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)

On Friday, March 19th, just before the clergy of this parish celebrated Eucharist together and had our monthly meeting, Mother Laurie took me aside and handed me an envelope. It contained her letter of resignation as curate, saying that she had been called as rector of St. John's Church in Johnstown, NY. I had mixed emotions. Happy for her in this new ministry, I said "God bless you." Struck by her departure, I said something else. (disappointment) And yet, even then, and for some time before, during St. John's search process, a new thing was springing forth. A new call to serve new people in a new place in a new way had come from the constant God. May God richly bless her and her family in the "new".

Just a week before on the vestry retreat, we all had seen the reality of the new work God has given us to do, realizing new gifts in new ways with new energy, embracing a new future. Most said, we've never done this before. The Parish School's open house earlier in March was a tangible experience of new. We've never done this before.

I wonder if the response, somehow given in a surprised fashion as a reaction to the new, is summed up in "But we've never done this before." I can only imagine God saying to us, "I know. Come with me. I have plans for your future." It's true. We are now at a point in our life together where there is a lot of "new", a lot of change. New ideas of ministry responsibilities, new styles of communication within the vestry, new ideas for ministry spring up in the congregation, some brought by new people, new catechumens embracing the Christian faith, new families and individuals among us.

We've never done this before. God knows. Sometimes new is scary. God knows. Sometimes new is not my idea, your idea, or even our idea. God knows. But even in the new, there is God, for there is nowhere that God is not.

"Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness ... " But we've never done this before. No one ever rose from the dead before Jesus did, authoring the new forever. Then perhaps this is an excellent time to remember to say our prayers in order to discern our cooperation with God in the new.