• Began to feel a little "puny" (as they say in the south) last night, so the day got off to kind of a sluggish start.
  • Spent some 80 minutes on the phone (this was previously scheduled) with Bishop Bill Love (Albany), who is my "peer coach" for the first three years of my episcopate. 
  • Navigated--veritably to the point of nerve synapses being fried--the labyrinthine canons on ordination (Title III), trying to figure out the steps we need to take to get an Army chaplain who wants to be an Episcopal priest through the process as expeditiously as possible. Canons are intended to be clear and unambiguous. When trying to apply them to concrete situations, however, they are often vexingly obscure and complex. (Have I mentioned I'm very much a "forest" person and don't care much for "trees"?)
  • Accompanied Archdeacon Denney and Sue Spring, our Diocesan Administrator, to a delightful lunch at the Illini Country Club with Chancellor Rick Velde, at his invitation. Lovely.
  • Returned to the office still not feeling very well, but dug back into the Title III canons and came up with a roughed-out path for our Army chaplain. Asked the Archdeacon to put flesh on the bones in advance of next Tuesday's Standing Committee meeting. He excels at stuff like that!
  • Returned a phone call to my ELCA counterpart, Bishop Warren Freiheit. He has a rural congregation that has dwindled to the point where they are willing to consider partnering with our congregation in the same town (not much larger). I shall explore whether this is workable.
  • Hit the road around 3:30 for St George's, Belleville (an Illinois suburb of St Louis). Met first with the Rector and a committee of parishioners who are coordinating plans for the 2011 Annual Synod of the diocese in October, which St George's is hosting. We reached consensus on the broad strokes of pending decisions regarding times and places of various events.
  • Then, after a brief tour of the physical plant, Brenda and I headed into the parish hall for the last of their Lenten soup suppers, after which I offered the reflections I had prepared on Living Into our Messianic Hope. We were back on the road toward Springfield around 8:15. 
  • Still feel like I'm trying to fight something off. Getting sick is not welcome on my agenda.

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