The Second Sunday in Lent
Listen to the Sermon for March 1, 2015
Read the Sermon for March 1, 2015
Category: Diocese of Wyoming
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The Phenomenon of Faith
Christian faith means hearing and responding with trust in God when God reaches out to us, offering a promise, wooing us, and calling us into a living redemptive relationship. There is an historic pattern to the phenomenon of faith: God calls, promising to use our lives for God's high purposes. The recipient of the call expresses fear, doubt, or anxiety. Then comes divine reassurance. Finally, there is a faithful response. We see it in the life of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Jeremiah, Mary and Joseph, the Apostles, and others through the ages.
We also see it in the life of Jesus. In his Baptism and Transfiguration there is the call. In the wilderness there is the question and divine reassurance. In the cross there is the faithful response. He does not allow the warning of friends nor the threat of foes deter him from what God has called him to do and the promise before him.
In his book, Living Faith While Holding Doubt, Martin Copenhaver writes, “There are times when we must make a 100% commitment to something about which we are only 51% certain.”
But faith is not a momentary phenomenon, an act at one point in time. Faith is a long-term trust, a committed, continuous response to God’s promises. Out of real doubts and deep questions, Abram ventures forth with God. The venturing forth does not erase those doubts and questions. Rather, he gathers up his doubts and stumbles on trusting God into a future on the basis of nothing but the promise.
God told Abraham that he and his descendants would be a blessing to all the people of the earth and that the promise would last forever. The old Rabbis said that when God promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the dust, he was referring not only to numbers but to the fact that they would outlast those who trampled upon them. Given the way some in the three great Abrahamic faiths have fought one another for centuries, it is a wonder we have survived thus far.
St. Paul tells us that all who trust God like Abraham are his descendants, not just those who have his genes (Romans 4:13-25). Jesus shows us that the way of the cross is the way of faith. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
When God calls, how do you answer? With doubts, anxieties, fears? You are not alone! But can you listen beyond those obstacles to God's reassuring voice, calling you to trust him to lead you through them, perhaps even to use those obstacles as bridges into the future where he is trying to get you to go with him? Can you say, I'm 51% sure, Lord, but I'll trust you with the other 49%?
There is a beautiful prayer by Thomas a’ Kempis that expresses the heart’s desire to live with faith in God:
Write thy blessed name, O Lord, upon my heart, there to remain so indelibly engraven, that no prosperity, no adversity shall ever move me from thy love. Be thou to me a strong tower of defense, a comforter in tribulation, a deliverer in distress, a very present help in trouble, and a guide to heaven through the many temptations and dangers of this life. Amen.
In our Lenten journey together with our Savior, let this prayer be on our lips and learn from him what it truly means to trust in God.
I’ll see you in Church!
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Together in the Journey of Transition
Gay and I are grateful for the extraordinary ways in which we are being enfolded in the embrace of St. John’s! The generous welcome and hospitality you have extended is helping us to get acquainted with the parish and get started in the work of transition. Permit me to mention several things that will be central to the fruitfulness of this season of transition.
Momentum in Mission ~ As I meet with key leaders and ministry groups, I am finding a healthy and vibrant momentum in your pursuit of Christ's mission. We will look for ways to encourage that forward movement. In some cases, that will mean doing exactly what you are already doing. In other cases, we will be looking at next steps, which will involve expansion or refocus. In still other instances, we will be looking at new initiatives.
Search Process ~ The process of searching for and calling a rector is a process of mutual discernment. In the past few years, this process has changed in positive and important ways throughout The Episcopal Church. Each Diocesan Bishop, with the support of the Office of Transition Ministries, directs a process tailored to the diocese and congregation. Our parish leadership will work closely with the diocesan transition officer, Canon Tristan English, as the process unfolds. In the early stages of the process, members of the parish will be asked to provide information that will allow development of a contemporary and accurate profile of the parish. At each stage of the process, the parish will be provided with as much information as possible.
Focus Areas of Transition ~ You will hear frequent references to “Focus Areas of Transition.” They are:
Heritage: Understanding and celebrating the history of this congregation and its relationship to previous clergy, the community, and the diocese.
Mission: Discovering the congregation’s unique identity, what it is called by God to be and to do, in accordance with and apart from previous clergy leadership.
Leadership: Encouraging and facilitating naturally evolving shifts in leadership roles which occur in times of transition and allowing new leaders to come to the forefront in creative and constructive ways.
Connections: Assisting the congregation in discovering how they can bless one another, the larger community, and their present and future clergy. Continuing relationships with the diocese, so that each may support the mission and work of the church.
Future: Building commitment to the leadership of the new Rector in order to move into the future with openness to new possibilities. These five tasks are the work of the congregation and are ongoing, not sequential, in nature. They represent the key ways in which the parish takes an honest look at itself. As we make decisions, we will ask lots of questions and have lots of conversations.
My Priorities ~ In addition to the usual duties of a rector, I will facilitate the five focus areas. I will also devote particular energies to several areas of parish life that the Vestry and I will identify together as opportunities for special attention of the parish and focus of my vocational experience and gifts.
Congregational Health ~ St. John’s is already a very healthy congregation! So, as we journey together during this transition, we will be mindful of the overall health of the congregation and its missionary activity. Four of the most important elements of congregational health are good communication, trust, mutual accountability, and healthy interpersonal behaviors.
In all things, we want to prepare every aspect of the life and ministry of the parish to receive your new rector and ensure that your ministry with your new rector is positive and fruitful in every possible way.
I'll see you in church!
The Rev’d Ron Pogue Interim Rector
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The Bar Circle P Ranch
My dad, A.C. Pogue, moved to Houston from Rogers in Bell County, Texas in 1936. After he was settled, he sent for my grandparents, Coy and Nora, and his five brothers, Jesse, Gerald, Tommy, Pat, and Bill. They all moved to Houston and sought work.
During WWII, Dad served in the National Guard and continued in his job at Reed Roller Bit Company, which had been granted a defense contract to build tank parts. The other five brothers enlisted in the military and served until the end of the war.
After WWII, the six brothers formed the Pogue Service Company in Houston, Texas. Their company, headquartered in the 7600 block of Homestead Road, involved a variety of enterprises, including a construction company, a lumberyard, a service station, and a meat market. They also bought some 1,300 acres in Walker County, Texas where they had a herd of over 300 head of cattle. That herd was one source of meat for their market in Houston.
They called the cattle operation the Bar Circle P Ranch. The brothers sold the herd and the land in 1949. My dad and his youngest brother, Bill Pogue, kept about 50 head of Brahman cattle and moved them to another piece of land nearby.
In 1950, there was an anthrax outbreak in the area. Dad and Uncle Bill went to vaccinate their Brahmans and, in the process, one of the cows knocked my dad off balance. He stuck the needle of the syringe into his arm and contracted anthrax. As the illness progressed, Dr. Donald M. Gready, our family physician, saved his life by performing an emergency tracheotomy in the Medical Arts hospital hallway.
As a consequence of the anthrax, Dad could not tolerate the Houston heat and began to look for someplace else to spend the summers. His housing development business was very successful and he could afford to buy 2,000 acres in Grand County Colorado. I spent many happy summers there and I’ve returned to the area often as an adult.
Recently, when visiting with my Uncle Bill, the last of the six brothers, I asked if they branded their cattle at the Bar Circle P Ranch. He told me they did and described the brand for me. He personally made the branding iron. It was somewhat large and branded the cattle on the side instead of the rump because it made it easier to identify them among trees on the ranch property. He said that the branding iron had been lost and he doesn’t remember seeing it since sometime in the early 1950’s.
I mentioned this to my cousin, Cody Pogue. His grandfather, Uncle Tommy Pogue, acquired a portion of the smaller property after Dad and Uncle Bill sold their Brahman herd. Cody grew up visiting his grandparents there and his family still owns the property. Cody promised to search for the branding iron on his next visit.
On Friday, December 26, 2014, Cody found the branding iron among some old tools in a shed. He sent a photo and I forwarded it on to Uncle Bill, who believed the iron was lost and gone forever. What an interesting surprise for all of us.
It is a symbol of an era in our family heritage of faith, collaboration, enterprise, and hard work and of an era when these six brothers helped each other build a new life for themselves and their families in
Houston.
The original photo shows a reverse image of the brand because the face of the branding iron had to be that way in order for the image burned into the hid of the animal to appear correctly.
I’ve flipped the image around to show how it would appear on the animal's hide after branding.
Cody and his dad, Jimmy Pogue, are making images of the brand so that we can provide copies for other descendants of the six Pogue brothers to remind them of the importance of our family heritage, values, and lessons for future generations. That Bar Circle P brand reminds me that I was born into this branch of the Pogue Family and that wherever I may be, the lessons of one generation are passed to succeeding generations.
Cattle are branded or ear marked so that their ownership can be identified wherever they may be. In Baptism, Christians are "marked as Christ's own for ever." Who we are and whose we are leaves an indelible mark upon us, even when we stray. Whenever and wherever I am, if I can only remember that I am Baptized and have been made a child of God by grace and adoption, I am reassured. Generations of Christians have passed lessons on to mine and now it is my privilege to share them with those who come after me. One of our favorite hymns says it well:
Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died.Soon, we'll be taking possession of our new house in Arlington, Texas. It will serve as our home base as I continue interim ministry in The Episcopal Church. We're going to refer to our back yard as the Bar Circle P as a way of honoring our Pogue Family heritage. And, we'll have a branch office in Jackson, Wyoming, where I'll live out the imperatives of the seal on my brow as Interim Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, starting February 15.
Gay and I ask for your prayers as our journey continues – in a new pasture!
Faithfully,
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The Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Dear Friends,
The Vestry of St. John's Episcopal Church in Jackson, Wyoming has called me to serve as Interim Rector following the retirement of The Rev'd Ken Asel. My duties there will begin on February 15, 2015. Here is the weekly Revelations newsletter from St. John's.
The Parish includes the main edifice, St. John's Chapel in Jackson, Chapel of the Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park, and Chapel of St. Hubert the Hunter in Bondurant. The people are generous in their hospitality and engaged in significant outreach in the community, the diocese, and the world.
New Arlington HouseAlso, we have purchased a house in Arlington, Texas that will serve as our home base. Then, we won't have to move more than we absolutely need during this itinerant phase of our life. Our move-in date for the Arlington house has not yet been determined, but we expect it to be sometime in early January.
More information will be forthcoming as things develop. In the meantime, enjoy this slideshow with some photos of our new location. Thanks to all of you who have held us in your prayers during our time of discernment.
We are going to
St. John's and Jackson Hole!
Faithfully,
P.S. I already have the hat, similar to the one worn by Sheriff Walt Longmire.