Moving Diagonally

While still at home, finished a draft of my 2016 visitation calendar. Upon arrival in the office, Upon arrival in the office, I passed it on to the Administrator to see if I had missed anything. I had. Now fixed, and shortly to be published to the interested parties. Morning Prayer in the cathedral. Prepared to preside and preach at the midday Mass. Attended to some details pertaining to he visit of the Bishop of Tabora and his wife in mid-October. Worked on my sermon for Proper 27 (8 November at St Paul's, Carlinville), taking it from a message statement to a developed outline. Created a rough draft of the liturgy leaflet for the synod Mass, and sent in along electronically to the host parish for refinement and production. Celebrated and preached the Mass for the lesser feast of St Jerome. Lunch from McD's, eaten at home. Headed to one of our churches some distance from Springfield for a very difficult but unfortunately necessary conversation. Arrived back home around...

Morning Prayer in the cathedral. Usual week-beginning informal debrief with the Archdeacon. Refined and printing the working text of my homily for this Sunday (All Saints, Morton). Handled a stack of relatively minor administrative issues. These things always end up more time-consuming than I anticipate. Took a phone call from one of our clergy. Lunch at home. Leftovers. Attended (by way of preparation) to a quite serious administrative/pastoral matter. Laid out the broad strokes of my address to next month's annual diocesan synod. Attended to some administrative details pertaining to getting ready for synod. Reviewed the second quarter financial reports from the mission congregations. Began the process of building by 2016 visitation calendar, which will be a challenge in view of the sabbatical I am planning. Swung by home to retrieve Brenda, and headed on down to St Thomas', Glen Carbon, where I took part in the Mass and potluck commemorating the fiftieth anniversa...

Out early--though perhaps not so bright--at 7am heading south. Arrived at St Michael's, O'Fallon a little after 8:30, ahead of their scheduled 9am liturgy. Celebrated, preached, confirmed, and presided at a baptism, as we observed the parish's feast of title, St Michael & All Angels. That was a pretty good day's work right there, but I then swung over to St Paul's in Alton, where I met briefly with whoever was still around after the post-liturgical coffee hour, and then for a while with at least a remnant of the search committee. Their transition has not been as smooth an timely as we all would have liked, so some extra pastoral attention was warranted. Home at about 2:30. Napped. Walked. Watched the Cubs beat the Pirates .

St Michael's, O'Fallon -- Genesis 28:10-17 "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."  Those are the words of the patriarch Jacob when he wakes up from an astonishing dream in which he sees a stairway to heaven on which angels are continuously ascending and descending, and then hears the LORD tell him that he is indeed the heir of the promise made to his grandfather Abraham that his progeny would be a great nation, numerous, blessed, and chosen to be the vehicle by which God would bless all the peoples of the earth. So Jacob wakes up from that dream and he’s overcome by the experience. "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."  This passage from Genesis was chosen for the feast of St Michael and All Angels, no doubt, because of the reference to angels ascending and descending “Jacob’s ladder.” When we encounter angels in scriptu...

Out the driveway with Brenda at 8:15 headed for points south. Arrived at St Thomas' in Salem in plenty of time to prepare to preside and preach at the funeral for Father Tom Davis, who was raised up in that parish as what used to be called a "late vocation," and then served it for several years until advancing age and declining health made it prudent for him to step down about five years ago. It was a good crowd, and we gave him a proper sendoff. I mentioned in my homily that, if we do one thing right in the Episcopal Church, it's funerals. If you just follow the Prayer Book, it's hard to mess it up too much. After a reception in the parish hall of the nearby Methodist Church, we headed home, arriving around 4:00.

My day was given over to the Annual Assembly of the Illinois Conference of Churches, which is always held either in Bloomington or Champaign; this year was Bloomington's turn. I have a principled and heartfelt commitment to ecumenism. (How can a thoughtful Christian not have such a commitment?) But I have to say that these ICC events are very difficult for me. They are dominated by (formerly) mainstream liberal Protestant leaders, with a smattering of Roman Catholic hangers-on. The worship is lowest-common-denominator of the sort that, from my perspective, seems to characterize the dominant groups. (How much more interesting it would be if we could simply worship according to the tradition of whatever the host church is.) Sometimes the program is interesting, but not this year. It centered on the Parliament of World Religions, and interfaith work in general. It would be virtually impossible to understate the level of my interest in such things. My lack of interest begins with wonde...

Morning Prayer in the car on the way to a medical facility for some tests. Nothing urgent or emergent; just trying to chase down why I continue to have cardiac-like symptoms that have been pretty clearly determined to not be cardiac-related. I think I "passed" the tests, but they consumed more than half my morning. The rest of it was devoted to trying to rebook some air travel and lodging for a trip next month in light of an emergent need to lengthen my visit to Houston following the Living Church Foundation meeting, and then trying to schedule a conference call of the Communion Partner bishops, having heard from them about who can or cannot participate on several dates I had suggested. It's like herding cats. Lunch of Chinese food, picked up at HyVee and eaten at home. The bulk of the afternoon was devoted to completing, refining, and printing my homily for this Sunday, delivered at St Michael's, O'Fallon on the patronal feast day of St Michael and All Angels...