How do you really share the Christian faith with children? How do you teach them our Christian family history, the story of our salvation, and the love of God in Jesus Christ, working in us by the power of the Holy Spirit? How do you communicate that to children aged three to seven so they‟ll remember it and celebrate it?

Last April, I preached a sermon in which I asked the question,” Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?” After the 9:30 liturgy, one man came up to me and said that he had never heard a sermon about that before. Other people came to me telling their own stories of personal encounters with Jesus Christ. Others said that the reality of God‟s presence was strengthened for them. I had been thinking about how we can help others to answer that question with a yes.

 Ash Wednesday is March 9th, and with that a whirlwind of new activity starts at St. George‟s! I remember 

that in seminary we were encouraged not only to give up something for Lent, but to take something on as 

well. We were so smart, some of us said we would give up class and take on an extra meal. Not quite the 

intention, although seminarians are always hungry! The intention was for us to experience a new way of 

On Thursday, March 18th I had been working on finishing the sermon for Sunday March 21 st. As usual, the lessons were so full. I wrote the outlines for three sermons. This passage from Isaiah is from one of them. "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah:43:18-19[18]Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.[19]Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. RSV)

In the reading from Isaiah for Easter Day, the prophet writes this: "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating," (Is 65: 17-19). Isaiah's words prophesy about the fact that God is always creating something new, and we are called not just to watch it happen, but to help make it happen. Isaiah's words are not easy when this new creation idea involves change or loss or sadness, but they are no less true.

I can‟t seem to shake this scripture. We read it in church on Christmas morning, and again for the Sunday liturgies following. Powerful, poetic and lyrical, the first eighteen verses of John‟s Gospel—called the Prologue—are among the most well-known verses in the New Testament. Deeply theological and rich in imagery, these words
engage our minds and our spirits.

I found this saying in one of those catalogues we always seem to get around Christmas time.

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.”

Now there’s a spin on doing something new. New means change. New means different. Even if you’re not the one doing a new thing, if someone close to you does a new thing, it still brings change. It brings new. It brings different. And it brings questions. Some have answers. Some not.

As I sit at my desk, I see piles of notebooks, paper and files that all silently ask, "When are you going to get to me?" I already know what it is I want to accomplish with it all, but most of it isn't finished yet. It all stretches out before me, creating its own time line by due date. So I'm living in a world of already-not yet. And I wonder, aren't we all? Already but not yet. Christmas decorations are already out but Christmas is over a month away as I write this. You get the idea. Already but not yet. Advent is that kind of season.

"Most of our memories come from the nose," writes poet Whitney Albright. Smell is also thought to be the oldest sense, and it is thousands of times more sensitive than our other senses. One whiff of something can bring us back decades in our minds to our childhood, and we are just about to enter into the season of great smells, beginning with Thanksgiving and extending through Christmas. Ginger, balsam, cinnamon, apples, turkeys roasting, candles burning ...

At this time of year, churches are in the midst of the annual stewardship campaign. It's the way the church family shows its financial support for the ministries to be done in the coming year. To those people who have never worked on a stewardship campaign, or served on the vestry or as wardens or counters, the stewardship season and the emphasis on pledge cards for the coming year may be confusing. But I've found that another area equally confusing to people is how exactly the church funds itself, and what is done with the money collected week by week in the plates.