Saturday

This was a first in my experience--the agenda for the Provincial Synod had us convening a business session at 8:30 and breaking .... for brunch, no less ... between 10:30 and 11:30. It worked fairly well, but, I have to confess, my stomach was rumbling about an hour before the meal, so I slipped out and got a granola bar. The subject matter covered a report on the Congregational Development Institute, revisions to the bylaws of the province, and the election of new officers. After brunch, the Presiding Bishop made an appearance, spoke for about thirty minutes, and then entertained questions. Her remarks are always well-prepared and carefully crafted, but the content often contains a zinger. Today's zinger (well, one of about four, actually, but the only one I'll write about here) was a clear and unambiguous--one might even say, passionate--call for the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. As one who is quite fond of the present Prayer Book, and who came into the Episcopal Church while it was just in the process of being born, I find the prospect of going through all that trauma again to be more than a little bit horrifying. Anyway, I immediately thereafter found a ride (in lieu of the hotel shuttle) to the airport, where I boarded the CTA blue line and rode it all the way downtown, where I arrived at Union Station precisely 3.5 hours before my 5:15 train to Springfield.. I was happy to pass some of that time with a couple of business partners from New Mexico who were traveling home after a meeting with the Department of Energy in Washington about some renewable energy technology they have developed. I'm excited for them. But it was a long day, a condition not helped by several delays en route to Springfield. Returning home is always sweet.