Friday (Lancelot Andrewes)

Up and out of the Hilton Garden in Champaign for an 8:30ish arrival at Emmanuel and the annual assembly of the Illinois Conference of Churches. It was good to see Deacon Chris Hopkins and Mother Beth Maynard there demonstrating great hospitality to folks as they were arriving. We had a worship service in the church (the sort of pan-mainline Protestant liturgy that sets my teeth on edge, but I survived). Now I have actually had the experience of singing a hymn that includes the phrase "greed and high prices." What's not to like about that? Our featured speaker for the day was Dr John Armstrong of Act3 Network, a ministry committed to "missional ecumenism." His general subject was the pursuit of ecumenism among evangelicals, who are generally absent from the table, for various reasons. It was a rich and stimulating presentation that was thoroughly glad I attended. After a brief business meeting, we were finished right at 3pm, and I was home by 4:30. 

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