If that wasn't the best church service I've been to, it was certainly the best one on a Monday night. we went to the consecration service at Church of the Holy Family for their brand new nave. They had a nicce brass quintet starting things off with some carols, then a couple of praise songs, a procession to the new nave, blessings of the the new furniture, two baptisms, a sermon by a terrific bishop, much more singing, a saxophone group, songs written by the rector and a member of the church, the eucharist, a letter from the archbishop of Canterbury (read by Stan Hauerwas), and LOTS of incense. Lasted about 2 and a half hours. we have quite a few friends at Holy Family, so we didn't feel too out of place, plus the contractor who built the building is a friend of ours from our church, so he got invited as well. The rt. rev. Michael Curry, the bishop who preached, sure is a gifted preacher. If I thought all their services would be that good, I might become episcopalian.

Some of the locals did comment that not only is preaching skill an anomaly among anglican bishops, being a Christian isn't all that common either. For myself I can't comment on that, just passing it along.