In Lenten time, as we await
The resurrection of our Lord
Clergy sit beside the phone
In hopes of some reward.
For in the budding Springtime,
When tiny new flowers bloom
Bishops around the Church do work
Upon the future of our doom.

To Churches we shall be appointed
Across this Annual Conference
And though we hope that God will guide
The Cabinet away from indifference
We know from past experience
That of ground-holes and donut-holes,
The Cabinet knows not the difference.

The days and weeks do stretch beyond
The Easter Celebration
And still we have no word of where
We’ll spend next Christmas Vacation.
And finally when the word does come
And when that phone does ring
We shake our heads and read the Journal
And ask “is the Bishop a Ding-a-ling?”

--Gregory S. Neal
Appointment Season, 1997