Well it has been for us as a small Parish, a rather busy weekend. On Friday we celebrated the life of Molly Goss, yesterday, we celebrated with Brian and Alison as they married and today we celebrate as Alec, Kate and James come for Baptism. Perhaps this seems quite a lot of celebration considering that Wednesday was the start of Lent.

But I think that there is a common theme. In Lent, and in a Funeral, a Baptism and in a wedding, there is the underlying sense of hope. A looking forward to the future and the possibilities that it has. Lent as a season does not achieve anything, if it develops into a sort of morbid self-denying, self-punishing time. Its true message is not in prayer, fasting and giving, but in the hope of the resurrection that we celebrate at the end of this period. Lent gains its meaning on Easter Day, as Easter develops its full potential through Lent. I do urge you to engage in the Lenten Disciplines of Prayer, Fasting and Giving, but not as ends in themselves but as the gateways to the self discovery of the meaning of Easter.

Our first reading this morning, told us of the story of Noah. Now I know that at this time, there is a large party of Archeologists preparing to climb into the remote parts of Turkey's Mt Ararat in search of the Ark. They will spend the summer hunting for evidence of the vessel, and even if they do not locate it, they will at least make a documentary about the expedition, which no doubt we will get to see in one of those dead spots of Television.

These are men and women of faith, I do not doubt that, but dare I suggest that they have missed the point of faith. You see if they discover the Ark, this story will no longer be one of faith, but of fact. And faith and fact are not compatible. Indeed in our story, it is God himself who says to Noah - This is the sign - A Rainbow. Now he did not tell Noah to build a memorial at Mt Ararat to preserve the Ark in all its glory (or Lack of it) - to make a place of Pilgrimage. No the ark was left behind, it was the living reminder of the Rainbow that was God's promise of preservation. A promise of hope.

This is the message of Christianity, the message that Parents and Godparents you are call to impart to these children - the Hope that is faith. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. They then continue in the following verses to describe the actions of various biblical characters who acted in terms of not what they saw but what they believed. Now it is important that we do not confuse hope with wishful thinking. Hope in the biblical sense is about the assurance of knowing, not as in the worldly sense like I hope I win Tattslotto.

Christians are called upon to be purveyors of hope and is this not the Good News that the Gospel reading tells us of? I hope to go to heaven is not a statement of uncertainty but of certainty, trusting in what I believe not in what I do. Indeed what I do is a consequence of what I believe. For Parents and Godparents, your task is not so much to pass on to your children and Godchildren a set of rules or regulations, but to demonstrate to them a life based on faith. Perhaps the rainbow is a real clue to this. There is always more than one way of looking at things. You need to show them the beauty of the rainbow, not explain to them the physics of refraction. We do not need to understand how a rainbow is formed in order to appreciate its beauty and we do not need to find the ark to appreciate God's promise.

So in this has happened this weekend, we have acted out of faith and not out of fact. - I cannot prove the resurrection but I believe it and I see lives changed because of it. Easter Day to which we look forward, is not about an x y z proof, but rather the acceptance of faith of the claims of the church. The reality is not found in any object - the closest we have is an empty tomb - The reality is in the changed lives of those who have encountered the risen Christ by faith through the ages. As the people of God here at Cressy, we are called to display these things in such a way that we draw others into the faith.

Parents, and Godparents, the task that you have will not be easy, because you cannot buy a book and say read this here are the answers. Faith is caught not taught and in the same way, children their parents how to love and the meaning of a loving relationship - children will learn from others around them the mystery that we call faith.

The purpose of this season of Lent is not about self-punishment, but about using these disciplines of Prayer, Fasting and Giving to open up opportunities for growth in Faith. May this Lent see your faith challenged and stretched and grow that it might strengthen and encourage others to put their faith in the resurrection.

AMEN.