Moving Diagonally

Usual morning routine; MP in the cathedral. Processed a load of emails. Traveled out to Jacksonville with the Archdeacon to see his brother the jeweler. There are some beautiful items that were used by some of my predecessors and have been tucked away in various places. Now they are being rendered usable for special occasions, part of the living heritage of the diocese. We then kidnapped the rector of Trinity Church and had a nice lunch at Mulligans, on the square in downtown Jacksonville. Spent the rest of the afternoon completing the draft of a sermon for St Paul's, Alton on July 10. It came with a little more difficulty than I like, but that's the way it is sometimes. Drove out to Champaign to meet with the vestry of St John's Chapel. They are beginning their first pastoral interim in 35 years, so there was a lot to talk about.  En route I kept a phone appointment (remember my hands-free bluetooth; it's like talking to somebody in the passenger seat) with a d...

Out of the house just beforre 7am for 2.5 miles of hard walking. Read the paper over tea. Processed emails, planned tasks Morning Prayer in the cathedral. Spent the rest of the morning hand-writing cards to clergy and spouses with June birthdays and anniversaries. Met with a representative of Church Insurance who had business with the cathedral and wanted to meet me. (The diocese has its property & casualty coverage with a local broker.) Navigated the byzantine maze of mouse clicks leading to airline and hotel reservations for the September House of Bishops meeting in ... wait for it ... Quito, Ecuador. Why are we meeting there? Anybody's guess. I just go where I'm told.  Felt like I needed a vacation just after accomplishing that task. Fortunetely, it was by then time to head home, load up the back of my car with vestments, grab Brenda, and head south to Carlinville, where we duly ordained John Henry to the priesthood, and instituted him as rector of St Paul's C...

Task planning, email processing, and Morning Prayer at home. Usual Tuesday desk-clearing and catch-up chores in the office. Consulted by phone with the Parish Warden of St James', McCleansboro regarding some of the details of the in-progress winding down leading up to the August 27 final service.  Conceived, hatched, and put some flesh on the bones for this Sunday's homily. There was an unexpected vacancy in my visitation schedule, so I asked the cathedral to put me to work. Somewhat to my surprise, I discovered that I have apparently never preached on Year A, Proper 9, as, most years, I've been on vacation around this time. So I couldn't even use any old material to prime the pump; this one will be entirely new.  Accompanied the Archdeacon to Illinois National Bank to have a document notarized. We took the opportunity to examine the contents of the diocese's safe deposit box, and admired some of the "bling" (rings, pectoral crosses, and the like) lef...

My visit was to Christ Church, Springfield. While I do enjoy getting out and about in the diocese, I cannot deny that it was a treat to have barely a ten minute drive to get to the venue of my duties. Celebrated and preached at two Eucharists, taught an adult class, confirmed nine, and enjoyed fellowship at coffee hour. Driving home, I realized that it all felt familiar, like a typical Sunday in parish ministry. In honor of the recollection, I indulged in an old Sunday afternoon habit: a long nap. In an attempt to process some of what I experienced at EYE this past week, I churned out a fairly substantive blog post on the subject of mission . Feel free to comment here or there.

Matthew 10:34-42 Christ Church, Springfield Some of you have no doubt been around the Episcopal Church long enough to remember the turmoil that surrounded the process leading up to the publication of the Prayer Book that has now sat in our pew racks for more than three decades. Of all the new things that were introduced in that book, the one that I suspect has enjoyed that least actual use across the church is the “contemporary” version of the Lord’s Prayer. Even in congregations where the rest of the service is in contemporary English, the Our Father is still usually said using the traditional version. I won’t attempt to speculate on why this is, but I will observe that there are portions of the “new” Lord’s Prayer where the meaning is much clearer than in the familiar form. We are accustomed, for example, to say “lead us not into temptation,” and this has always troubled me because, biblically and theologically, it’s clear that God is never the source of temptation to sin, so it see...

Took advantage of a relatively rare meeting-free and travel-free Saturday to putter around the house and help Brenda with an important errand. It's salutary to putter once in a while. Caught up with an impressive backlog of email processing. I'm uncomfortable when the number of "unresolved" messages in my Inbox creeps over fifty, and I'm happiest when it's below 25. Sitting in a sheltered outdoor area during a thunderstorm is one of my favorite things in the world to do. But this is getting to be an embarrassment of riches.

Checked out of my hotel room in St Paul and rejoined EYE on the Bethel campus  in Arden Hills. Attended the morning plenary session, then had a good long visit with a bishop friend and colleague. I may in due course have more to say about my EYE experience over at my "real" blog. Hit the road to the airport at noon. All went smoothly, for which I am grateful, given my relative unfamiliarity with the Minneapolis/St Paul road system. On my way home from the airport in St Louis, after fighting construction traffic on I-55, I headed up Hwy 41 to Carlinville. Met with Soon-to-be-Father John Henry to go over some logistical details of his ordination to the priesthood next week.