Friday


Woke up in a Champaign hotel room. (That didn't come as a particular surprise this time, but there have been occasions since I've been doing this job when I've awakened in the middle of the night and had to focus pretty hard on remembering where I am.) The proceedings for the Annual Assembly of the Illinois Conference of Churches began with registration at 8:30am. Had some productive chat time with my ELCA counterpart, Bishop John Roth, and the ecumenical officer for the Roman diocese, Fr Kevin Laughery. We then had a worship service in the spectacularly beautiful Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church I had to smile wryly to myself in observing that, in an ecumenical setting, where worship needs to be as non-specific as possible, the event ends of gravitating to the where non-specific worship is the norm; that is, when the goal is the lowest common denominator, those who naturally occupy that territory end up with an experience very much like what they would have come up with on their own and for themselves. So what we did was very pan-liberal protestant. I'd rather we have done something Greek Orthodox.

The theme of the day was Remembering Vatican II Fifty Years Later. The panel consisted of a Roman Catholic ecumenical activist, a United Methodist historian and ecumenist, one of my colleague bishops who served as the Presiding Bishops ecumenical officer for a decade, and the pastor of our host parish. They all had interesting presentations that provoked interesting discussion over lunch and in the afternoon session. I am passionate about ecumenism. Compared to the tsunami of cultural change that we are staring at, the differences that divide Christian from one another seem inconsequential. 

After a brief business meeting, we adjourned around 2:30. On the drive home, I checked in by phone with Fr Walter Knowles, who will be leading our clergy and musicians' conference in November, and Mother Virginia Bennett, laid up recovering from a fractured femur. It will be a long road for her, and for the people of St Andrew's in Edwardsville. Do hold everyone in your prayers.

I got back to Springfield in time to stop by the office, look at a couple of items that had appeared on my desk, grab my beads and head into the cathedral for the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, followed by Evening Prayer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring 2018 House of Bishops, Day 3

Image
We have new stricter social media rules now in the HOB--no photos taken during a session without the permission of those in it. So ... I'm having to be more creative about finding pics for the blog, because I'm not going to take a panoramic group shot and then contact everyone whose balding head shows in the photo! Once again, the day began with Eucharist. This time, though, I took a pass, and opted for a vigorous walk on a brisk morning. Having looked at the liturgy sheet in advance, there were enough triggers that I knew the net spiritual effect for me would be negative. #selfcare  I will say, however, that HOB worship has gotten incrementally less problematic during the tenure of the current Presiding Bishop, and I give props for that. When we convened at 10:15, there were the usual announcements, then a whirlwind set of summary reports from bishop members of the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) and the Task Force on the Study of Marriage. The full report
Read more

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Image
Ten years ago, minus about six weeks, I served as the supply priest for Trinity, Lincoln six days before my consecration as Bishop of Springfield. Today I was there for the final regular scheduled canonical parish visitation of my episcopate. (I have a few more gigs on my calendar: March 7 in Mattoon, the Chrism Mass, the Triduum at the cathedral, May 30 in Cairo, and June 27 back at the cathedral--May 2 is available and not yet spoken for--but the every Sunday routine of my life for the past decade (in a larger sense, for the last 32 years) is at a major flex point.) As much as it could have been in the midst of a pandemic, this morning at Trinity was luminous. We confirmed eight adults, six of them qualifying as "young." My homily had to compete with the sounds of active young children. (I would much rather do that than have no kids in church.) Trinity is one of the exciting points of light in my ministry in the diocese. I took my time getting out of Lincoln because I wante
Read more

Saturday (St Charles, King & Martyr)

Substantive phone conversations with the rector of Lincoln, the President of the Standing Committee, and the Canon-to-the-Ordinary. Attended the live-streamed memorial service for a former clergy colleague, and continuing friend, with whom I was in serious conversation about coming to the diocese less than a year ago, who died quickly of COVID at age 66. Then, earlier than I actually needed to, but wanting to get out of town ahead of the snowstorm, I packed up and headed south to Lincoln, where I had time to do some significant reading before hitting the sack.
Read more