"A New Thing" on the Second Sunday in Epiphany (UPDATED--with pictures)

Collect for the day: Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Papa Rooster preached this morning at the first service of the new church plant up in Kenosha, WI. We had ten adults and ten children in the living room of our good friends' home. We enjoyed a meal together afterward, and all agreed that it was a great start! We'll be coming up every 3rd or 4th Sunday for awhile as we continue to discern the extent of our involvement there.

We discussed the property too, and what next steps to take as we continue to investigate that option. Our friend will look into the asbestos question, get a roofing estimate and find out what it would cost for a structural engineer to evaluate it. We feel pretty daunted by all this, but he's in home rehabbing as a business, and he's cheerfully unfazed by the needed repairs.

On our end, we need to begin talking to our church about our vision for a faith community of prayer and labor. As we learn who else God is calling to join us and what their gifts and passions are, it may help us discern whether to move forward with this property or look at land, perhaps.

I've been restraining myself from posting pictures, because as you can see, we are nowhere near a decision to buy.

But it seems appropriate, on the day of the first service of this yet-to-be-named church, to post this picture of the sanctuary where--if a lot of pieces fall into place--it could someday be meeting regularly.














This is the view from the balcony looking toward the front of the church. It's dark because we couldn't find how to turn on the lights, but if you click on the photo, you'll be able to see a lot more.

Wish I could post a stained glass window picture, but I can't figure out how to rotate the photo without "permanently reducing its quality," as the warning box pops up to tell me. (Maybe I need a Flickr account? Nah...I've learned enough new stuff on the computer lately--I'm tired!)

UPDATED: Realized we have another copy on the Mac, so I tried it--and it didn't hurt the quality a bit!