Update for two weeks!

It's been a while since I took the time to post some thoughts, so this is probably as good a time as any.

It has been a busy two weeks (almost). We are now into our new Church school year (September - June), so the adult Sunday School kicked off with Danny as teacher. Since becoming the leader of that group he has grown enormously. At first about all that he could do on a Sunday morning was to read the Gospel lesson for the day and turn the conversation loose. Then he began (after attending my Wednesday evening Adult Education class - a much more serious endeavor) to read multiple translations (KJV, RSV, NRSV, International, etc) as well as one or two commentaries. He brought that with him to his SS class and they have all got the benefit of that. Now he is even reading commentaries about the culture of first century Israel and referring to a "Word Study Greek-English New Testament" by McReynolds to help him understand the nuances of some of the words the NT writers used. Hooray for him!

The Bishop of Springfield paid us his annual visit, which he prefers to call his "homecoming," for several reasons that need not concern us here. It was a good visit, in fact a very good visit. I got to talk to him a bit about my post-retirement ministry plans, to which he gave his vocal approval. Of course by then he will already have retired, so I may have to revisit the plans with the next bishop. We had a great meeting with the vestry. My Bishop's Warden (the senior warden) had a fantastic informal report that she delivered. The Holy Communion was lovely and was followed by a nice dinner in our Great Room in what Episcopalians, who love traditional language, call "The Undercroft." It is not under anything, especially not the "croft" whatever that is. But it was a nice meal.

We ended last week by going out, Sunday afternoon, for a short camping trip to our favorite spot at Rend Lake. Mostly it rained, but I read the book "Old Friends" by Tracy Kidder. It is almost twenty years old now, but the true story of people in a nursing home rings as true today as it did then.

Which got me thinking about health care. I don't have a clue what kind of health care package will emerge from the federal government, but my fear is that it will do many things EXCEPT what it should do - make affordable, quality health care available to all. I minister to a goodly number of the poor in our community and, yes, they all have access to health care - via the Emergency Room. That means there is almost never any real follow-up. There is no on-going health care. There is no prescription drug plan. And, in the end, the overall quality of the care they receive is less than stellar. My conservative friends tell me that "they just need to get a job and purchase health insurance." Many of these good people have jobs - as maids at motels, local truck drivers at near minimum wage, or day laborers. They can barely eat, much less buy health insurance. They need our help, but we, collectively, seem to lost the spirit of caring, of being compassionate, of being brother and sister, to our less fortunate neighbors.

And on that soap box I'll end. God Bless all this day.