My Blog

Category: Meditation

  • In Celebration of Michaelmas

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    Today, September 29, is Michaelmas, The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Since this year the observance falls on a Sunday, the feast is transferred to Monday for public worship. I consider Michael to be my guardian angel, although I've been told that isn't possible. However, if you've ever been visited by an archangel, you know. Here's an icon of the Archangel Michael my wife Gay Pogue wrote for me.

    I’ve been intrigued by angels for many years. On numerous occasions, I’ve wondered if what I’ve experienced was because of the presence and ministration of an angel. I
     once asked my friend Rabbi Jimmy Kessler of Galveston to talk to me about the view of angels in Judaism. He told me many interesting things but the one that stays with me involves the role of angels in the providence of God. He said, “The rabbis said that God has assigned an angel to every living thing, even each blade of grass. The angel’s job is to stand beside every blade of grass and say, ‘Grow! Grow! Grow!’”

    In celebration of Michaelmas, I wanted to share my appreciation of and curiosity about angels, so today I’m posting an article and some hymns for your consideration. I hope you’ll benefit from them and become acquainted with the angels in your life.

     

    Article by James Kiefer

    Hymn – “Ye Holy Angels Bright”

    Click HERE for Text.

    Hymn – “Christ, the Fair Glory”

    Click HERE for Text.

    Hymn – “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones”

    Click HERE for Text.

    For he shall give his angels charge over you,
       to keep you in all your ways.
    They shall bear you in their hands,
       lest you dash your foot against a stone.    – Psalm 91:11-12

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue

  • An Epiphany in Faith Formation from a Lost Ball and a Trustworthy Dad

    The greatest lesson I ever learned about faith I learned from my father. I had accidentally pitched a ball into a valley on the roof of our house. instead of getting out a ladder and climbing up to get it for me, dad picked me up to boost me up onto the roof so I could get it myself. I had never been upon the roof before. It was frightening, mostly the getting-up-there part.

    When I began to express my fear my dad said, “Don't worry. I won't let you fall.” His hands and arms felt strong. His voice was firm and confident. He had been on the roof himself. He believed I would be okay. So, I forgot my fears and found my faith and dad didn't let me fall.

    Through the experience of trusting I discovered that my dad was trustworthy.

    I have been able to live my life with an abiding faith, often tested by the things that test everybody's faith. It goes back to that lost ball on the roof, my dad’s strong and loving arms, reassuring voice, and dependable promise, “I won't let you fall.”

     That has made it easier for me to trust my heavenly father who promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Earthly parents, though fallible, have a role to play in the formation of faith in their children's lives. In fact, parents are the primary faith-givers. The chief evangelical opportunity for Christian parents is with their children. Even helping a child retrieve a toy stuck on the roof can be an occasion for faith forming. The world needs dads to give their children a fear-conquering faith. Of course, moms do it too. But this is Father's Day.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue

  • The Mission Field at Our Doorstep

    This reflection is about an epiphany from one of the saints I have known, Marjorie B. Lester. I became Marjorie’s pastor at Houston’s Bering Memorial Church in January of 1978 when she was 95 years old. Marjorie was born in Kentucky in 1882. Her father was murdered when Marjorie was not quite 5 years old. She married when she was 15, bore three children, and was widowed at the age of 46. Somehow, in the early years of her marriage, she managed to study law and was the second woman admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Around 1910, the Lester’s moved to Texas, first to Hardeman County, then to Corpus Christi. She told me that following the death of her husband she moved to Houston to take a position in charge of corporate records for United Gas Pipeline, which position she held until her retirement in 1947. After retirement, Marjorie devoted much of her time, talent, and energy to programs for seniors. In 1957, she was appointed to the Governor’s Committee on Aging and in 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed her to the White House Conference on Aging. She died at the age of 101.
     
    It was my first time to serve as a senior pastor and she was in many ways a mentor to me as she had been for pastors who preceded me. In October of my first year at Bering, our stewardship campaign theme was “Open the Doors.” The pledge cards were printed and folded to resemble the main doors of the church. On the Sunday members were asked to complete their pledge cards and bring them to the Altar, Marjorie raised her walking cane in the air and asked to say a few words to the congregation. She came to the front of the nave, stood facing those who were gathered there, leaned on her cane, and challenged everyone to give generously. She concluded her remarks by pointing to the doors of the church with that cane and saying, “The Apostle Paul would be envious of the mission field at our doorstep.” She then returned to her pew and sat down. 60% of the pledge cards turned in that morning had the original numbers erased or crossed out and higher amounts filled in!
     
    Marjorie’s closing words rang in my ears for the remaining eight years I served in that place and they have remained with me ever since. It became my practice at the end of the service to invite worshipers to turn and face the door of the church for the Dismissal. From there, through the door of the church, near the Baptismal Font if possible, and with the Book of the Gospels in my hands, having been nourished by Word and Sacrament, I send Christ's followers into “the mission field at our doorstep.”
     
    Above the Choir in the front of that church is a stained glass window I have never especially liked. It is a poor representation of William Holman Hunt’s famous painting of Jesus “The Light of the World” knocking on a door. In Hunt’s painting, there is no latch on the door, the implication being that it must be opened from the inside. However, in this particular window, there is a huge latch right there in front of Jesus. I could never reconcile the window with what I believed about the way Jesus enters our lives.
     
    Until recently! A story shared by Bishop Scott Mayer in a sermon at the Ordination of Deacons provided the very insight I needed. It was a story told by a Roman Catholic Cardinal, Blasé Cupich of Chicago – a story about the days leading up to the Conclave to choose the current Pope. In the days leading up to the Conclave, it is their practice for the gathered Cardinals to deliver addresses designed to help their colleagues discern where the Holy Spirit is calling the Church.
     
    Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina took his turn and remarked that, “In the Revelation to John, Jesus says that he stands at the door and knocks.” “The idea,” he continued, “is that Jesus is knocking from outside the door.” But Cardinal Bergoglio inverted the image … and asked his fellow Cardinals and indeed the whole Church to consider “the times in which Jesus knocks from within so that we will let him come out.” When the Church keeps Christ to herself and does not let him out … it becomes “self-referential – and then gets sick. The Church must go out of itself to the peripheries, to minister to the needy.”
     
    Evidently, Cardinal Bergoglio spoke the words the Church needed to hear, for he was called. We know him now as Pope Francis.
     
    Jesus wants to lead us out into the mission field at our doorstep, as Marjorie so powerfully envisioned it 45 years ago this month. I rejoice to say that the faithful of Bering Memorial Church are still going out there, responding with love and compassion to the needs of others. The doors continue to open outward and through them all kinds of people come and go. Marjorie was one of them. There is no way to even estimate how many lives she has touched. I am grateful she touched mine and, hopefully, many others who’ve heard my stories about her.

    Faithfully,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue

  • The Tree of Wisdom

    Yesterday, a friend shared a couple of stanzas of a Good Friday hymn written by Seventeenth Century Hungarian poet Király Imre von Pécselyi and translated into English by Twentieth Century Congregationalist minister, composer, and musicologist Erik Routley. The common title of the hymn is “There in God’s Garden” and it is also known as “The Tree of Wisdom.” Alabama composer K. Lee Scott wrote the tune “Shades Mountain” specifically for this text.

    I was introduced to the hymn during my two-year residence in Mississippi as Interim Dean of Jackson’s St. Andrew’s Cathedral. It became one of my favorite hymns, with its message of hope for the healing of the nations. Organist/Choirmaster Jessica Nelson led the Cathedral Choir and Congregation in singing it in my last Sunday service there, which was also the occasion for my retirement from active ministry. This seems like a good time to share it.

    I invite you to contemplate the words, read the article by Emily R. Brink, and immerse yourself in the music, here sung by the Choir and Congregation of First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.

    There in God’s garden stands the Tree of Wisdom,
    whose leaves hold forth the healing of the nations:
    Tree of all knowledge, Tree of all compassion,
    Tree of all beauty.

    Its name is Jesus, name that says, “Our Savior!”
    There on its branches see the scars of suffering;
    see where the tendrils of our human selfhood
    feed on its lifeblood.

    Thorns not its own are tangled in its foliage;
    our greed has starved it, our despite has choked it.
    Yet, look! It lives! Its grief has not destroyed it
    nor fire consumed it.

    See how its branches reach to us in welcome;
    hear what the Voice says, “Come to me, ye weary!
    Give me your sickness, give me all your sorrow;
    I will give blessing.”

    This is my ending, this my resurrection:
    into your hands, Lord, I commit my spirit.
    This have I searched for; now I can possess it.
    This ground is holy.

    All heaven is singing, “Thanks to Christ whose Passion
    offers in mercy healing, strength, and pardon.
    Peoples and nations, take it, take it freely!”
    Amen! Our Savior!

     

    Blessings!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue

     

  • What are we that God is mindful of us?

    The Rev. G. Runge Nease was my Pastor during my spiritually formative teen years. He often recited verses from Psalm 8 as the Opening Sentence for worship, reminding us that God is always mindful of us and that we are created a little lower than the Holy Angels. I can hear his voice even now six decades later proclaiming, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth…"
     
    We may – and often do – forget God, but God never forgets us, is always mindful of us, reaches out to us in Love Divine. I often pray this collect on Thursdays and imagine I'm walking with those disciples along the Road to Emmaus on that first Easter Day. The Risen Christ was their companion on that journey but they didn't recognize him.
     
    Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our
    being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by
    your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our
    life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are
    ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen.
     
    Pastor Nease planted the seed of understanding in me that continues to reassure me every step along the way and every hour of every day, God is mindful of me, even when I am not mindful of God. My ultimate worth to my Creator is like that of the Angels.
     
    Here's the Psalm 8 sung in magnificent Anglican chant.


    Psalm 8
     
    Domine, Dominus noster
     
    1. O LORD our Governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world: thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens!
    2. Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies: that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
    3. For I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.
    4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him: and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
    5. Thou madest him lower than the angels: to crown him with glory and worship.
    6. Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands: and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet;
    7. All sheep and oxen: yea, and the beasts of the field;
    8. The fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas.
    9. O Lord our Governor: how excellent is thy Name in all the world.
     
    Blessings,
     
    Ron+
     
     

  • O Thou Who Camest From Above

    The Hymns of Charles Wesley are among the finest treasures of Christian verse, sung by Anglicans, Methodists, and others around the world. Today, I selected one of his hymns for the Unapologetically Episcopalian Facebook page, "O Thou Who Camest From Above." As I listened to the music and read the words, I had an epiphany. It dawned on me that, even though this hymn is included in both The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal) and The United Methodist Hymnal, I don't recall ever choosing it for corporate worship. In fact, I don't remember ever singing it at any time during my 49 years of ordained ministry.

    The text is a reflection upon a verse from the Book of Leviticus: “A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out” (Leviticus 6:13 NRSV). It has sacramental overtones in Christian liturgy as in the traditional Great Thanksgiving handed down to Anglicans and Methodists alike, we pray, "And here we offer unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee…" Those familiar with the Christian experience of both Charles Wesley and his brother John Wesley, may recognize an allusion to their experience, which John described as one that gave him faith in Christ who kindled a flame in the "altar of my heart."

    Interestingly, Hereford, the tune to which the hymn is set in the aforementioned hymnals and in the recording below is by composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley, grandson of Charles Wesley, who was Organist of Hereford Cathedral early in his career. His father, Samuel Wesley, was also a noted English organist and composer.

    This hymn is a supplication to our Savior to supply the spiritual guidance and gifts to allow his followers to fulfill the vocation to work, think, and speak for him every day. It is a perfect prayer for any Christian's daily life and I commend it to you. Perhaps it will become a spiritual practice for you in your journey of faith in the Way of Love.

    1 O thou who camest from above
    the fire celestial to impart,
    kindle a flame of sacred love
    on the mean altar of my heart!

    2 There let it for thy glory burn
    with inextinguishable blaze,
    and trembling to its source return
    in humble prayer and fervent praise.

    3 Jesus, confirm my heart's desire
    to work, and speak, and think for thee;
    still let me guard the holy fire,
    and still stir up the gift in me.

    4 Ready for all thy perfect will,
    my acts of faith and love repeat;
    till death thy endless mercies seal,
    and make the sacrifice complete. 

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Arlington, Texas

  • A Fruitful Life

    Grapes-on-Vine-660x330Modern personnel practices in secular business settings emphasize the importance of performance appraisals. Some of that spills over into our perspective on our life as followers of Jesus Christ. That is not necessarily a good thing.

    Business and the economy are concerned with performance and productivity. People are useful as long as they are able to contribute to the bottom line. People easily become cogs in the wheels of commerce.

    Jesus was concerned about fruitfulness. He said, "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

    I helped a family say goodbye to a loved one who was a renowned surgeon, husband, father, and Christian gentleman. During those last minutes of his life, they were not concerned in the least with his performance. They spoke of the wonderful life he lived and the stewardship of his gifts as a physician that allowed him to heal, save lives, give people another chance. "That was why he was put here," they said. He understood that God had made him a physician and guided his hands in God's healing work. He lived a fruitful life.

    Every life he touched made a difference to others. We'll never know how many. I recalled a bit of wisdom:"Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed." Fruitful people go around planting seeds. Those seeds germinate, take root, sprout, grow, and produce fruit. And so the process continues from generation to generation.

    Here's a question: When you die, do you want someone to say about you, "He always had good performance appraisals," or do you want it said, "He lived a fruitful life"?

    Do what you have to do to earn a living, keep your job, and provide for your family. Be a top performer. But don't confuse being a cog in the wheel with living a fruitful, abundant, Christian life.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas

  • Precious in God’s Sight

    When I was a child, I loved attending Sunday School. I had some amazingly loving and deeply faithful teachers whose influence profoundly affected the formation of my faith in a loving God. I can see them and hear their voices now as if it were only yesterday – Mr. Frantis, Mrs. Brittian, Mrs. Baber, and others. They loved us and shared their faith in Jesus with us. They reinforced the faith into which our parents were trying to guide us.

    However, when I looked back on that time from the perspective of a young adult in the late 1960's, I realized something was wrong. They taught us to sing (with gusto) "Jesus Loves the Little Children." In that song, there is a line that says, "Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight." But the church I attended was 100% white. From its members I overheard conversations from time to time about the place of our neighbors who were black, brown, and yellow. When I looked back, I realized that, while Jesus loves people besides white people, my white church people didn't. Jesus might love them, but they weren't really welcome in my church. Jesus might love them, but they weren't worthy of the dignity and respect enjoyed by white people. Jesus might love them, but our behavior toward them didn't have to look like we love them as he loves us. Jesus might love them, but they had better not act "uppity." (And what about brown children?)

    If you grew up in a racist culture like I did, you know what I am talking about. Perhaps for you, as for me, recognizing that something was wrong was an epiphany, a time for repentance, and the beginning of transformation. My world could no longer be all white with a little color around the edges.

    This all came to me during a time when black people were turned away from white churches. It was a struggle for one like me, who was taught that people of all colors are precious in the sight of Jesus, to reconcile that message with the actions I was witnessing. Given the rhetoric of the day, I suppose I could have rejected that message and clung to what seemed to be the majority view reflected in the rhetoric and behavior of my white world. But the security, control, and privilege of that world was slipping away. Abandoning it or confronting it could be dangerous. White people said harsh and hateful things to other white people who didn't participate in keeping non-white people "in their place." The message wasn't wrong; my white, privileged, dominant world was wrong and I couldn't live in it anymore. I had to set out on a journey toward someplace else. I'm still on that journey.

    Recent events in our nation have brought me to the sad truth that many of my fellow white people are still trapped in that world. It is even sadder that they seem to be completely unconscious of it. They say and do things that are blatantly racist yet are oblivious. I know it's true because I've been there and I still find myself trying to overcome some of those prejudices that were planted in me long ago. People of color who loved me enough to point out the harm, sometimes hatefulness, of my words and actions stuck with me until I began to understand where they were coming from and how my words and my behavior affected them. Many of those people are still in my life. I give thanks to God for them. I've sort of been their lifelong project and I'm still not finished. They patiently continue on the journey with me. And as we travel, we sing that song hoping our rainbow beliefs are evident in our lives. Maybe the colors of our rainbow are still a little bit pastel, but we hope they are growing more vibrant with each step we take together. Together.

    So, what I wanted to suggest today to my friends of all colors, races, religions, genders, and nationalities is that it might help heal our fractured, hurting world if we would sing this song and test ourselves to see if our words and actions show that we really believe it is true. Whether you believe that Jesus is God Incarnate, a wise prophet, or just a very gutsy nice guy, could it be true that he loves all the children of the world? Are all of us – red, yellow, black, white, brown – really precious in his sight? If I am one of the Jesus people, shouldn't they be precious in my sight as well? How do I love and treat people who are precious in Jesus' sight? Who are precious in my sight?

    This isn't a final exam! It's a pop quiz to monitor progress in a lifelong course. I invite you to take it with me and see if we can be the difference we'd like to see in God's amazing, changing world.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas

  • The Providence of God

    Jehovah JirehOne of the earliest names for God in the Hebrew scriptures is יְהוָֹה יִרְאֶה (Jehovah Jireh), meaning "God will provide." (cf. Genesis 22:14)

    The collects for the first several Sundays after Pentecost emphasize how God provides for us. For example:

    O God, your never‑failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

    And this:

    O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think
    those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through
    Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
    for ever and ever. Amen.

    In a world where we are encouraged to believe that what we have comes only through our work, ambition, the political process, the economy, war, or some other human endeavor, it is refreshing to be reminded that God provides! Moreover, when we consider the potential danger of confronting the evils of our time – racism, wealth inequality, greed, mendacity, war, hatred, disenfranchisement – we must have moral courage beyond what we can summon for ourselves.

    Learn to look through the window of your soul to recognize God’s hand at work. Awakening to that reality brings about a transformation of consciousness that liberates us from dependence upon material things and deepens our love for our Creator and Provider.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas

  • The Holy Trinity – More Than a Theory

    https://ronpogue.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54fb5e54d8834014e892d92ef970d-piThe Holy Trinity is a doctrine, a teaching, developed over time by the Church as an aspect of the unfolding revelation of God derived from, but not confined to the pages of sacred scripture.

    Doctrine is not Truth, with a capital “T”, but rather our faithful approach to or reach for the Truth. Doctrine that really matters is more than an intellectual pursuit or a theory. The best doctrines are those that speak to deeply felt needs of those who seek God. For example…

    We have a need to know who created the universe and placed us in it. In response, the Church tells us that it is the Lord God Almighty who is the Creator and Parent of all life and being. We see God’s hand at work in the world around us. It is powerful, though only a glimpse. To see God face to face is something we hope for and long for and live for.

    We also need to know that we have a source of forgiveness and understanding that will not let us down. In our declaration of the divinity of Jesus Christ, we are saying that God sees us not just from the viewpoint of a loving Creator/Parent, but with redemptive concern as well. God’s reason for dealing with us in Jesus Christ is to offer us forgiveness of sin, release from guilt, to reconcile us and draw us closer to the ultimate purpose for all creation.

    And, we need to know that we have a friend who is near, always able to sustain our faith, bind us together in worship, and empower us in God’s mission. So, we proclaim that God is the Holy Spirit, ever present in our midst for guidance, comfort, and strength. As St. Paul says, the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and heirs with Christ of God’s amazing grace (Romans 8:16-17).

    The Holy Trinity: Three expressions of how One Living God relates to everything and everyone in the universe. More than a theory, it is a teaching given to us to help us better know who God is, how God loves us, and how God abides with us.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Rector
    St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
    Keller, Texas