Epiphany Anniversary

Today at church we celebrated Epiphany and Light of Christ's second birthday!

Two years ago, during Epiphany, Mr. & Mrs. A held the first service in their home with the beginnings of a core team. At that point, Father Rooster was committed only to helping out once a month, as was one other priest. (It didn't take long for us and for the core team to agree that God was calling Father Rooster to a much great task, and by Easter Sunday of that year, we were coming every week and getting our house ready to put on the market.)

Our church is called Light of Christ because it began in Epiphany, when the Light of the World was revealed to the World: The readings for the day are either the Wise Men (representing the Gentile world) following the star (light) in the heavens, or the baptism of Jesus, when the dove and the Father's voice revealed him to be the Son of God.

In honor of our birthday, one member shared what the church had meant to her on her spiritual journey. She said that all her life, she had found the sense of God's presence to be elusive, even when intellectually she knew He was there. But at Light of Christ, she said, every Sunday, she always sensed God's presence, and that is what brought her and her family back week after week.

Praise God! I sat thinking, as she was sharing. How wonderful to hear that it wasn't the sermon or the music or the people that she kept coming back for--though I know she appreciates all those things--but for the presence of God himself! To me, this was such an affirmation that we're on the right track as a church.

We were delighted to have a number of visitors, including a young couple from our "mother church" and their little boy. They spent the afternoon and evening with us, sharing what God is doing in all our lives and exploring possible convergences in the future. We'll see what God may be doing there!

The wife is the daughter of some special friends of ours back in Illinois, and we were touched by a gift that had been sent with them--a large tin of homemade carmel corn, a specialty of her mother's, made for us. (I am munching on some as I type!) A small thing, but it goes a long way to keep a sense of connection with old friends. (Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. B! Can't wait to see you at Mars Hill!)

No birthday would be complete without a cake...so we had some after church.

What a blessed Epiphany Sunday!