It all began rather modestly, with Sunday morning worship on January 20, 2002, preceded by a wonderful recital by Christian Lane on January 18th. On that Sunday morning, we spent some time thinking about the earliest days of the church, and those pioneers who responded to God's call by organizing a Presbyterian congregation for this part of the city. A wonderful exhibit of historic photographs and documents also made its debut in the Gallery. 

Then, like a symphony that builds to a marvelous crescendo, our anniversary celebration will offer to our own church family and the broader community different events – special worship, music and arts, educational – plus several big parties. The months ahead will surely be good ones. 

Both notions of our theme, "celebrate" and "journey," are helpful ones. Anniversary celebrations are exercises in gratitude. By celebrating, we are saying thank you to all those who have, by God's grace, gone before us, pioneers and saints, members and musicians and teachers and ministers, planners and dreamers, whose stewardship of the Third Church vision was faithful in its own moment and whose legacy to us is beyond measure. 

There have been extraordinary moments in our history, and we will do much to remember those episodes over the coming months. This celebration should be informative. It should be challenging. It should also be a lot of fun! 

At the end of the day, though, the old adage that "the past is prelude to the future" should also prove to be very true. Anniversary celebrations ARE about the past, to be sure. But the journey of faith to which God calls us moves ever forward. "Celebrate the Journey" will invite us to consider – by celebrating our past – where God's good future is leading us.  

Where is God calling us? What is the church that we are called to be? What new and bold things await our future ministry? And what role will each of us play as this new era in the life of the Third Presbyterian Church in the city of Rochester, New York unfolds?