Friday

  • Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Left a voicemail regarding a pastoral matter.
  • Took care of two small but important administrative chores in consultation with Sue.
  • Conceived, hatched, and grew a skeleton for a homily I will deliver while on vacation--at my "home parish" (from which I went to seminary in 1986) of St Timothy's, Salem, OR, where I will be guest preacher at their celebration of the feast of St Mary the Virgin on August 15. This stage of sermon preparation feels like giving birth (as much as I would know of such). It certainly is "labor." Took a slow walk around the block in the midst of it.
  • Lunch from KFC, eaten at home. 
  • Gave some final thought to, and plotted out planning/prep steps for two future clergy days--one in November and one in June.
  • Wrote what I hope is a winsome email message to the leaders of a ministry here in Springfield that is very much unlike what Episcopalians are likely to be involved in, but very much like what I wish Episcopalians in this diocese were involved in. I hope to establish some sort of dialogue with them. Please hold this in prayer.
  • Took another slow walk around the block.
  • Friday prayer: Ignatian meditation on Matthew 26:17-25.
  • Left the office around 4pm so I could get home, packed for the weekend, and hit the road. A beloved former parishioner in Warsaw died earlier this week, and the funeral is tomorrow morning. So we're camped out for the night in Lafayette, IN. After the service tomorrow, we'll head for Robinson, about four hours and some change, for Sunday's visitation.

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