Moving Diagonally

Drove to Chicago with Brenda ahead of healthcare appointments for both of us--hers on Thursday and mine on Friday--before spending the weekend in Minnesota with our daughter and her family, and most of next week at Nashotah House for Board of Directors and commencement. I'm probably just lie low in this part of cyberspace until Friday of next week.

Weekly/daily task planning at home. Consulted substantively with the Archdeacon on a couple of ongoing administrative matters. Morning Prayer in the cathedral. Consulted briefly with the Administrator on a pending matter. Reviewed an annotated a credit card statement. Handled a short stack of late-breaking emails. Did  major  surgery on a Pentecost sermon text from many years ago, getting it ready for my visitation to Redeemer, Cairo. Began to turn a developed outline of a Trinity Sunday homily into a rough draft. Lunch at home. Leftover. Devoted a large chunk of the afternoon to finishing the aforementioned Trinity Sunday homily (to be delivered, appropriately enough, at Trinity, Mt Vernon). Lit votive candles in the rear of the cathedral nave, as is my wont when beginning the process of sermon preparation, so as to "cover" the whole endeavor with prayer--two candles, actually, for the Sunday after Trinity (celebrating Corpus Christi), where I am preaching for...

Another liturgical, musical, and pastoral feast, this time at Emmanuel, Champaign. So grateful to Mother Beth Maynard her fine leadership there. Lunch following liturgy at the inimitable Black Dog BBQ with Beth and her husband Mark Dirksen, along with Fr Gene and Reba Hall. Home around 2:45.

Emmanuel, Champaign -- John 14:15-21 , Acts 17:22-31, I Peter 3:13-22 Many of you know that I am not a cradle Episcopalian. I found Anglican Christianity and the Episcopal Church about 45 years ago, when I was in my early 20s. I was raised in a free-church evangelical tradition, as I suspect some of you were as well. In that environment, there was a pretty strong emphasis on the necessity of having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ. ” So my attention was arrested recently when I saw a meme on Facebook with a quote from a theologian debunking that notion, saying that Christianity is  not  about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My first visceral response to this was to cringe in horror. I still do have an inner Evangelical, and while this inner Evangelical is duly constrained by my more overt Anglican Catholicism, he is nonetheless capable of raising his voice from time to time. But, when I clicked on the link itself, I felt much better. It led...

Up and out in a relatively laid-back fashion, in time to show up at the office for the 10am regular meeting of the Commission on Ministry. I didn't have to be there, strictly speaking, but I nearly always find that there's some small contribution I can make that makes me really glad I came. The agenda was pretty light today, with a candidacy-level interview with someone headed toward being a deacon later this year. Afterward, I took the opportunity to do some check-in/catch-up work with one of the clerical members of the COM. The afternoon featured a good long walk, and some more work with data entry in Gnosis. (We now have most of the church musicians in the diocese in our database.) The evening saw me making the oh-so-familiar drive to Champaign, where I'm hunkered down at the Hilton Garden Inn ahead of tomorrow's visitation to Emmanuel.

Morning Prayer in the cathedral around 8:45. Spent the next hour or so prepared for the 10am Diocesan Council Eucharist as well as the meeting itself. We duly kep the lesser feast of St Dunstan. Presided over the regular quarterly meeting of the Council. Yes, it was pretty mundane, and I realize people drove a long way for a meeting that was over in well under an hour. Yet, there is something salutary about voting to approve the minutes of the previous meeting and hearing a report from the Treasurer on diocesan finances. Those small things are part of the network of transparency and accountability that enable us to trust one another enough to pursue the mission of the church together. Driving to Springfield to vote Yes on accepting the Treasurer's report is, in its own way, an act of faithful discipleship. Post-meeting, met briefly an informally with the Chancellor, the Archdeacon, and the Treasurer (in his capacity as Senior Warden at Christ the King, Normal). Took some admin...

Extended treadmill workout, which, because of some domestic exigencies, was tardy getting started. After breakfast and task planning at home, I was in the office around 10:30. Both iterations of the Daily Office kind of fell through the cracks today. Via phone and email, made some progress on hotel arrangements in Tabora, Tanzania. It's rather more complicated that accessing the Hilton Honors system (he said ruefully). Made reservations (using said Hilton Honors system) for my personal accommodations during the St Michael's Youth Conference. While on a roll, called and made dinner reservations for tomorrow evening, when we are entertaining a candidate for a vacant clergy position. Used the phone once again to schedule an appointment with my primary care physician. Home for lunch. Leftovers. Caught up with some late-breaking emails. Attended via email to a small matter pertaining to our relationship with the Diocese of Tabora. Produced and posted  this theological/past...