Sentimental moments..... Working together..... Playing together
Every church has it's own traditions.   One of ours is singing Silent Night by candlelight at the end of Christmas Eve Midnight Mass (well - ok, 10 p.m. Mass), with the Good Shepherd window glowing its brillance in the darkness.   Maybe we're not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but for that one moment, we sound magnificent!   And in that moment, Christmas is here again.
Blessing of the Pets
Closely tied to the Anglican tradition of blessing the farmer's fields, the blessing of the pets can be an entertaining spectacle as well as a chance to bless and appreciate our animal friends that give us so much love & enjoyment.   Imagine horses, chickens, and a goat or two, as well as the usual assortment of dogs, cats and goldfish, all gathered together outside the church as traffic flows by.
Caroling at Christmas
The Church school and anyone interested goes caroling in the morning a few days before Christmas.   They stop at homes of some of our elderly parishioners and people we know in nursing homes.   After they've "made the rounds" the morning usually ends at Burger King or some similar place for lunch together.
Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Supper
A traditional fundraiser at Christ Church Ottawa is the pancake supper, held the evening before Ash Wednesday.   We enjoy all you can eat pancakes, sausage, and applesauce.

Building Addition
After many years of using the office entrance and a steep, small ramp between the office and church for handicap accessibility, Christ Church is putting in a new ramp on the north side pictured here.   Work started in spring and will be complete this summer when the railing is added.   The ramp is partially funded by an United Thank Offering (UTO) grant and also by private donations and fundraising.   Dee Norris has led the fundraising and planning effort.   (And she tells us that contributions are still needed to fully cover the cost!)

Inside, we have a stair chairlift that offers access to the basement, but frankly, it's pretty old. Stay tuned....

New Landscaping
With some volunteers to do some digging and a few donations, we improved the front of our church with some much needed landscaping.   On Saturday, May 19, a volunteer crew met to remove the existing bushes and clear the way for the new plantings. The new plants are now in, with the exception of the small area that will be done when the ramp is complete. Thanks to Al Kammerer for getting the original proposal, bringing it to the vestry and leading the volunteer crew!

Christ Church: Who are we?
Young, Old, Families, Couples & Singles
What we all have in common is our desire for a faith community


Our middle-sized kids are always ready for action.

We never turn down an excuse to have cake.

And we're committed to our church family.
Here's Dick keeping the books - a volunteer job he's held for a number of years.

Sure, when it was first installed in 1923, the organ was the latest in technology.   And the church has done maintenance projects over the years.   But the system uses tubes, contacts and pistons. All of these mechanisms are out dated, need many repairs and are becoming harder and harder to repair. (Both the parts and the people who know how to fix them are disapearing.)   The new manuals will have all solid state parts and the entire controller will be replaced.   We also have manuals that have many keys without ivories, so those will also be repaired.   With computer technology installed, we'll be able to record songs and still have the full, rich tones of the genuine pipe organ.   And, when the keys are repaired, we'll be able to look at the keyboard without blushing!   A project like this doesn't come cheap, so Jan Martin is heading up the fundraising efforts, and we're planning to do the work in steps. Donations so far have totalled almost $16,000, thanks to the generosity of many. The organ will be unavailable for several weeks in July while the update is taking place.   Read more about the history of the organ in Christ Church History and Architecture.

For more about what's important to us: check out LCEM Ministry