"What a time, Lord; What a time!"

by Susan Russell

It has been a whirlwind couple of days here at work in the All Saints Pasadena fields-of-the-Lord. This slide show will capture some of it ... but if a picture is worth a thousand words, it would take a million to capture the energy, enthusiasm and excitement +Barbara Harris brought to Pasadena for her inaugural visit to All Saints Church.



"What a time, Lord; what a time!" was the title of +Barbara's sermon at 11:15 on Sunday. You can watch a video of her message here ... and I hope you will.

You can also watch the Rector's Forum here ... a totally fabulous interview of +Barbara Harris by Ed Bacon. It was our inaugural foray into "live streaming" -- trying out the free service "U-Stream" -- and I can't resist sharing here some of the comments I got on my Facebook page:

Good thing I'm in the central time zone so that I can participate remotely. Hopefully we can get her to come speak in Fort Worth!

It worked! I loved being able to watch from the East coast. Thanks Communications Team!

I tuned in for the last twenty minutes - over here on the East Coast! "the power behind you is greater than the task ahead of you!" Thanks so much!

It was a "baby step" for us but an exciting one ... stay tuned for further developments as we keep working to make the medium work with the message!

Bishop Harris' visit included confirmation on Saturday morning, a lunch meeting with the leadership team from the Los Angeles "Moral Compass to Justice" folks, two sermons and a rector's forum on Sunday followed by a Mother's Day brunch in her honor. She's not only a hard act to follow, she's a hard one to keep up with ... and if I make to 80 and have 1/8th of her energy I will consider myself mightily blessed!

I scribbled down on a liturgy leaflet at some point during the weekend Ed's description of +Barbara's ministry as defined by "Courage, Compassion and Audacity" -- and I think that pretty much says it.

What a time, Lord; what a time ... what a time we've had together.

And NOW we gear up for Consecration Countdown ... as the Diocese of Los Angeles prepares to send two more courageous, compassionate and audacious women to the House of Bishops when we ordain Diane Jardine Bruce and Mary Douglas Glasspool next Saturday in Long Beach.

My, my, my!