St Mark

  • Ordinary weekday AM routine. Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Reviewed the annotated the credit card statement I found on my desk when I arrived.
  • Sent a condolence note by email to a lay leader who has suffered a recent death in the family.
  • Tied up some administrative loose ends.
  • Sat with my personal and exegetical notes on the readings for Pentecost toward the end of arriving at a homiletical message statement for what I will say when I step into the pulpit at Emmanuel, Champaign on May 20.
  • I had to interrupt that work to keep an 11am appointment with two representatives of the Church Pension Group, in town to explain a new business group within CPG dedicated to leveraging their robust database on clergy training, ordination, deployment, compensation,and insurance usage, as well as trends in parishes and geographic areas toward the end of resourcing bishops and diocesan leaders and administrators for working more effectively. Overall, I was impressed.
  • Attended Mass for St Mark's Day in the cathedral chapel.
  • Lunch at home. Leftovers.
  • Back to that sermon message task. It's like giving birth, but I was eventually delivered.
  • Finally got around to making air travel arrangements for General Convention in July. I guess that now means I have to actually go.
  • Spent intense time with a couple of commentaries on St Mark's gospel, focusing on the passage appointed from Proper 4, June 3, when I will be visiting Alton Parish. Made lots of notes.
  • Evening Prayer in the cathedral.
  • After dinner, at home: Made the tentative itinerary of Bishop Elias' and Lucy's visit to the diocese in June at bit less tentative, attended to a project on behalf of the Communion Partners, and looked over some materials in advance of a Friday conference call meeting of the Forward Movement board.

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