Jubilate Deo, Omnis Terra

[There are highlights of this great weekend found on Youtube. You can view this video by clicking here]

 

At Easter, when we were in seminary, the late great George Black would have us sing a wonderful Taize Canon and the words were;

 

Jubilate Deo

omnis terra,

servite Domino in laetitia

Alleluia, Alleluia in laetitia,

Alleluia, Alleluia in laetitia.

 

That translates to:

 

Make a joyful sound to God,

all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness

Alleluia, Alleluia with gladness

Alleluia, Alleluia with gladness

 

That song has been ringing in my head all morning as I look back at Saturday’s Vigil and Sunday Morning’s liturgies. We have celebrated the great triumph of Light and Love. We celebrate that God is good and God wants good for us. Our response has to be a joyful one and it has to be a full response. On Saturday Evening we celebrated the fullness of that love as we baptized little Elijah Paulton and Gabriella Goetz. We were so pleased to have the Rev’d Sue Paulton as our guest preacher and concelebrant. She had a special interest in that her Grandson is Elijah. Alex Haley wrote; “Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children” It was very touching to watch Sue baptise Elijah. So much better, I think, that she was at church on Saturday to baptise her grandson. Thank you Sue and thank you to the folks from St. David’s and St. Mark’s (West End) who came out in support of your fine priest.

 

 

Both Elijah and Gabriella were so good and they were so beautiful. It was great to see our friends from St. Barnabas present as well. Dave and Gisela are such great people and it was good to see their family and friends there offering love and support.   

 

Sunday morning was also tremendous. Our 8 AM celebration was one f the largest groups I have witnessed at that time. Our 10:30 AM Liturgy was more than full with 245 people fitting into a space that will feel over full after 200. The kids were awesome and the whole atmosphere was of joy and of jubilation. We made lots of joyful noise to the Lord. Eric Mainwaring was present and offered his gift of music on the trumpet. It was tremendous. It was a great addition to the choir and Andrea who were stellar in their leadership of music ministry. Beyond all of that the congregation sang with the greatest sense of joy and celebration and there was no doubt that this is a community of the resurrection.

 

So once again… There are highlights of this great weekend found on Youtube. If you were here this weekend there is a good chance you are in the video!!!You can view this video by clicking here.