Easter was less than two weeks away when Father Carl began work at New Covenant on April 1st 1993. Nothing like the running start of Holy Week to begin a new position. This Friday marks the 23rd anniversary of his ministry as our Rector, or Senior Pastor. It must have been quite a change for him and his family (Barb, Peter, AJ and Whitney) to move from the high skies of Colorado to the sunny humidity of Central Florida. Another still to transition from leading conferences and a national ministry to return to the local rhythms of parish life. Greater changes and challenges have come in the years since, blending joys and sorrows into the type of ministry that can only occur “in place”.

Buried under my books and blogs, notes and commentaries both ancient and modern, I found myself still at a loss to imagine what happened this weekend – Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Yet there are some things to be said, and some things to be partially realized, and a once-for-all story to be shocked by once again. One thing we can say is the cross is a pivotal place. What we say about the cross and the resurrection determines our direction, our destiny. One film I watched lately, CALVARY, an Irish film of 2014 starring Brendan Gleeson as the priest, began with the words from St. Augustine (354-430): Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned.

Easter makes a Christian. The events and accomplishments we celebrate each year in the life and work of Jesus distinguish followers of Jesus from adherents to every other leader or philosophy. Jesus makes Easter. Last week, Ivan and Felicita Sikha gave us an opportunity to experience the power and responsibility of story-ing as we imagine new ways to share good news with interested people around us. Followers of Jesus through the ages and around the world have taken time around Easter to tell again the story that makes all the difference. We want you to join us as we tell the story of Easter during the coming week.

And I am often all wet. I heard the first splash and scream from my study, then a second, followed by a third. Arriving at the pool, I saw that Emmett was more cautious, working his way into the pool step by step. For all, it was the first dip of the swim season. And I still don’t know how I resisted Abby’s “Pleeeease Papa” invitation, because as I mentioned, I’m usually all wet and my splash is usually in the first wave. A few weeks ago I had been giving thanks to God for the faith in our family, especially remembering our children and now watching our grandchildren. Watching them and listening to them express and live their life with the Lord is such a blessing and encouragement, and as I gave thanks I wondered where/how they got it.

Dear New Covenant Friends, Last week I had the privilege of hearing from a leader as she told the story of Elijah in I Kings. She explained how the brave widow chose to entrust her remaining earthly sustenance to a stranger at the risk of starving her son. Elijah’s prayerful obedience, coupled with the widow’s generosity, unveil an out of the box missions scenario that has given me much cause for reflection this week. What is the face of global missions in 2016?

Thank you for praying for our 4th-6th graders as they went on their retreat last Saturday! The JC456 leaders, Thom Shaw, Kris Taff and Jane Trnka, planned a great day where students learned more about who God is through Daniel's story. Lee Grady, one of the missionaries that New Covenant supports, also came out and spoke to the students about his work. He invited them to see how they are a part of God's mission in the world. They seemed so encouraged to spend time with one of the missionaries from our church, who they consistently write cards to and pray for.

Our journey through Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with our confession that things have not gone as they should. Maybe things didn’t go as we planned, or maybe our plans didn’t turn out as we imagined. “We have not loved God with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” With the wreckage of these missed marks before us, the confession leads us to make a turn, a course correction, and go in a new direction. “We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent.” The scriptures this Sunday ask us to consider what we will do now. What comes after the confession that our internal GPS failed us, and that we have failed God and those around us?

It may seem a bit early to talk about Valentine’s Day, despite the fact that many retail stores have had cards and candy out since just before the glow of the Christmas lights faded. To be honest, this epistle is about love, not the “special day” that greeting card companies and chocolatiers claim as the holiday of love. When we are young, it is a flashy, fun and frivolous day of romance, if we are lucky. As we grow older and hopefully more mature, love begins to grow in dimension. Romance is still wonderful and much-needed, but real relationship suddenly transforms any one-dimensional perspective of love into something that defies easy explanation, something that must be experienced rather than defined.

“This life is sort of like a test for the next, preparation. How we live here matters.” That was my mother’s answer to a question, which I don’t recall as well as her response, that I asked her almost 6 decades ago. It must have had to do with the meaning of life. What else does a nine-year-old ask his parents? After all too much time and theological education, I like her answer, yet I am still pondering what we can do that prepares us for eternal life.

Wedding photographers have an amazing task. They document both actions and feelings of a day in which multiple people with multiple tasks move around one another simultaneously with a single goal in mind. “I do”, say the happy couple. Click. Or, click, click, click, click, click, click. Click. Careful planning surely attends the planning of the photographer’s task list, as the images that every future bride and groom have seen in a movie’s happy ending or a bridal magazine are catalogued and sequenced.