Day 3

(Blog written perched on the edge of a hotel bed somewhere in the middle of Ohio.)

The observant (no pun intended) among you my have noticed something from my last blog post. No? Look at the time stamp. 5.56pm. The Eucharist at St Peter’s starts at 6.00pm. 4 minutes from posting to bowing is cutting it pretty close. Fortunately, St Peter’s is not far from our apartment, and it required only a modest amount of frantic sprinting for me to cover the distance from front door to pew in order to make it on time.

So why so close? Well, shortly before 5.00pm a friend came round and I got distracted. This was not, I hasten to add, his fault – Richard is a dear and valued friend and a more perfect guest is hard to imagine. The problem was mine. In the act of closing my laptop I managed to crash the system. Rebooting took time. Hence the last minute, Jesse Owens style dash to the church.

I suspect the Disciples experience similar problems. There they were, all ready to settle down with their papyrus diaries to write up Jesus’ latest sayings, when suddenly the house is full of sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. Wonderful people, of course, and just the sort of folks you want to rub shoulders with if you’re planning to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they can be distracting. Not that I’m suggesting that my good friend Richard is a sinner, or tax collector or…well, you get the picture. The point is this: you can miss conference calls, you can reschedule dog sitters, but the real world can still get in the way.

The good news is, we made it. Including Richard, and our sainted organist and choirmaster, Br. Nathanael, there were 4 of us in the congregation. 5 including Robert who turned up (a little early for him) just as the elements were being blessed.

So, Day 2 closed 2 for 2. But what of Day 3?

Day 3 presented certain challenges. Principal among these was the need to be behind the wheel of rental cargo van for 9 hours and 42 minutes en route to Cincinnati via Battle Creek, MI; thus putting a crimp in our ability to attend St Peter’s Wednesday 7.15pm Contemplative Eucharist. However, the Church of the Atonement (a mere tire-spinning drive away at the top of Lakeshore Drive) holds a 7.30 a.m. Eucharist. And so it was that my alarm rousted me from hoggish slumber this morning at an hour slightly in advance of what I might have wished in order for us to present ourselves for an unaccustomedly early encounter with our edible and imbibable God.

Atonement is a beautiful church, and the service was impressively well-attended: at least 10 and possibly 12 laity! Our friend Will was there, and he gave us a tour of the church followed by coffee with other welcoming and wonderfully hospitable early-bird parishioners in the kitchen.

So, Day 3 closes 3 for 3. As for tomorrow, who knows? Not me, that’s for sure.