St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Doing the public representative shtick. On Saturday morning went to the funeral of Bob Ruger, "Mr. White Plains." He was the quintessential volunteer; one of the last good government Republicans I know of. Presbyterian; faithful; progressive. Very much involved in helping his community.

On Sunday I preached about Haiti, talking a little about its complex history, and how important it is in the history of Western consciousness, especially when it came to slavery and democracy. I spoke a bit about the unvarnished Martin Luther King Jr. The next day I went to the Slater Center's Martin Luther King breakfast, where I gave the benediction.

I did the healing service today - we talked a little on cultivating resilience. Today I'm working on the letter inviting people to the annual meeting; sending thank you notes to people who pledged; working on the annual report itself. I'm looking at replacing the copier. I called the one Haitian family who has a connection to the church. I'll also go to Rotary and to a YMCA fundraiser this evening. Still working on a general yearly work plan for myself....

Printing is one of those tasks that dioceses can help churches with. It would be far more efficient if the diocese had a high quality printer which other churches could use efficiently - to print lovely color mailings. It would benefit smaller churches for whom the economy of scale to have a printer is slight. Especially as we move more closely to a paperless, google run world, I wonder if we can direct our "paper" requirements upward.

On a side note, I often speculate on what it would mean to have church without an office. Sacramental occasions can be held in the chapel. Meetings can be held at a library or at a congregant's house. All a priest needs is a smartphone, a Macbook, and a wifi connection. Just meet people at Atlanta Bread or Starbucks.