Friday

  • Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Attended to a relatively small but substantive chore related to someone in the ordination pipeline.
  • From 9:30 until about 1:30, I met with a group of invited clergy and lay leaders--about a dozen in all--to have a free-ranging discussion, not about the diocesan budget per se, but about the budget development process, with related concerns around the process by which the budget gets funded, and meta-concerns about how that process is perceived, as it were, "in the pews." I think it was a fruitful exchange. I didn't have a pre-scripted outcome in mind, so I shouldn't profess surprise. But I am surprised that one of the major takeaways is the need to double down on communication at every level: between the diocesan staff and the Eucharistic Communities, between the leaders of the ECs and their fellow-parishioners, and at a coordinated diocesan and parochial level. The kind of communication upgrade we need really requires at least a half-time staff person, for which there is not currently any funding. Something on which to mull and pray.
  • Of course, there were various informal and brief "after-meetings" that consumed my attention until sometime after 2:00.
  • By then, there were 27 new emails waiting for me, which took some time to process.
  • Hand-wrote notes to diocesan clergy with mid-to-late January birthdays.
  • Took care of a pending pastoral/administrative concern via email.
  • Friday prayer: Searching in YouTube for "Anglican hymns" and finding some really good renditions. Soul-stirring.
  • Made an appointment for some face time with one of our postulants.
  • Took a phone call from the treasurer of one of our Eucharistic Communities.
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.

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