Happy Epiphany!

Magi.

Kings.

Scholars.

Visitors.

Wise Men.

Today we celebrated the final moments of the Christmas season by remembering the visit of the three wise men to the infant Jesus.

This morning, we led the music at St. Philip's, Etobicoke. This wonderful church has become a semi-regular haunt for us, and we love it. The staff are open and creative, and the congregation and choir are welcoming and fun to be around.

We played our own arrangements of classic carols, but also debuted our new setting for Psalm 72, and taught the congregation our new Christmas song, Sing With The Angels.

St. Philip's has some great Epiphany and New Year's traditions, like writing a blessing on the door of the church, and having the kids bash a piñata while we sing The 12 Days of Christmas. They needed a little more music this time, so we did an impromptu version of All You Need is Love, and everyone burst out in song. It was a fantastic morning!

Father Al climbing the ladder and blessing the entrance to the church with the "holy chalk."

This evening, we had our first Gathering of 2013! It was great to have a full band, including violin. We did our groovy renditions of The Huron Carol, Go Tell It On The Mountain, and We Three Kings, including soloists for each of the 'king' verses.

Rev. Anne gave a great message on grace, inspired by Max Lucado's new book (which I reviewed a few months ago) and led us in an intimate Communion. It was a beautiful, refreshing time of worship.

It's been so great to have a little time off, but today reminded us of how much we love our work and how much more of it we want to do!