It was 20 year ago today...

...well, actually the celebration was yesterday and the actual anniversary is July 15th but who's counting?

On Sunday, July 9th, 2006 Pacific Church of Relgious Science celebrated it's 20th anniversary and what a time we had. We held the celebration within the service at our new Sunday digs, the SDA Church in Tierrasanta. And almost everyone and their brother and sister showed up. It was grand!

Dr. Rev. Kathy Hearn, the founding minister joined us and shared from her heart about the journey of the church and her life and work. We had music that rocked the planet and our souls. Our own Miracle Choir with Darry Thompson & Ron Young and many choir members past, present (and future?) sang along; our amazing Grace, music director, Kristi Peterson shared a new song she had written for the occasion; and the incomparable Margaret Owens came down from L.A. to sing the song she wrote for us several months ago. A song that is proving prescient for us, "Grow A Church." (Note to self: Buy stock in Kleenex).

Irina created a photo board and scrapbooks for people to peruse for a pictoral trip down memory lane. Ernie created tables, balloons and a wonderful spread; Sunshine and John Kurko had been working with him for over a week to get things right; Ken worked hard to keep things moving and Joel had recorded our CD give-away ahead of time and had us wired for sound. What a great team effort!

The service team yesterday, Cindea Metzler, Evelyn Eads, Victoria Freed, Maren and Helen out front kept us on track. And our Pulpit Crew, Billie Frances,Mark Obcamp Rev. Suzette and Rev. Michael.

And then the clean up crew-- all those people listed above and add to that Bill Wiltfong, Don Converse, Robert Temple and Annette Temple. They stuck around to put the church back in order. And there was enough food that we sent most people home with leftovers.

Of course, many people lent their hand or prayer to making this day possible. A special nod to our Board of Trustees who gave the go-ahead for the celebration. And Grace helped out in the office and making calls and getting the wheels turning last year.

It was wonderful to see so many faces that we have missed. There were choir members who came to sing who haven't been in the choir for years. And there were many new faces who joined us. What a great time to start with us as we craft our new history.

Joy was very much evident in the smiles, the laughter and even in the tears. I was so proud. So enthused. So grateful.

So wired once I got home (and after a brief respite trip to the Tierrasanta Starbucks) that I went to my clogging class and then couldn't unwind enough to go to bed even though I was tired.I must have used all the adrenaline and energy my body had on hand because I overselpt this morning, no matter how much Belle tried to wake me to feed her. It wasn't till the phone rang at 8am that I realized I was still asleep. It was a big day and very significant in so many ways.

Well, I feel happy, empowered, blessed, grateful and eager to build our new church, reveal our vision and be of service in a greater way.

JOY US ly