High Feast of All Saints

It was a glorious service.

We had two confirmations...

and received nine new members!

We had a wonderful message from our Senior Warden.  (Have I ever mentioned how deep the preaching bench is at Light of Christ?  We have SIX fine teachers besides Father Rooster, which is one of the huge gifts from God that makes the bivocational thing doable for him right now.)

It's always a gift to have our Bishop with us.

Father Rooster's brother has started to drive up every Sunday from Chicago--with his wife and daughter often, too--to help anchor our worship team vocally and in the guitar department.  His talents and presence are another gift!  We are also blessed with a professional violinist as our worship leader.

They performed a beautiful musical setting of the Beatitudes in place of the usual spoken Gospel reading.

And with so many children at Light of Christ, it's always delightful to include them in our special services!  They learned Adrian Snell's "Our Father" and performed it as an offertory, so we could all join in with the new tune during the Eucharist.

I love each one of these children, but I have to point out my niece, in the front row, in pink, standing next to B6 in yellow plaid; Chicklet8 is right behind him.

The Holy Spirit visited us in so many ways during the service, but our musical worship was especially inspired.  Another gift!

And our fellowship in the Lord continued with a coffee-and-kringle reception afterward, and then a clergy lunch.  So good to have our Bishop AND his lovely wife with us on this visit.

Except for this last one, all photography by Bantam16, with Father Rooster's Nikon D700.  Didn't he do a great job?

So much to be thankful for!