Moving Diagonally

Sooo very glad to be home. The urgent work of the day was to develop, refine, and print the already well-germinated seeds of an All Saints' Day homily for use tomorrow at St Matthew's, Bloomington. This entailed a trip to Staples for an inkjet printer cartridge. Picked up a wi-fi signal booster for home use while I was there, and combined the errand with a haircut and the purchase of Hallowe'en candy. Got the new technology successfully installed at home. I hope the candy is chock full of preservatives, however, as we had a grand total of zero tick-or-treaters and the tentative plan is to hold it over for next year. At 7:45 I set sail in the YFNBmobile for Bloomington, where the early liturgy at St Matthew's is at 7:30.  Many in the Episcopal world are converging on Washington, D.C. for tomorrow's installation of Michael Curry as Presiding Bishop. I will, obviously, not be there, for a combination of reasons, mostly owing to a 2015 visitation schedule with no mor...

A travel day--Houston to home--but one in which I also managed to process a prodigious number of emails and phone calls. What did we do before out "always available" technology? Of course, I know what we did. I was around! And, in many ways, it was better, healthier. But I can say that, this evening, I'm much more at peace having dealt with those issues than I would be if they were still on my plate.

Today's working group consisted of one other bishop, two priests, one layperson (the smartest of the bunch), plus YFNB. All five are associated with TLC in some way, so were already in Houston for the board and/or foundation meeting, so we leveraged that convergence. Today our taskmaster was the Communion Partners group of bishops, whom we seek to resource with theological and strategic legwork, particularly with a hugely important meeting of the Anglican primates set for less than three months from now. We had a productive day. And the Bishop of Springfield is exceedingly eager to be home.

Yesterday was the Living Church Foundation Board of Directors; today the meeting was with the members of the foundation itself. (All the directors are themselves members of the foundation, and are elected by the foundation.) We increased our numbers, electing nine new members, with only two rotating off. In the afternoon, we did some "blue sky" creative dreaming about the kinds of roles TLC can in today's complex and tendentious ecclesial environment. Some great things have already been done, and more is in the wings. After a couple of hours of down time (es, I processed some email), we gathered at the nearby home of St Martin's rector and TLC foundation member Russ Levenson and his wife Laura for a reception with the foundation members, along with some local clergy from nearby parishes and some of their parishioners. This was by way of a "soft" intro to a capital funds campaign that will get fully underway sometime in 2016. Dinner afterward at a nearby Indi...

Reported to the mammoth St Martin's Church, Houston, about a quarter mile from the hotel, at 9am for Morning Prayer. Then is was down to business with the Living Church board, which I had to chair in the absence of both the President and Vice-President. Lunch at the fully-staffed cafeteria on the church campus. Our business wound up around 3pm, after which I took the time to process emails. Emails are forever. For dinner, the board members gathered with the larger group, the members of the Foundation, for dinner at a nearby restaurant. (The annual Foundation meeting is tomorrow.)

Still at Nashotah House. Morning Prayer/Mass/breakfast. Morning and afternoon sessions with the Board of Directors, with six of the nine of us present, and several former trustees who are now "members of the corporation" looking on from a makeshift "gallery," with neither seat nor voice. It felt pretty strange, but we will get used to it. By any measure, we were much more efficient in getting through our business than would have been the case with the old way of doing things. We had a small break between the conclusion of our business in the afternoon, and a 5pm Evensong in Adams Hall, during which it was my privilege to confer an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on the Revd Kevin E. Martin.  Tomorrow, I'll be driving to Minneapolis, picking up Brenda at the airport there mid-afternoon, then spending the weekend with our daughter and her family in St Paul. We drive home Monday, but that evening I am set to catch a plane for Houston, and the regular meeting o...

Regular Nashotah schedule--8am Morning Prayer and Mass, followed by breakfast. The Board of Visitors (all those who were formerly known as Trustees, and now aka "members" of the corporation) gathered at 9:45. Under the new statutes, I do not chair this group, and am ineligible to be elected to do so. Something about balance of power. So the Secretary called the meeting to order and we proceeded directly to electing Fr Andrew Mead to the position of Convenor of the Board of Visitors.  The new development officer, Diane Platenberg, gave a most informative presentation. We have a real pro at the helm in this department now. The Dean gave us the same orientation presentation that he gives to new students, connecting life at Nashotah House with the ancient and venerable Rule of St Benedict. Lunch in the refectory. Back in harness, we heard a presentation from the Academic Dean, Fr Andrew Grosso, on some issues of curriculum and enrollment. We discussed some issues pertainin...