Thursday

  • Usual weekday AM routine. Devotions and Morning Prayer in the cathedral.
  • Placed an online order for another batch of four starched cotton collars from Wippel. I like it that their online store is up and running--this used to require a phone call--but it was still more time-consuming than I would have liked.
  • First get-to-know-you meeting with a potential diaconal ordinand and his priest. We've had a good batch of these lately. Good people who, if and when ordained, will serve with distinction.
  • Decided to "call in sick" for the rest of the day. I started feeling progressively worse beginning yesterday morning--labored breathing, interior chest soreness upon inhalation. A trip to the urgent care clinic came up with the plausible theory that I'm having a reaction to a course of uber-strong antibiotics that I began taking on Wednesday and must continue for eleven more days. This is to destroy a bacterial infection in my stomach that was detected during an endoscopy a couple of weeks ago. About half the people in the world have it, but it's usually symptom-free. So now I get to feel lousy for a couple of weeks in order to get rid of an infection what wasn't bothering me! (Though, it can lead to ulcers and stomach cancer, so ...best to take care of it.)
  • Brenda and I bought to ribeye sandwiches outside HyVee and took them home to eat. 
  • Processed a few emails and contemplated a nap. However, I them remembered a 2pm dental hygiene appointment, so I began to bang out a post for the diocesan website that will be harvested for the June issue of the Current.
  • Got my teeth cleaned and got the usual polite lecture about flossing, etc.
  • Finished the material for the website and the Current. You can see it here.
  • Tried to take it somewhat easy, since I didn't really feel like moving a muscle.
  • In the evening, sitting out on the porch with my laptop, worked on my sermon for Proper 5 (the last visitations before my sabbatical--first weekend in June in Robinson, Albion, and Mt Carmel). Took my simple message statement to the stage of a developed outline.

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