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.

"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 ...

By Mother Laurie

"You give but little when you give of your possessions; it is when you give of yourself that you truly give ... You deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving."