My schedule is a bit crazy this month.
I'm sitting on a plane from Newark to Orange County, after having flown down from Albany earlier this morning. Where have I been? Well, this past week at a Church Pension Fund Board retreat and meeting in Vermont, near the headquarters of the Church Insurance Company of Vermont, the Episcopal Church's primary insurer. People have asked me, "did you get to hike?" "Did you get to shop?" The answer is no. With the exception of one evening when we had the opportunity to interact with hawks, and see falcons and eagles it was back to back meetings and gatherings from the time I hit the ground in Vermont.
Months ago I accepted the very generous invitation of Bishop Bill Love to visit his Christ the King Spirit Center, the conference and camp center for the Diocese of Albany. Thank goodness I did! Not only was this a great "in between" time between Church Pension Group and going home, it was timely as well. You see, because of severe thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday, many flights were cancelled, including the ones I was scheduled to be on. Many people were trapped in either Albany or Newark -- but we were happily touring the beautiful 612 acre center in Greenwich, New York. Bishop Love and his wife Karen took us to the Old Bryan Inn for dinner in Sarataga Springs -- delicious, and haunted -- very cool. We had a good night's sleep at the Spirit Center before leaving early this morning and heading to Albany airport -- about 50 minutes south of Greenwich. Oh, and don't worry about our dog Basil -- our wonderful house and dog sitter Kathy is on the job again! What a blessing to have her in our lives, and she loves staying at our home!
We are on our way home -- this is one of the few times that Steve has travelled with me. When I was in meetings, he was hiking and writing. So it was nice to be together last night with Bill and Karen Love.
I will be home for 4 days and then off to the House of Bishops (HOB) meeting in Nashville. The program theme for this meeting is "Transforming Loss into New Possibilities." As assistant secretary to the HOB, I am privileged to serve on the planning team for the HOB meeting, and I'm encouraged and excited by the theme and what we will be learning and sharing as bishops. Among our guests joining us will be Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem, representatives of the Church Pension Group and a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
We leave on Wednesday of next week and returning the following Wednesday. I will be home for 4 more days and then head off once again -- to New York for a HOB planning meeting and for a General Convention Rules of Order meeting. Why? Because I'm the assistant secretary to the House of Bishops! I don't have very many meetings with the HOB Planning Committee -- most are on the phone. This is the face to face one, and it comes on the heels of the HOB meeting.
So, September is a very crazy month for me. How do I keep up with mission and ministry in the Diocese of Los Angeles? Easy! The same way I'm writing this blog -- my iPad. I have spoken with clergy and dealt with issues in the congregations in my geographical area of ministry, planned and scheduled future meetings, and in general kept in touch in my time away. It will be no different at the HOB meeting and at the HOB Planning Meeting. There is no reason I can't be in touch -- there may be a slight delay to my replies, but I am available.
While I may be away a great deal this month, know this please -- mission and ministry is still going on, I'm "plugged in" and "online" -- always here for the people of the Diocese of Los Angeles.
I wonder as I wander over to Nashville and New York who I might run into? What new things might I learn? hmmmm.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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