What 2012 Will Bring

Happy New Year Everyone.

When I was a small town pastor, the  town funeral director perennially tried to convince me to join him in a wager regarding  who would die in the new year.

Funeral Director:  Come on, Jan.  Who’s going to kick it first this year?  Charlie?  Wilma?  Horace isn’t look too good, is he?

Me: I’m not doing this.

FD:  Ten bucks that Horace is dead by February.

The joys of a small town.

I think about my friend the funeral director each January 1st as I ponder what I most look forward to in the new year.  Here are my top anticipations:

1. SBC will graduate from college.  Two down.  One to go.
2. Assorted nibs will also graduate from high school and college.
3. The magnificent MaryAnn McKibben Dana’s book on Sabbath in the suburbs will be published by Chalice Press.  Trust me, you will want to read this book.
4. The extraordinary Katherine Willis Pershey’s book Any Day a Beautiful Change: A Story of Faith and Family will be published by Chalice Press.  Again, you must trust me.  Pre-order.
5. The 220th General Assembly of the PCUSA will gather in Pittsburgh.  What I don’t look forward to: Administrivia and overtures passed that a) don’t matter and b) don’t matter.  What I look forward to: more people getting it that a) the Constantinian Church is gone forever and b) this is a good thing.
6. Adam Walker Cleaveland and Sarah Walker Cleaveland get to experience the first year of their son’s life.
7. There will be glorious and heart-tugging surprises:  babies born, new love expressed, vows made, death bed words spoken.

I love the future.