Category: Meditation

Epiphanies at a Barbeque

The Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming also has responsibility for The Chapel of the Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park and The Chapel of St. Hubert the Hunter in Bondurant, Wyoming. Following an outdoor service on the last Sunday in June each year, the folks at St. Hubert's host a barbeque, to which people come for miles around. Gay and I were privileged to participate in one of those during my interim appointment in Wyoming.

In the service of worship, at which I presided and preached, and in the crowd at the barbeque, I was conscious that I was there on a mission from God. I didn’t just happen by or show up. I was sent there on a mission and equipped by God with “good news” of the kingdom of heaven for all sorts and conditions of people. But when I started out that morning I did not realize that, in the midst of that mission to others, I would experience God’s reign myself.

At the barbeque, seated at one end of our table were two young men from Israel. They were driving along, saw the sign, and turned in to enjoy some genuine western barbecue beside an Episcopal Church. They asked about lodging and things to see on their way to Yellowstone. We took delight in suggesting things we’d seen and done during our brief time in the area. Having been welcomed in their country when we traveled there, we were glad to have an opportunity to extend hospitality to them as they traveled through ours. When they started to leave, we wished each other “Shalom.” In the exchange of that ancient word of peace, our eyes met. We understood one another in some new way. Strangers became friends as our kinship with our Creator was acknowledged. I experienced God’s reign on earth, transcending time and space and even barbecue.

At the other end of the table was a couple from a neighboring state. They have been riding their motorcycles to Bondurant for years to participate in this annual event. After a short conversation, one of them raised the subject of the Church’s view of homosexuality. Gay gently expressed the inclusive view one finds in The Episcopal Church and what that means for so many people whom we cherish. Silence. Then, they opened up and talked about what it means for them, their daughter and her partner. Our eyes met. We understood one another in some new way. Strangers became friends as our kinship with our Creator was acknowledged. I experienced God’s reign on earth, transcending time and space and even barbecue.

On my way to the car, a member of the band that played for both the service of worship and the barbecue approached me. She thanked me for the service and told me that although she was Baptized at an early age, this was the first time she’d ever received Holy Communion. She said that her decision to come forward on this occasion was made when she heard me say, “Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and wherever you may be on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.” In that moment in time, in that particular location, she knew that she is included in God’s love and hospitality. Our eyes met. We understood one another in some new way. Strangers became friends as our kinship with our Creator was acknowledged. I experienced God’s reign on earth, transcending time and space and even barbecue.

Our recent readings from Mark’s Gospel concern Jesus during his Galilean ministry, crossing back and forth between Jewish and Gentile territories. God’s reign became evident in the encounters between Jesus and the people to whom he was sent. You and I are called to recognize the signs of God’s reign when we see them in our encounters with others. Even more, we are privileged to be heralds of God’s reign wherever we may be to help others recognize God’s reign for themselves.

Let us pray.

O heavenly Father, you have filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

P.S. The theme of our fall stewardship season is drawn from this prayer. “Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works.” Consecration Sunday, with one great morning worship service and a complimentary brunch celebrating our life together is October 14. Please make plans to join us!

July 13, 2018
The Sacrament of Failure

Several years ago, when I was jogging along the Seawall in Galveston one morning, I noticed that someone had written the following message with chalk in large letters:

The Race Goes Not Always to The Swift. . .But to Those Who Keep On Running.

Encouragement! Someone put those words there to encourage people who were running the race. Don’t give up! Keep on keeping on! There is value in the running of the race. There is victory in completing it.

When Jesus sent the twelve apostles out on their mission, he let them know that not everyone would welcome them. “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11).

Encouragement! Jesus gave them those words to encourage them to continue in their mission even when they were not welcomed. A friend of mine once called this “the sacrament of failure.” Jesus gave his apostles permission to fail and an outward sign that would help them leave that failure behind and continue in their mission.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews also knew there is value in running the race to its completion. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Encouragement! Both Jesus and the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews intended their words to encourage Christ’s followers to keep on keeping on, because they knew there would be plenty of times when being Christian would be difficult.

Faith Derickson echoes these words from Hebrews:

Keep us faithful always to You
Whatever the path we trod
That we might run with patience, Lord,
The race that is set before us.

And through it all may we praise Your Name,
For it is only by Your power,
That we can run with patience, Lord,
The race that is set before us.

A missionary people need encouragement to persevere in the work of Christ. He’s in it with us. Every age and mission outpost has its challenges. If we will continue to faithfully put one foot in front of the other, Jesus will provide what is needed to endure and to transcend the challenges. When we fail trying, he will keep us from settling into that failure and help us move on toward completion.

As my wife, Gay, often reminds me, “Life is not about falling down. . .it’s about getting up and trying again.” Let us always encourage one another to continue in the life and work of Christ.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

P.S. I did a little online research and found the quote in a number of places with an anonymous attribution. However, I believe it may be a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 9:11 “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the skilful; but time and chance happen to them all.”

July 6, 2018
Precious in God’s Sight

Watching all the children in Vacation Bible School this week brought back memories of my own childhood experience in Church.

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 stronger 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.

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

June 28, 2018
Protect the Children First, Then the Border

On several occasions during the past weeks, I have commented and asked questions regarding the new policy of President Trump that separates children from their parents along the southern border of the United States of America. Several people have asked if I don’t hold the parents accountable for putting these children in harm's way and bringing them across the border. My answer is, “I certainly do.” Here’s what I mean.

Among the stories that form and shape our faith, there are certain stories that rise to the level of paradigms. Paradigmatic stories in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament are told again and again to shape the faith of a people. Two of those faith-forming stories directly address the responsibility of parents protecting their children.

The first is the story of the Hebrew parents of a newborn son in Egypt who placed him in a waterproof basket and hid him in the tall grasses of the Nile because Pharaoh was threatened by the Hebrew slaves due to their large population (Exodus 2:1-10). He had ordered the murder of infant Hebrew children. It was an early example of population control. Pharaoh's daughter, who was bathing in the river, heard the baby cry, found him, and rescued him. She named him “Moses,” meaning “drawn from the water.”

I hold the parents of Moses responsible for placing their son in harm’s way when a tyrant was murdering Hebrew children. They took extraordinary steps in desperate hope that his life would be spared. He grew up to lead God’s people out of the slavery into which he had been born.

The second story is found in the Gospel According to Matthew (Matthew 2:13-15). Mary and Joseph had a son and named him Jesus. After the visit of the Magi, King Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, “in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi” (Mt. 2:16). Joseph had a dream in which an angel warned him to flee (Mt. 2:13). So, Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus across the border into Egypt to save him. The life of Jesus was spared while Herod slaughtered many innocent children.

I hold the parents of Jesus responsible for placing their son in harm’s way when a tyrant was murdering Hebrew children. They took extraordinary steps in desperate hope that his life would be spared. He grew up to bring salvation not just to his own people, but to all people for all time.

Beyond these biblical paradigms, there are other stories of parents putting their children in harm’s way in desperate hope that their lives would be spared. For example, English Colonists came to North America in the 17^th an 18^th Centuries fleeing tyrannical monarchs and undesirable conditions in England. Others colonists came also from other countries, seeking a better life.

I hold the parents of those colonial children responsible for placing their children in harm’s way when conditions in their homelands had become unbearable. They took extraordinary steps in desperate hope that their lives would be spared and their future brighter.

History is replete with accounts of parents fleeing danger and tyranny to save their lives and the lives of their children. These parents crossing our border have similar stories. Many of these families are walking and hitchhiking across Mexico in desperate hope of reaching the United States of America, where they will seek asylum and a new and brighter life. I hold them responsible for that.

In the past, our government has normally kept families together in detention facilities while their cases were being processed. The exception has been in those instances where minor children appeared to be in physical danger or were unaccompanied. Under this new policy, all children have been separated and placed in 100 detention facilities in 17 states, to remain there for an unspecified period and without a plan to ensure that they will be reunited with their parents.

The President has signed an executive order to halt his earlier policy of separating children from parents. However, some 2,300 children and youth still remain separated from their parents, some under one year of age.

Borders are the invention of human beings, not God-ordained. While I do hope our government finds reliable and just ways to secure our national borders, I don’t believe God cares about borders. However, I do believe that God cares about how we treat people who cross our borders.

There are at least 97 passages of Scripture that address the treatment of foreigners. Here’s one: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Ex. 19:33-34). The protection of the rights of aliens under the United States Constitution is grounded in that Scriptural admonition. In numerous instances, God’s people are admonished to care for foreigners, widows, and children. Jesus became indignant when his followers were trying to keep children from him. He commanded them to bring the children to him, “For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mk. 10:13-16).

In our Baptismal Covenant, we vow to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” I don’t see how I can honor those vows and stand silent while these children are being separated from their parents.

Those persons who are trying to bring order out of this chaos and care for these children are doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances. It is the separation from their parents that I believe is causing them harm, not the actions of their caregivers. I raise my voice to call upon our elected officials at every level and in all three branches of government to end the practice of separating children from parents whose only crime is crossing the border of our country.

Attorneys and jurists are pointing out that these actions are not proportional to the crime. I join my voice with theirs.

Elected officials are challenging the use of children to leverage immigration legislation. I join my voice with theirs.

Historians and social scientists are calling our attention to the similarities of statements about criminals among the undocumented immigrant population and historical accounts of the Jim Crow era in our country. They are insisting that lies and hyperbole must not be used to foster fear and bigotry against a class or race of people. I join my voice with theirs.

Physicians are speaking out about the harmful medical and psychological effects of “captivity trauma,” which these children are experiencing. They are calling for an end to this harmful practice. I join my voice with theirs.

Our Presiding Bishop and most Bishops Diocesan, including our own Bishop Brian Seage, have spoken out against the policy and denounced it as immoral. Leaders of many other religious bodies have also denounced the policy and called on the government to return those children to their parents. They are also condemning the heretical misuse of sacred Scripture to justify the actions of the state as “ordained by God.” I join my voice to theirs.

I hold these parents responsible for putting their children in harm's way in desperate hope of saving them and giving them a better life. That's what responsible parents do! For Christians, the family is sacred. This issue is, for Christians, first and foremost a spiritual and moral issue. It has become political because those values have been violated by our political leaders. It's not "who we are."

Our government leaders have the ability to uphold our laws, protect our borders, and ensure that families are not separated. It doesn’t matter what political leaders put such a policy in place or what political party you belong to. The policy is contrary to the Scriptures and teachings of our faith. Please join me in calling on our leaders to find better, just, and effective ways to secure our borders.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

June 22, 2018
Give pride of place to one another in esteem!

A verse of scripture has been on my mind all week and I can’t stop thinking about it. When that happens, I assume that it may be a prompting of the Holy Spirit that is important for my life and ministry.

The verse is from St. Paul’s exhortation on Christian behavior found in the twelfth chapter of the Letter to the Romans. It is verse ten and the translation that keeps coming to mind is from the New English Bible. It reads, “Give pride of place to one another in esteem” (Romans 12:10b NEB). Most other translations use honour instead of esteem, but those are not the translations that keep popping up in my mind.

Our English word esteem is derived from the same Latin root (aestimāre) as estimate and means “to assign value.” If I were to try my hand at a Ron’s English Version of this particular verse, I would write it like this: “Put others ahead of yourself to demonstrate how much you value them.”

The late Scottish Biblical Scholar, William Barclay, offered the following insight in his commentary on this passage: “More than half the trouble that arises in Churches concerns rights and privileges and prestige. Someone has not been given his or her place; someone has been neglected or unthanked. The mark of the [true Christian] has always been humility” (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, Westminster, Philadelphia, 1975, p.164).

General Conventions, Episcopal and National Elections, Committee Meetings, as well as day-to-day life in churches of all sizes and locations afford many opportunities to practice being mindful that humbly loving one another as Christ loved us is a prime directive. The world at our doorstep is watching to see how we behave toward one another!

In the Baptismal Covenant, we vow with God's help to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” and to “respect the dignity of every human being.”

Do I look for the image of God in every person at every turn? Do I work at treating others as I would treat God? When I disagree with a fellow Christian, how will I tailor my response in a way that demonstrates esteem for that person, in spite of differences? When I prefer one candidate over another in an election, will my comments about the other candidate be tempered by my awareness that I am speaking about one who is the apple of God’s eye? When someone does something that bothers me, do I speak about the person or to that person? Am I more concerned with being valued by others than I am about putting others ahead of myself to show how much I value them? Am I more concerned about what I am getting than what I am giving?

If every Christian works at showing esteem for others, there will surely be enough esteem to go around, and then some. There must be a way for us to run our meetings, our elections, and our churches that puts others first and values them as those who are “Christ’s own for ever.” My reflection on all of this has helped me realize that I need to try harder. Let's see what happens if we all try harder, trusting that God will multiply our efforts.

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

June 1, 2018
Good Shepherd Sunday

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday every year. Our collect and readings remind us that in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament, the middle eastern shepherd is a metaphor for the divine nature.

Like the flocks they tended, the shepherds of the Bible were often dirty and woolly, enduring sun and rain for days or weeks on end. But unlike their flocks, they were vigilant and uncomplaining, watching for danger and trouble, providing pasture and allaying thirst. The shepherd knew his flock as no one else. And the sheep followed him “because they know his voice.”

Jesus says, "I lay down my life for the sheep." A little earlier in the Gospel of John, he speaks of himself as “the gate for the sheep.” Some scholars contend that shepherds of the period would often place their own bodies across the small opening of the sheep enclosure at night and during times of danger, risking their lives for the sake of their flock. Perhaps it is this image of the shepherd as human gate that Jesus has in mind with this metaphor, his own presence stretched out and bridging our insecurities. "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15b). "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me," he assures us, "will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture" (John 10:9).

Sometimes we are like lost sheep. We live in a world where it is easy to lose direction, to lose our bearings, and to lose a sense of who we are and where we are going. It is easy to go astray. It is then that we are most vulnerable to the “thieves and bandits” of the world. We are also most vulnerable to the more destructive animal instincts that lurk in every human heart, such as hatred, anger, and violence.

Week by week, we come to the Paschal Banquet ready to keep the feast, eager to partake of God's abundance, and to be nourished for the journey ahead. But the world is still a dangerous place. The human heart listens for the voice of the Shepherd who brings peace and God’s reconciling love. He is the Living Gate through whom we pass as we come to be fed and as we go back out to feed others in his Name.

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

April 12, 2018
Seedtime in Mississippi

Last week on a beautiful Mississippi spring day, I drove to Amite and Jefferson counties to do some family history research. On my return to Jackson, I drove through rich farmland where the soil has recently been prepared for planting of the seeds that will result in a bountiful harvest for the farmers who work those fields.

I also drove on the Natchez Trace where the pine trees on either side of the road were pollinating. It was an amazing sight to see all that pollen swirling in the breeze like smoke. I noticed that all of last year’s cones, which were so numerous just a short time ago, have fallen to the ground. All that pollen and all those seedpods, the warmth of the sun, the rising of the sap, and the wind are some of the instruments the Creator has provided for the continuation of this species of tree. I know it’s about the same for other trees, but observing the pollination of these pine trees provided me with an epiphany on that day.

Those seedpods speak of abundance in nature. These trees produce far more seeds than are needed to ensure the continuation of the species. That’s the way it is with the natural world. The Creator has provided more than enough!

Speaking of trees and seeds, I’m reminded of Johnny Appleseed. He was a real person, not just a Disney character. I have visited his grave in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. His real name was John Chapman. The inscription on his headstone reads, “He lived for others.” This humble nurseryman went around sowing seeds, planting nurseries and orchards, and preaching. He sowed a lot of seed in his lifetime. His life had meaning and hope because he relied on the principle that “Anybody can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed.” He had a theology of abundance.

Oh, there are plenty of people in our world who don’t have free access to the abundance God intends for them. Their condition can almost always be attributed to other human beings who have inhibited their access to abundance. How can they help living their lives from a perspective of scarcity when that’s the kind of world others have presented to them? Others for whom plenty is never enough. Others who hoard, control, and withhold. Others who value “mine” over “ours.” These are the ones Jesus to whom Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Our Christian teaching tells us that God created an amazing universe that is chock full of everything a human being could ever need. Then, God created the human being and gave the human being something that has been given to no other creature, the vocation of stewardship. Loosely translated, God said, “Welcome to my world! Everything you’ll ever need is here. It will sustain your life and give you joy. I’ve created you with godlike qualities so that you can be partners with me in the ongoing process of creation. Now use your special gifts and your unique place as my personal representatives to care for it, manage it, and be sure that nobody is ever deprived of the life-giving abundance of my creation.”

Episcopal Relief and Development is an agency of our Church that is representing us in efforts to open access to God’s abundance in some very impoverished places around the world. In some of those places, Episcopal Relief and Development uses a kind of micro-financing program that is based on a bartering system. A farmer borrows a bag of seeds, plants them, and returns two bags of seed after the program. Obviously, the crop produces so many more seeds that the farmer is able to pay 100% interest and still have more than enough for food and market. Only God can count that high!

Equipped with an abundance of seeds, human intelligence and ingenuity, a theology of abundance, and the vocation to be stewards of everything God has provided, just imagine what God can accomplish through us!

Where is the abundance in your life? Where are the seeds God wants to place in your hands so you can steward them to fruition? Do you have a fear of scarcity that needs to be healed so your eyes can be opened to see how generously God has provided?

God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. -II Corinthians 9:10

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

April 12, 2018
The Paschal Candle

At the beginning of the Great Vigil of Easter a “new fire” is ignited and blessed with this prayer:

O God, through your Son you have bestowed upon your people the brightness of your light: Sanctify this new fire, and grant that in this Paschal feast we may so burn with heavenly desires, that with pure minds we may attain to the festival of everlasting light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Paschal candle is the first candle to be lighted from this sacred fire. The flame of the Paschal candle symbolizes the eternal presence of Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the Light of the World in the midst of his people, the Light which darkness has never overcome.

The Paschal candle is sometimes referred to as the “Easter candle” or the “Christ candle.” The term “Paschal” comes from the Hebrew word Pesach, meaning Passover, and relates to the Paschal mystery of salvation. The tall white candle may also remind us of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites in their Exodus from slavery in Egypt.

The minister may trace symbols on the Paschal Candle. These symbols may include the cross, five grains of incense embedded in five red or gold wax nails, the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, and the number of the current year. The five nails are symbolic of the five “glorious wounds” on Christ’s crucified body. The Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, remind us that Christ is the beginning and the end of creation. The number of the year represents the “today” in “Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

The worshiping assembly then processes into the dark church led by the Paschal candle. The candle is raised three times during the procession, accompanied by the chant “The light of Christ” to which the congregation responds “Thanks be to God.” Following the procession, a prayer known as the Exultet is chanted, traditionally by a deacon, but it may be chanted by a priest, a cantor, or a choir. The Exultet concludes with a blessing of the candle:

Holy Father, accept our evening sacrifice, the offering of this candle in your honor. May it shine continually to drive away all darkness. May Christ, the Morning Star who knows no setting, find it ever burning – he who gives his light to all creation, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

It is customary for the Paschal candle to be placed in the center aisle and burn at all services during the Great Fifty Days of Easter as well as at Baptisms and funerals. It reminds us that the Risen Christ was with his disciples for forty days before his Ascension. It also signifies presence of the Risen Christ and his call to the Baptized to bear his light in the world. Sometimes, on Easter, the candle stand is adorned with flowers, as our Cathedral Flower Guild has so beautifully adorned ours.

During these fifty days and whenever we see the Paschal candle burning, let it remind us of the words of Jesus:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14, 15).

Enjoy this hymn from our Hymnal 1982, sung by the Choir of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, California. May your Easter life be flooded with light and may you reflect that light wherever you may be.

I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

I want to walk as a child of the light;
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world;
The star of my life is Jesus.

Refrain

    In him there is no darkness at all;
    The night and the day are both alike.
    The Lamb is the light of the city of God;
    Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

I want to see the brightness of God;
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path,
And show me the way to the Father.

Refrain

I’m looking for the coming of Christ;
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
We shall know the joy of Jesus.

Refrain

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

April 5, 2018
Where’s the grace?

I was out for a Sunday afternoon walk. As I approached an intersection, the pedestrian “Walk” signal started counting down the seconds available for crossing. Halfway across the street, I met a woman walking in the my direction. I wished her, “good afternoon.” She smiled in response, but then said, “Eighteen seconds? Where’s the grace?"

What a great question! I hadn’t given it much thought and had just taken it for granted that the people who program traffic signals and control traffic around town must have conducted several studies, hired consultants, and figured out that eighteen seconds was exactly the right amount of time for a pedestrian to occupy the crosswalk on a public roadway. After all, the roadway is designed for vehicles, right? Pedestrians are just tolerated. Cross from one side to the other in eighteen seconds or risk getting run over by a vehicle.

Now that my consciousness has been raised by another pedestrian, I can’t cross the street without hearing her question, “Where’s the grace?” Maybe I’ll suggest to the Mayor that reprogramming the lights with a longer grace period would be consistent with the objective of reinforcing the hospitality of the city.

Meanwhile, back at the Church, it occurs to me that it would be a good discipline for a Christian to ask this question daily about other areas of life. Where’s the grace? We could all benefit from a lot more of it.

Where’s the grace – in my life, in the life of my community of faith, in my family, in my neighborhood, in political campaigns, in the actions of my government, in my workplace, in my classroom, in my relationship with my God?

Because by our Baptism we are children of God by grace and adoption, we are supposed to know about grace and spread it around. We are offered a healthy diet of grace through the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist. Those are provisions God has supplied so that we will never be starved for grace. We receive the means of grace so that we can become a means of grace in the world around us. When we become conscious of a lack of grace, we have an opportunity to change that situation. When we experience a moment of grace, we have an opportunity to celebrate it and tell others about it. Think about that! This is a world-changing opportunity we have here.

The grace of Jesus Christ be with you all.

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

March 16, 2018
The Gospel in a Capsule

From time to time, people ask me which verse of the Bible is the most important. Any answer to that question is a personal value judgment. That said, I usually tell them that, in my opinion, the greatest verse in the Bible is the magnificent affirmation by St. John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“That statement,” said Martin Luther, “is the Gospel in a capsule.” A perceptive theologian once pointed out that if all the Bibles in the world were destroyed and every page of scripture obliterated, if one Christian could remember that one verse, the most basic premise of our faith would survive. John 3:16 is the very heart of the Christian message.

This well-known verse is set in the context of a clandestine meeting between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. As John tells the story of their meeting, it is obvious that Nicodemus has come to Jesus to discuss the process of salvation. Jesus talks to this leader about the miracle of rebirth, the mystery of the Holy Spirit, and the meaning of Baptism. At the end of their conversation, Jesus sums up the whole meaning of who he is and what his mission is in one simple statement about God’s universal love, humanity's response, and the promise of life eternal.

God’s Universal Love

Here as in most places in the sacred texts, the writer is not referring simply to the planet earth, but to the entire universe. God loves all of it! Love Divine was the motivation in the heart of God from the beginning. God’s universal love always goes the greatest lengths to find expression.

In Jesus Christ, God says to God’s universe, “I love you.” The only fitting response is for us to spend our lives finding ways to say, “I love you too.” God is constantly searching for us, calling to us, wooing us into that relationship that heals what is broken and unwell – that makes us whole.

Humanity’s search for God is the basic premise of most of the world's religions. Judaism and Christianity are exceptions. Both Testaments are the long record of God’s search for humanity – a quest that is grounded in God’s love. Listen carefully: Jesus does not say, “For humanity so loved God.” He says, “For God so loved the world.” That is the basic premise upon which the Gospel is built. It all begins with the love of God.

The Extent of God’s Love

When the New Testament uses the term Son of God to explain the impact of Jesus upon the human situation, the words are chosen very carefully. In the ancient mind, a Son was the extension of his father’s personality. He was part and parcel of his father’s personhood. Thus, when the Bible identifies Jesus as the Son of God, it is portraying Jesus as a projection of God. Jesus is not just a representative of God, he is an expression of God’s very being. God’s gift of the Son is the gift of God’s own life.

A seminary professor made the case that in reading the Prologue to John’s Gospel, one could substitute “Gift” for “Word” so that it reads, “In the beginning was the Gift…and the Gift was with God and the Gift was God.” His point was that from the beginning of time God has been giving God’s self and Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of that divine self-giving.

God’s Promise of Life Eternal

The first Christian teachings about eternal life were based on the thought of St. Paul. Paul believed that death was a sort of sleep and that we shall be resurrected when Christ returns. For example: “I would not have you ignorant of those who have fallen asleep” (I Thessalonians 4:13) and “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (I Corinthians 15:51). There is one occasion in the writings attributed to Paul in which he looks at resurrection in terms other than in the future. In it, he speaks of how in our union with Christ, God “made us alive with Christ…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:5, 6).

In this exception, Paul is more like St. John, who looks at eternal life as a NOW experience. Eternal life is not just a quantity of existence, but a quality as well. Those who comprehend the depth of God’s love and receive the gift of God’s Son by the response of faith (believing) are already participating in eternal life here and now. In fact, the term eternal life is synonymous with abundant life, Kingdom of God, and Kingdom of Heaven – the central theme of Jesus’ mission.

Eternal life is a life in which we are constantly learning to love as God loved, through radical self-giving. Jesus taught that whenever we love like that, his joy is in us and our joy is complete. “Love one another,” says Jesus, “just as I have loved you.”

HERE is a beautiful rendition of John Stainer's famous anthem on this verse by the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

March 8, 2018