Confirmation Day @ All Saints Church

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood ...

... and as I left home for church this morning for Confirmation I snapped these pictures of our roses in bloom ... all of them wedding presents from our February 2006 nuptials ... blooming away, happy as all get out. Just wanted to share the joy!

So, after taking time to smell (and "snap" the flowers!) I headed over to church where our Diocesan Bishop (+Jon Bruno) showed up to confirm, receive or reaffirm ... drum roll ..

58 (29 youth & 29 adults)

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... into the Episcopal Church. (The one that's declining by leaps and bounds -- you remember that one, don't you?) Anyway, here's Bishop Bruno checking in with All Saints rector, Ed Bacon before the service ...
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... and here's the throng on the lawn AFTER the service ...

... and +Jon signing one of many prayer books for one of many confirmands.

And a good time was very MUCH had by all. And now, because I am so very blessed to do where I do it, I am off to get ready for the annual AIDS Service Center "Big Night Out" benefit -- raising funds to support this important ministry which began, as the ASC website describes it here:

The telephone began to ring in 1987. it was picked up by an answering machine in the basement of All Saints Church in Pasadena. The phone rang because people in the San Gabriel Valley needed help with an epidemic called AIDS. They needed help with doctors, with drugs and with a host of problems they had never imagined. Since that time the phone has rung millions of times. AIDS Service Center has answered every call.

That's what we call putting faith into action. Whether it's 58 confirmands at a time or one telephone call at a time, it IS a beautiful day in the neighborhood ... and the Episcopal Church is alive and well!

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