantic flight and crossing five time zones, I had to hit the ground running. Morning Prayer and a good bit of email processing at home. Prepared for, presided, and preached the Eucharist (Votive Mass for the Mission of the Church) ahead of the regular August meeting of the Diocesan Council. Presided at the meeting. Met with Fr Swan briefly afterward, first in his capacity as EfM coordinator for the diocese, then in his capacity as rector of the parish hosting Synod. Then met with Don Monty, senior warden at St Andrew's, Carbondale regarding some issues related to their search process. Lunch from LaBamba, eaten at home. Afternoon: Deployment issues, sermon finalization for this Sunday in Mattoon, phone calls, more email processing, Lectio Divina, Evening Prayer in the office, and finally dealing with a plumbing emergency when I was the only one on the building! (All is well.) 

Now ... as for my trip ... this was in response to an invitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Communion Partners Bishops to send a delegation to visit him. I of course cannot go into very much detail, but we discussed a range of issues and concerns affect the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church, and the Church of England. He gave us four hours of his time, which included lunch and a celebration of the Eucharist in his private chapel in the Old Palace in Canterbury. We left very grateful and encouraged. 

Since I was already going to be "across the pond," I tried to leverage that fact and extended the trip by a couple of days to tend to other relationships that might benefit from some attention. As it turned out, the primary ideas I had in mind did not come to fruition, but I had some useful conversations nonetheless: with a bishop-elect in a key position, with a young American priest in Cambridge who may have a future in the Diocese of Springfield, and with the Vice-Principal of Ridley Hall, one of the seminaries of the Church of England.