Epiphany, Light of Christ, and More

First of all, thank you so much for all the good wishes and encouragement left for me in the comment box of my last post!  It was a heartening way to celebrate six years of blogging.  (The comment box is still open; you're never too to the party!)

It's Epiphany, the end of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and the beginning of a new season in which we celebrate the Wise Men following the star and encountering Jesus at the end of their long journey.  Our church was birthed during Epiphany, which is why we named it Light of Christ.

During Advent, the world was in darkness, and we prayed and waited in the spirit of the Jewish nation which lived in expectation of the Coming Light during thousands of years. At Christmas the Light shone forth, but dimly, seen only by a few around the crib: Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. But at Epiphany the Light bursts forth to all nations and the prophecy is fulfilled: "The Gentiles shall walk in Thy light, and kings in the brightness of Thy rising." The mysterious star of Epiphany, "flashing like a flame," is still another facet of the light-motif, a symbol capable of being interpreted in a dozen different ways.  ~Elsa Chaney

Isn't that a great image?  We use that star combined with a quatrefoil in our logo.  It is our prayer that our church will be the Light of Christ "bursting forth to all the nations"--or at least shining into the dark places of our city.  We pray it will be a powerful beacon, like the landmark lighthouses of Kenosha.

Tonight, our congregation will meet for dinner and our Annual Celebration.  Oh, it's a business meeting too, where we'll approve the budget and our new vestry members.  But we'll also rejoice in what God has done in the past year, and anticipate what we believe He wants to do through us in 2012.  And it's our fifth birthday, as a church!  Lots to celebrate.

***

So I better go get ready.  It's been a busy week of appointments, errands and schoolwork pushed off until after the holidays. We had a nice time over the break, first with Papa Rooster's side of the family--his parents, his brother and our sister-in-law and niece/cousin--all at our house on Christmas Day, then with my parents at their home in Ohio in between Christmas and New Year's. My Pilot Brother and his wife and their four girls were all there too, so it was quite the family gathering!

Blondechick is still home from college, and we got to have lunch together yesterday, before she goes back next week to begin a new semester of classes.  Bantam20 is finally off the waiting list at the DVR (Department of Vocational Rehabilitation), and we met twice this week with his caseworker, who assists people with disabilities to find jobs.  I really like her, and we are eager to see what she comes up with.

The Bantams 16 and 12 have one more week to complete all their work for the semester, for their virtual school.  They got behind before the break, partly due to their employment at the Christmas tree farm, and then they weren't able to make up very much of it over the break, with all the family visits.  So I've been trying to keep them focused, assisting where needed--and trying not to stress out too much.

Happy Epiphany, everyone!

Video Treat

Okay. As promised, here is the video from our church talent show of our friend Michael singin' the blues. You will be amused and amazed, I promise!



As I said in the post about our talent show, instead of looking outward for applause, Michael goes inward for inspiration. All the verses were improvised on the spot--they are different every time, his parents say.  Oh, and Michael is only 8 years old.

Now, if enough people let me know that they watched this...I might be persuaded to post video of myself and Papa Rooster singing a duet....

Talent Show 2011

We like to hold our semi-annual Talent Show near All Saints' or near Pentecost, because both are feasts that celebrate us, the church.  So we feast and celebrate the many unique gifts and talents among us!

We begin enjoying the talents of our many great cooks and bakers.  This time, it was a soup supper, with an array of crock-potted soups and chilis, bread and a sumptious spread of desserts!

Twelve-year old boys doing what twelve-year-old boys do best.

The two youngest members of Light of Christ, hoping for cookies.

This was the first time we had an art display at our Talent Show.

We have some very gifted artists!

After the meal, we fold up the tables and turn our chairs toward the stage. 

 Our first-graders led off with simple poetry they had memorized.  However, B6 was so overcome with a fit of the giggles that he couldn't get a word out!

We have quite a few budding pianists...

And a couple of budding choreographers!

We were treated to poetry, both serious and funny, original and not.  This is our Senior Warden's wife and primary Sunday School teacher for the younger kids, in costume and reading oh-so-expressively from a children's book.

This father-son duo brought the house down.  The son is autistic and delightfully unpredictable in his behavior, and it was great to see him participating with a big smile, and coming in right on time!

This couple is new to Light of Christ, but they are old friends of our family from our Church of the Resurrection days.  They set up and ran the sound for our show, and gave us an original and unusual composition, Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" juxtaposed with "Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy."  Haunting and beautiful!

But this young man, who sang two original acapella blues songs, was the most wildly popular act of the evening.  (Papa Rooster promises me we WILL figure out how to post a video.) The wig was for courage, but the moustache put him into character.  He wore a gray one for his first number, "It's Haaarrrrd Bein' an Old Guy." And this black-moustached man sang, "What's Wrrrrooooonnnnng With Me?"  And he improvised the verses on the spot!  His parents say they are different every time.  He doesn't even see the audience; instead of looking outward for praise, he focuses inward for inspiration.  It was quite a performance.

Blondechick even came home from college for the Talent Show!  With her music scholarship, she's been taking voice lessons and expanding her range up into first soprano territory, so she sang something she had just performed for a recital at school, "Think of Me," from Phantom of the Opera.  It was great to hear how much more mature her voice sounds already.

B16 played and sang an original song, "Your Forever."  And it's catchy!  Darn if I didn't have it stuck in my head for a day or two there.

Papa Rooster and I sang "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof.  As a Norwegian channeling his pseudo-Jewish roots, here he's trying hard to get me to say I love him, while I'm busy with my planner and iPhone.

Finally, I admit that after 25 years of cooking for him, cleaning his house, living, fighting, starving and sleeping with him, I suppose that I do love him.  (If you don't know the song, do look it up for YouTube; it's such a funny, moving little love scene.)  It was fun for us to do, since we celebrate 25 years of marriage next month!

Then my in-laws played an older couple reminiscing about their youthful romance, in the duet "I Remember It Well," from Gigi.

Him:  We met at nine

Her:  We met at eight 

Him:  I was on time 

Her:  No, you were late 

Him:  Ah, yes, I remember it well 

We dined with friends 

Her:  We dined alone 

Him:  A tenor sang 

Her:  A baritone 

Him:  Ah, yes, I remember it well

My in-laws are former Broadway performers, and it's delightful to see them continuing to do what they love!

Finally, we commence with the dancing.  First, our old friends from Rez, sometime swing dance instructors,  taught us the basic swing step and the "she-goes" turn and the "he-goes" turn.  But things quickly degenerated into steps that even the littlest kids could do.

Everybody got into it, but no one was free-stylin' as impressively as our Senior Warden!

And that's the way we roll at the Light of Christ semi-annual, all-church Talent Show!

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!

Hosting the Bishop

We are hosting the Bishop this weekend.  And his wife.

I know, it sounds intimidating...a little overwhelming...and probably pretentious.

All of which is why I get a chuckle out of saying it, because the truth is so underwhelming.  They are the easiest people to be with.

And they have a busy schedule, so they're not even here all the time.  Well, one or the other, and then both for the last day. And we're eating out several times, so it's not like I have to come up with scads of meals to serve.

That is the most overwhelming part to me, with any visitor.  Have I ever mentioned on this blog that I don't particularly enjoy spending time in the kitchen?  It's not that I hate cooking...there are just so many other things I'd usually rather do.

I am giving them brunch today.  Tonight is easy--we have a soup supper at church, and I did make chili and brownies to contribute. Tomorrow Mrs. Bishop and I will go out for breakfast, and tomorrow night there is a group going out for pizza.  I don't know if my digestive system can handle much besides the bread there, but I'm grateful not to have to cook!  On Sunday, we are having a special All Saints' service, the Bishop is confirming a couple parishioners, there is a reception afterward, and then we'l have lunch out with the Bishop, Mrs. Bishop, and Mr. and Mrs. Deacon.  Sunday night I finally get to serve them a meal, and I know they will want something light by that time--and I won't be able to spend that one afternoon in the kitchen--so we are having tacos.  No, that's not a typo.

It's great that their visit falls at the same time as one of our best church events--our semi-annual Talent Show!  After our soup supper, we'll have entertainment that ranges from humorous to serious, from piano solos to a boys' band, from first graders reciting poetry to my70-something in-laws singing "Ah Yes, I Remember It Well" (from Gigi).  Papa Rooster and I are singing a duet from Fiddler on the Roof called "Do You Love Me?" about a couple who've been married for 25 years.  Our 25th is next month, so it was the perfect choice.

And Blondechick is coming home from college for it!

Well, they are here...better put on my hostess cap!

Light of Christ Update

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

I thank my God every time I remember you. 

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  
Philippians 1:3-5

This is how I feel about Light of Christ!  How thankful I am for the committed partnership of so many good folks at our church.  We have been so blessed, from the beginning right up till now.

And in the past six months, God has sent us more good people!  About eight new regulars--all singles and couples with no kids, which helps to skew our demographic a bit more in the adult direction, although we are still may be more than 50% kids.  We also enjoy our random visitors, plus a few folks who just occasionally show up yet again.

If all the regulars, semi-regulars and visitors all end up at church on the same day, it's starting to feel a bit full in our regular meeting space, the Kemper Chapel.  So one of our new developments is a committee (appointed by the vestry--ah, so thankful for a vestry to oversee these things!) to look at our space needs and begin to nose around Kenosha for other possible spaces for us to worship in.  It's my personal hope that we can find space that we can rent full-time, rather than just on Sunday mornings, so that we can have weekly activities and meetings at the church facility, leave our sound system up during the week for music rehearsals, and have a sign out front, so that we become more of a geographical presence in the community.  (There are plenty of other things on my wishlist, too!)

Another exciting thing is that two of our new members are actually old friends!  We all used to attend our old church, Church of the Resurrection, together, and they were actively involved in leadership there right up to the day they moved to Kenosha.  (Actually, they were still phasing out even after they moved.)  We are so excited by the gifts, talents, leadership and friendship they bring.  It's so good to have them here.

The husband has immense experience doing sound, and this past Sunday, he set up and ran our soundboard like it needs to be run!  We've been setting levels and hoping for the best, with mixed results; sometimes the congregation can hear the singers/guitar/piano, sometimes they can't. I have been singing with the worship team a couple times a month, and it was great this morning to have the sound in such good hands.  What a difference!

On a sad note, we are probably losing one family, but it's to a great job opportunity and a chance for them to move to an area where they can do more urban ministry, which is on their hearts.  So we are happy for them, but they certainly will be missed.

For the fall, we've added our Sunday School hour back in, and we have a class for every age group this time.  Last season we didn't have an adult class because we were too "short-staffed" just covering the kids' classes. I am so grateful for all of our Sunday School teachers, and I'm eager to attend the adult class.  (I've been in music rehearsals for the past two weeks, which we have to hold at the same time.)

We have a neat church tradition of gathering for a meal and a talent show 2-3 times a year, and I am coordinating our next one, in early November.  It's a great chance for our kids to play a piano piece, sing a song, or perform with a group--we have two budding "bands" already!  It's also fun for the adults to prepare something (to show the kids how it's done).  We've had recitations, original poetry, readings, solos, duets and ensembles.  Usually we end with a "dance."  This involves fun music and whatever moves you got.  For the kids, it means spinning around in crazed circles until we put on the Hokey Pokey or the Cha Cha Slide and attempt some structure.  But it's always a fun time, and I am looking forward to it!

We are also holding Newcomer's/Membership lunches/classes on several Sundays in October.  I am looking forward to getting to know some of our newer folks at these.

Oh, and a big thank you to those who regularly keep us in prayer!  In my sidebar, I've asked for prayer for a guitarist and a drummer for our worship team.  Well, the new member mentioned above, who does sound, is also a percussionist.  In our current location, we don't have room for a drum kit, really, but he loves the hand drums, so--perfect!  And for guitarists, we have three beginners--one dad, one 12-year-old, and my son B16--who are all coming along so well that we have been letting them plug in, and they are doing great.  In the meantime, they've been playing unplugged with Father Rand, from Rez, who plays guitar for us once a month, and with Papa Rooster's brother from Chicago, who has started driving up more regularly to help us out.  And now that his wife's job at Oprah ended, she and our niece are making the trip more often too.  It's been so great having them!  (Hmmm, I didn't count them in my new "regulars" count...they just may skew us over the 50% line....)

In other news, Light of Christ was featured this summer in a wonderful article in the Anglican Mission's glossy magazine, with Papa Rooster's photos of some of our special needs children.  The writer interviewed several parents, who shared how included and accepted their children were, from their very first Sunday.  I wish it was online!  It was so good.

In searching for it, I found another article indirectly about our church that is online.  Check out this brief piece about the Redemption card game that one of our dads has gotten all the 12-year-old boys hooked on!

So many praises, so many blessings!


Lord, thank you for each man, woman and child at Light of Christ.  Each one brings something special to our midst.  You've been so good to us.  Thank you for this church.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a big weekend at the Henhouse.  Papa Rooster came home, after a week of absence--his second in a row.  All this traveling on his calendar, and my inability to join him, has got us thinking about ways of celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, coming up this December.  We always say we'll get away some other part of the year, when it's not as busy as Christmas time, but then we rarely do.  Or it's connected to his company's big March conference, like when we went to San Antonio last year and Orlando the year before, and that's what he just returned from.  So we're thinking of celebrating early this year.  We're looking online at last-minute deals, and I'm getting excited!

He returned on Friday in time to make the kids' auditions for Robin Hood, our spring musical.  Wish I had time to figure out how to share video.  (PR thinks it's complicated and hates doing it, which doesn't encourage me, and our teens never use the good camera, just their phones, so they're no help.)  So let me describe them briefly, because they all did so well!

B12 performed the theme from The Muppet Show: "It's time to play the music/ It's time to light the lights/ It's time to meet the Muppets/ On the Muppet Show tonight!"  He started out marching, walking like an Egyptian, and playing the tenor sax before the singing actually began, and he did two character voices in the middle for the two old guys in the balcony who ask, "Why do we always come here? /I guess we'll never know/ It's like a kind of torture/ To have to watch this show!"  His facial expressions were hilarious throughout.

Chicklet8 performed "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music, from "Let's start at the very beginning...." After years of watching her parents help her older siblings think of movements and choreography for their audition choices, C8 hardly needed any help coming up with her own little moves and dance steps for "doe, a deer" and  "ray, a drop of golden sun," and so on.  She is especially good at facial expressions, and she tries hard to put expression in her voice too.  She was just so darn cute!  You'd never have guessed it was only her second audition.

B15 auditioned as well--his first time in over a year.  He ended up using the same romantic ballad he sang last time, "Till There Was You," by the Beatles.  But this time, instead of doing it straight, he decided to lighten it up unexpectedly.  So he sang the first lines beautifully, "There were bells/ On a hill/ But I never heard them ringing," reaching a hand to his ear as if listening; on the next line "No, I never heard them at all," he began twisting his finger in his ear as if digging out earwax, then pulled it, examined it, and then pointed with it as he sang the next line, "Till there was you."  Then he wiped it on his pants and continued on in that lighthearted, only-half-serious vein.  It was great.

Both boys were called back for lead roles on Saturday, and C8 was slightly disappointed not to get a callback too, since there were three speaking parts for little children.  Meanwhile, Blondechick was at a Solo and Ensemble contest as part of a trio from her school choir.  They sang "Nelly Bly," a very cute arrangement, with one girl singing the melody and the other two singing "bum, bum; bum, bum" as accompaniment.  The judge had almost nothing but good things to say, and they are going on to the State competition in May!

BC showed me a video of her trio that her friend had put on Facebook, and I asked as I listened, "Are you in the middle?"  BC knew I was referring to the vocals, but B15, the true "blonde" of the family, said, "Mom, I can't believe you don't recognize your own daughter!" Oh, B15....

But maybe that "blondeness" helped him get the role of Little John! In the script, Little John is rather a simpleton, and B15 came home from callbacks feeling that he had done especially well at that part. He'll have a fair amount of singing to do, too, and has to sing in his head voice in one song, as a gypsy woman pretending to tell fortunes.  B12 is a Merry Man--a short one--which means he'll spend a lot of time on stage and get to sing and sword-fight!  And Chicklet was delighted to be cast, after all, in the speaking part she had wanted; she is Cindy, one of the Widow's children.  (I have no idea how such an anachronistic name worked its way into this medieval show, but there it is.)

On Sunday, our church sponsored a concert with the Lenten theme of "Dust."  It was a new work, a song-cyle for soprano, string quartet and live electronics, based on seven poems that our worship leader wrote over a period of years while she was living in Israel at different times. It had a meditative and modern sound, with a classical feel.  The soprano had a beautiful operatic voice, the string parts were full of dissonances and some beautiful resolutions, and the electronic sounds--mostly words and parts of words--served to reinforce the themes and images of the poems, which were about our humanity and our smallness:  "We are but dust."  The concert was well-attended by many besides those in our congregation, mostly those who knew someone involved in the project, so it was good exposure for our little church and blessed many people, I believe.  To God be the glory!

Dedication Service

January is our birthday month at Light of Christ, and yesterday, we celebrated four years as a mission church--by officially becoming a parish.  It was a great occasion to pull out all the stops!

We had incense...

Bells (xylophone)...

Violin...

Guest musicians...



Assorted singers, including a children's choir...

(B11 and Chicklet8 are there; and Father R's brother on the far right!)

Our teenagers leading us in worship...

(This was B15's first time, and it sure warmed a mother's heart to see him up there singing with his sister.)

Banners...

Flowers...

and a visit from our Bishop!

We officially installed Father Rooster, our acting vicar, as our new rector, with prayers, charges and symbolic gifts...

A warm handshake from our new senior warden...

And an embrace from our deacon, the man who founded Light of Christ...

...and who, in a previous life, was Father R's college roommate. Yup, they go waaay back.  (And never, back then, could they have imagined this day!)

We ended with the usual recessional, led by our acolytes...

(B15 doing double-duty, here as crucifer)

...and a not-so-usual recessional addition:  the bagpipes! (and our children's choir)

[A side note:  Early in our history, one of our spiritual fathers gave us a prophetic word:  "The children will lead you."  And they have led us in many ways.  Our children lead us in numbers (they out-number the adults), they have been the first to go forward for prayer, our young acolytes lead us into and out of the sanctuary each week, and it was beautiful to have so many of our teens and children involved in our musical worship at this service.  I don't know whose idea it was to have the children's choir join the recessional at this special service, but it brought tears to my eyes to see it!  I think there is a lot more leadership coming from these young ones.]

Bringing up the rear, our new--and handsome--Rector...

...and our beloved Bishop.

Since he was here, we had Confirmations in the service too.  That meant visitors and a fuller-than-usual congregation--even more celebratory!

One man who was being confirmed had invited family, but they were unable to attend.  He said as he was feeling a moment of sadness, he sensed the Lord saying to him, "Do not despair, for your family is all around you."  He says, " And as I looked, it was true, my family was there with me."  It was so good to hear this testimony, and to share his feelings.  There is such a sense of family and home at Light of Christ.

And...to heap celebration upon celebration, it was my birthday.  What a great day of rejoicing for us all!

Photo credits:  Nathan Jacobs
Thank you, Nathan!

Falling Into Place

This Sunday is our big day at Light of Christ!  As you may remember, we've had a timeline of events that have had to fall into place, leading up to this week, when we officially become a parish.

On this week's agenda:

Annual meeting (check)

Vote for By-Laws (check)

Vote on Vestry members (check)

First Vestry meeting to interview potential rector and his wife (check)

Vestry decision to call a rector (check)

Special Sunday service:  Dedication of a Parish, Installation of a Rector, Confirmations (coming up!)


On my personal to-do list for the next 21 hours:

Change sheets on guest bed for Bishop and Mrs. Bishop

Plan three meals for the Bishops, make grocery list, go to grocery, and cook

Make sure 4 kids know their musical parts for Sunday

Mete out cleaning chores to deserving children

Leave up Christmas decorations till after this weekend

Homeschooling and piano lessons

Laundry


Guess I better get some sleep, if I'm going to accomplish all that by the Bishop's arrival on Friday evening!

Happy Epiphany, everyone!!

Parish Update

For starters, that's a misnomer in the title there, because Light of Christ isn't a parish yet.  But that's where we're headed, and it's exciting!

The plan is to officially become a parish in January, in Epiphany, the season of the Light of Christ and our birthday month as a church.  (It will be four years since a handful of people first met for services in Mr. & Mrs. A's living room!)

We will also officially install the rector.  Prior to that, our new vestry will have to hold its first meeting and officially call a rector.  Prior to that, we will have elected a vestry from among our church members, which means prior to that, we will have laid out a membership process, solicited vestry nominations, and formed a Nominating Committee to present a slate of vestry nominees to be elected by our membership sometime before the annual meeting, which needs to fall before the big day in Epiphany.  Additionally, we need by-laws before we can have a vestry, and we need Articles of Incorporation; we should apply for 501(c)3 status as well. Makes your head spin, doesn't it?

Fortunately, we have a very able Acting Senior Warden who thought through all this and laid out a timeline to guide us.  Consequently, we've consulted a lawyer, submitted our Articles of Incorporation to the state and are in process with the 501(c)3 application.  We held membership classes during October and received new members on All Saints'.  Over the next several Sundays, we solicited vestry nominations from our members, new and old. Our ad hoc Nominating Committee considered the nominations and picked a slate of candidates to present to the congregation a month prior to our annual meeting.

And that was last night, at an all-church dinner and special business meeting.  Now the members will have one month to register concerns, if any, before the vote at our annual meeting in a month--not so much an election as an affirmation of the nominations--just days before the Bishop arrives to install the rector of the new parish.  Acting Senior Warden also presented our draft By-Laws, which he and Acting Junior Warden researched, produced, discussed with Father Rooster and our core leadership team, and revised, all prior to tonight's engaging and clear explanation of the key decisions that were made along the way.  We had good participation, and a lot of head-nodding and confirmation of the groundwork that had been laid.  We'll adopt the final version of the By-Laws at the annual meeting--just in the nick of time!--so they'll be in place to govern the vestry election which will follow.

Father Rooster, as the Acting Rector--or Vicar, more properly--spoke briefly about his sense of calling and vision for the church, should he be installed in January.  It seems very likely that he will be, of course, but it's something we actually hold loosely, if God were to direct the Vestry otherwise.  The bi-vocational model (a priest who holds a full-time job outside the church) has been hard on Father Rooster and stressful for our family, and if God were to lift that call of ministry and place it on another's shoulders, it would be a relief, in many ways.  It will also be relieving, in another sense, if the Vestry affirms his call to this ministry.

It's just exciting to see God at work, even in these mundane processes.  I am so thankful for our slate of vestry nominees, all wise, discerning and full of care for Light of Christ and its mission.  I am especially thankful that our Acting Wardens have agreed to continue in their positions; their leadership has been key, in bringing us to this point.  I am thankful for our Deacon, Mr. A, Father Rooster's good friend and someone with whom he can share the spiritual leadership and pastoral burdens of our small church.  I am thankful for those on our leadership team, who have served so faithfully each month.  And I could go on and on!  We have so many who serve, in so many ways.

Father,
may everything we do
begin with your inspiration
and continue with your saving help.
Let our work always find its origin in you
and through you reach completion.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.

(The Liturgy of the Hours)

Weekend of Celebration

It was a big weekend at Light of Christ!  Six weeks of membership classes culminated with an "instructed Eucharist" on Saturday morning--a walk through our Sunday morning liturgy with commentary by Father Rooster.  Then on Sunday morning we received our new members and had three baptisms, so the church was full of extended family members.  Fittingly, it was All Saints' Sunday, when we remember all who are part of the kingdom of God, especially those who have gone on before us.  For many of us, the baptismal celebration extended into the afternoon, as we enjoyed the company of family and friends.

To further the celebration, we kicked off the weekend with an all-church meal, dance and talent show!

Performances ran the gamut, from Shakespeare....

(my father-in-law as Shylock from The Merchant of Venice)

to downright silly.

Dad and sons perform a Spike Jones number.

We had beginning musicians...

Chicklet8 gives her first public performance. (She also played an orphan in a girls' skit, which is why she is dressed in a t-shirt from the rag basket!) 

...and professional musicians.

This grandfather plays regularly at weddings and funerals.

We had a karate exhibition...

and a fight/dance!

Rock'n'roll...



and our very own worship band.

We'll give 'em a few years before we turn 'em loose on Sunday mornings, but it was exciting to hear these beginners get it together and pull it off.  They sounded great!

We ended with fun music for kids and adults alike to be-bop. boogie or just run around to.  We also enjoyed the talents of our chefs and bakers.  Yummmm.

What fun to just have fun together!

Prayer, Boys and Women

For the last few Sundays, I've found myself teaching 10- and 11-year-old boys during Sunday School. It's an interim situation, and I've just been asking them a lot of questions about prayer.  I'm trying to get them to move beyond merely approaching God with their wish list--consisting largely of Lego sets, it seems, with a few sick people thrown in--and thinking more about "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  I'm trying to help them see that prayer is not really about making suggestions to God or drawing His attention to things; it's joining with Him in what He already is doing or wants to do, like help them grow in the fruits of the Spirit or introduce others to Christ.

I've borrowed some excellent illustrations from Jennifer Kennedy Dean that have helped.  We can imagine prayer as laying the train tracks for the locomotive engine to run on, or as the magnifying glass that intensifies the already-present power of the sun.  I took them through her discussion of the stories in the Bible where God seemingly changes his mind, and the story where God looked, and there was no man to stand in the gap on behalf of Judah, so He had to destroy it.  Yet God knew there would be no one, and factored it in to His master plan.

The boys loved saying "the master plan" with their best evil-genius smirk.  (Go ahead; try it. It's fun.) But I think they were getting it.

 So this morning we were talking about prayer as agreeing with God, and I explained, "That's why we say "Amen" at the end of a prayer. It means 'So Be It.' "

"I know how to say 'So NOT Be It,' " Bantam11 announced.

Surprised, I asked, "Oh?"

"A-women!" he pronounced.

Heh, heh, heh.

The boys all thought it was funny.  But they had no idea.

As Promised...Pictures!

I can't believe that I just figured this out.

Papa Rooster takes some pretty amazing pictures--and lots of them--more than I can keep up with--and he's gotten pretty good at posting the best on Facebook for our friends and family.  And I only just realized that I can grab a photo from his Facebook album, stick it on my desktop, and upload it to my blog--all by myself!  Without needing him to convert it from a RAW image in Lightroom to a .JPG which he must upload for me, because Lightroom doesn't like me. (A feeling which is mutual.)  He says the image quality won't be as good.  But I think only the techie photographer types will be able to tell, and the rest of us, we'll have pictures!  Yeah, baby.

Okay, let's commence with the pics!

I believe I mentioned homecoming?  Here is Bantam15 with his lovely date.

The dress was casual--can you tell?

Here's Blondechick with her special friend, the same one she went to the spring formal with. He graduated last year, but he's still around, living at home and taking classes at a local college. We like him a lot.  So does she!


And here she is with 17 other friends, in our back yard--all senior girls.  I posted this partly just to show off the background!  It's the view I am blessed with every day, and I am thankful for it.

I know I mentioned an ordination.

This is part of a wonderful family that we've loved for a long time now; Father R--'s wife there is one of my dearest friends. When I met her, she was pregnant with the daughter on the far left...and I delivered Blondechick17 just three months later.  Those girls have grown up together, just as the other daughter (second from left) is one of Bantam15's closest friends.  Those two girls are their youngest children; their middle child, another daughter, is getting married next summer and Papa Rooster will be performing the ceremony.  That is their oldest son, with his wife and child, on the right, and their second-oldest is also a son. They have always been the kind of friends we can completely let our hair down with.  We have spent countless hours laughing, crying and praying together.

Here are all the clergy who attended.  Most of these men are also friends from waaay back.  We are a little grayer, a little more wrinkled than when we first enthusiastically began doing ministry together in our twenties and thirties!  But these men, representing five Anglican churches, are still enthused and energetically full of the joy of the Lord.

I think I mentioned soccer?

That's my boy, #23, on the JV team of the Christian school he attends.

And here's Bantam11 on the area soccer league team.

He hasn't been playing as long as most of the other kids who have grown up in the league, but he's learning fast, and he can run! Always a plus.

I am totally saving the best action shots of Bantam5 for another post.

But aren't these too unbelievably cute?  Just like the big boys.

But with cool sunglasses.