The Birthday Itself - A "Sparkling" Occasion

It's impossible to keep your 60th birthday under wraps when you're a clergyman and it falls on a Sunday - and some creative folk in our congregation had a couple of surprises up their sleeves.


When the Birthday Boy rose to give the notices at the 8am service he was interrupted by the full choir and pipe organ (joined by the congregation) launching into "Happy Birthday".

And when he entered for the 10am service we had another surprise for him.

You don't have to be a Sydney Anglican to appreciate the humour in this, but it does help. As you may be aware, candles in church are somewhat frowned upon in this diocese, for theological reasons. However our friend Janet had brought along 100 sparklers and several boxes of matches, which were distributed along with the hymn books as people arrived.

So just as the Birthday Boy walked in to begin, the organ started up, the sparklers were lit, and we sang "Happy Birthday" yet again - this time with a light show!