For a reason only known to the Lord Almighty, I woke up at 2:30 this morning following a weird dream. My brain was racing after I woke up and nothing I tried put me back to sleep. Instead, I got up, turned on the TV, and watched an episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” one of my favorite television shows.

Since I was awake around 4:30, I started making plans for today. It is my day off and I haven’t done a lot of “day off” things lately. Something about yesterday’s church picnic in the backyard got to me — I decided to set up my table outside (for the first time this summer) to read and relax this morning. I set up my satellite radio and pulled the bistro table out (it really needs a good cleaning) and yanked out a chair to sit in.

But I had to do a couple of things before sitting down:

1. I needed to go for a walk and purchase the newspaper (a Monday tradition to go out and buy the Post; today I picked up both the Post and the Daily News), and

2. Morning Prayer needed to be conducted.

I had this idea as I was walking back to church — maybe during the summer, we can hold Morning Prayer outside in the backyard of the parsonage? Not that we get a large crowd; but it can be a little different during the summer – sun rising in the east; it will be slightly cooler outside than inside the church at times; and after yesterday’s outdoor worship service, I just enjoyed it a lot.

This is something I will have to think about.

After Morning Prayer, I got a can of Coke Zero (I already had a couple of cups of coffee; so I am coffee’d out), dragged the newspaper outside, and started to read. It was very calming, especially as I watched three rabbits chasing one another all around the backyard, crawling under the fence and back; very cute.

Today is also a big day for the church — our Summer Camp kicks off at 8:30am. This week, we have a good “ease into the summer” schedule for the kids and the staff; it should be a fun day here at Saint Matthew’s.