St. Hilda St. Patrick Episcopal Church

October 1 was a gorgeous service.  My husband was off making wine and I hadn’t had a chance to call my new neighbors and friends to see if they needed a ride.  As usual, I pulled out of my driveway in a hurry without my lipstick.  It seems the Mukilteo police are off having doughnuts somewhere on Sunday mornings–thank goodness–because I admit I speed all the way.  Inevitably, I manage to get behind someone really really slow on Bev-Ed road.  Sure enough a white car going about 20 mph was ahead of me.  When I noticed myself a little too close to their bumper, I backed off.  I mean, they might have been on their way to St. Hilda St. Patrick’s, too, and I do not want us to be known as the road rage church.  Anyway, they did not pull into our parking lot but I did.  It was full and what a lovely sight it was.

As it turned out my new friends were there and I dashed in to sit next to them.  Wow!  Look at all of the people.  A warm calm came over me.  Father Peter did not even have the guests introduce themselves because it would have taken all morning.  My friends had a lot of questions which I couldn’t answer about “Little Sisters of St. Clare” or the Franciscans in attendance.  Since they hail from a Roman Catholic background, they knew more than I did.  I was able to explain who Bishop Hampton was, however.  And I explained Dorothy’s devotion.

Visually, the service was beautiful.  With all of the additional voices, “Dona Nobis Pacem” soared out of this world.  Father Peter’s sermon was perfect and inspirational.  I loved how he stated that “Wow!” was a most appropriate way to glorify God because that was how I was feeling.  Somehow, the Gospel describing Jesus as the vine and all of us as branches even included my absent husband who was off crushing grapes.

Sister Dorothy Anne’s Profession touched me.  When we witness one of our own making such sincere promises, we cannot help but do the same with our own hearts.

I send out a big “Thank You” to Sister Dorothy-Anne for sharing herself with us.  Thank you to all of her friends and family and supporters who came and made our Sunday so special.  Finally, I especially thank Debbie Lindhardt and her hospitality team for the fabulous lunch and reception afterwards.

My new friends, who also attended the salmon bbq, now expect this sort of celebration every week.  But as long as we all have “WOW!” in our hearts every week as we spend time with each other, the Holy Spirit will be amongst us.