Category: Religion

Who Are You?

Who are you? That’s a question that frequently pops into our minds. For those of us who are members of the Church, it pops into our minds before, during, and after worship and at other gatherings.

Of course, who you are is more than your name, but your name is a starting point. Once I know your name, I begin to associate other aspects of your identity with it – what you look like, what you do, where you live, to whom you are related, and many other characteristics that make you YOU. The unique, one-of-a-kind, never before, never again YOU. When I hear your name, I recall lots of information about you and my relationship with you. Names are little bridges we cross over in relationships one with another.

The Prophet Isaiah recorded God’s word to God’s own specific, chosen people:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1a)

Expectant parents take pains to select the names of their children. Before we are born, we have a name. Throughout our lives, those names will be recognized and recorded by others.

At our Baptism, our name is called, signifying that God knows us. In fact, the liturgy used to direct the Priest to say to the parents and sponsors, “Name this child.”

As we mature, we learn that having our name attached to something can be something very good or something very bad.

The other evening on the news, veteran journalist and native Houstonian Dan Rather was being interviewed about the devastation caused in his hometown by Hurricane Harvey. As he spoke of Houston’s Mayor and Police Chief, he made sure to refer to them as “Mayor Turner” and “Chief Acevedo” because he knows that names are important.

When we say we know our neighbors, we mean that, among other things, we know their names.

When we send a letter, a sympathy note, or a thank you note, we address the recipient by name.

Names are important!

So, in order to foster community and build relationships at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, we need to take care to learn one another’s names. This is important at all times but will be especially important when you welcome newcomers and when your new Dean arrives.

To that end, I am asking that we wear name tags when we are together at the Cathedral, whether for worship, study, fellowship, or service. If you have a permanent name tag and can remember to wear it, that’s great. But, if you are like me, those permanent name tags are often in the jacket I didn’t wear to church.

So, we’re going to provide plain paper name tags and bold sharpie pens at the entrance to each gathering place so you will always have a name tag.

Who are you? If you’ll wear a name tag, it won’t be long before I know the answer to that question and so will others.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Interim Dean
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral
Jackson, Mississippi

September 1, 2017
Strategies for Summertime Spirituality

Summertime signals opening of swimming pools, buzz cuts for boys, weekday outings to museums and zoos, homemade ice cream, watermelon season, an upswing in agricultural enterprises, and the beginning of summer vacations. We also start the summer slump in churches across America, with a decline in attendance and anxious messages from church treasurers about cash flow because offerings go down when the people are not there.

Our culture has declared how things are supposed to work between Memorial Day and Labor Day and that’s that. The Church tends to conform to the culture. Whatever happens during the rest of the year, in the summer, we are both in and of the world.

On several occasions, I have tried to counteract the summer slump and had little success. Call me a die hard, but I’m going to try again. Any success at all is better than none when it comes to reminding God’s Holy People what our relationship with the world is supposed to be.

St. Paul put it this way, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Jesus called his followers to be light and salt and leaven in the world (Matthew 5 and 13). Light, salt, and leaven are agents of transformation – light dispels darkness, salt adds flavor, and leaven causes the dough to rise. When the agents of transformation are present, things are no longer the same. Through our prayers and our lifestyle, we are God’s change agents.

With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for how to enjoy summertime while still fulfilling our sacred purpose.

Maintain the spiritual discipline of worship. If you are in town on Sunday morning, your presence in worship with your community of faith helps keep the emphasis on God, both for you and for your fellow worshipers. When you are there, you are making a statement – a witness – that God’s reign in your life is not suspended just because it is summertime. Vacationers may be visiting your church while you are out of town. You may also use the time in worship to contemplate the different things you are doing/seeing/experiencing during the summer. What about those mountain majesties where you hiked? What might God have had in mind when creating the orangutan you saw when you took the children to the zoo? What kind of divine purpose is being worked out in the harvesting of hay, which kept you working from sunrise to sunset yesterday?

Find a church in which to worship while traveling. In addition to maintaining the discipline of worship while you are in a different place, you may discover new friends, new ideas, and elements of diversity you have not known before. Maybe you can bring something back that will enrich the life of your own community of faith. The churches you visit will have an opportunity to extend their hospitality to you and hear about the church you love back home. If you have children or youth who will be traveling with you, ask them to get on the internet and find a church where your family can worship “wherever you may be.

Don’t send your pledge on vacation. The operational costs of your church continue even when you are not there. In warmer locations, the costs increase significantly because of the need for air conditioning and watering. There is no legitimate reason why church leaders should have to experience anxiety over cash shortfalls in the summer (or anytime of year for that matter). Make it a matter of faithful stewardship to bring or send your contribution before you leave on vacation. Or, if you forget, you may still mail a check or use online banking to get your gift to the altar while you are away.

Get involved in ministries you don’t normally have time for. If summertime affords you a little extra free time or a slower pace, use some of that time to serve Christ and the Church. Maybe there’s a need for Sunday School leaders, workers for a home repair ministry, or someone to do some maintenance around the church. Is there a mission trip, retreat, summertime conference, or bible study you would otherwise decline due to the busyness of your life? Does your summer schedule allow you to attend a weekday service that you can’t attend at other times of the year? God would like to spend more time with us and have more of our attention. Summertime may open up some possibilities for that to happen and blessings will flow into our lives.

Whatever you do, think God! Be intentional about your spiritual journey. Begin and end your days with prayer, so that, in all the cares and occupations of our life, we may not forget God, but remember that we are ever walking in God’s sight. Look for signs of God’s hand at work in the world around you. Habits that affect the rest of your life can be formed during a three-month period. Don’t let a hiatus become a habit!

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

June 8, 2017
The Good Shepherd and the Sheep

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 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 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 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 Ron Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

May 4, 2017
Invitation to a Holy Lent

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

With these words and with the sign of a cross of ashes imposed on our foreheads, we begin our annual Lenten journey. Those ashes, made from the palm branches we waved as we sang hosannas in celebration of Christ's Triumphal Entry last Palm Sunday, are a sign of the tentativeness of our praises and the shortness of our lives in the grand scheme of things. They mark the beginning of a season of reflection upon the impact we will leave in a universe that can and will go on without us.

Anglican priest and physicist John Polkinghorne expanded my own thinking about those ashes and our place in this universe in his book Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity. He writes, "Every atom of carbon inside our bodies was once a star. We are all made from the ashes of dead stars." Then, he goes on to explain how special our universe is. "Only a cosmos at least as big as ours could endure for the fifteen billion years necessary for evolving carbon-based life. You need ten billion years for the first-generation stars to make the carbon, then about five billion years for evolution to yield beings of our sort of complexity."

Woven into the complexity of our life is the "invincible divine purpose for good" and "the faithfulness of God who will not allow anything good to be lost." The death and resurrection of Christ bear witness to that truth and constitute the "seed event" of the new creation. From that "seed" springs forth fruit in the lives of those who follow him.

So, when you receive those ashes, marked on your forehead in the sign of the cross of Christ, receive with them the invitation to examine your life, seek what is good, and discard whatever interferes with the fruitfulness and goodness you may contribute during your brief sojourn. Many people resolve to practice a Lenten discipline beginning on Ash Wednesday. Some give up something through the practice of fasting. Others take on something, such as additional daily prayers, Bible study, more frequent attendance at corporate worship.

If you are considering a Lenten discipline, perhaps these words of wisdom from the early Christian mystic St. John Chrysostom will be helpful to you: "No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great." Pope Francis echoes those words in his Lenten message when he writes, "Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience."

So, whatever you give up or take on, let's ask ourselves if the practice will benefit others in some way and if it will help liberate us from indifference to our neighbors, especially those in need.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. (BCP)

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

February 28, 2017
Membership is About Belonging
At a conference in San Diego a few years ago, I was privileged to hear a talk by research professor Brené Brown. After the talk, she took questions from the audience via a moderator. One of the questions had to do with declining church membership, attendance, and giving. Her response was very interesting. She said, “I suppose the decline is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed by church leaders. However, all of my research clearly shows that the need for belonging is increasing.”

I’ve been thinking about that response during the last few days because members of the Cathedral staff and I are working on updating our membership rolls. Auditing and verifying the rolls is one of the projects often undertaken during a transition in leadership.

One of my colleagues mentioned reports suggesting that people – especially young adults – no longer consider church membership important. Those reports appear to stand in contrast to Brené Browns findings about belonging. I’m banking on Dr. Brown’s conclusions. And that’s why it is so important to make sure our membership rolls are up to date and accurate. These rolls document the level of interest in belonging to this community of Christians.

We have sent a letter to over 700 individuals for whom we have no record of a contribution for at least twelve months. In that letter, we asked several questions inviting them to tell us how they would like to be recorded in our rolls: Have any of those 700+ people joined another church? How many of them do not want to remain on our rolls? Which ones want to be considered “active” members and which ones prefer to be “inactive” members? Does someone have a pastoral concern that needs the attention of one of our clergy? Would any of them like to simply be listed as a “Friend of the Cathedral?” Not everyone received that letter!

I also sent out emails to our entire email list last Friday regarding this project and including the canonical description of membership in The Episcopal Church. That email was to alert the entire Cathedral community to the membership audit. Just because you received that email does not mean that there is any problem with your record.

This process has brought to my attention that we have a significant number of active people in the Cathedral community who are counted as members although they have never officially “joined.” If you may be one of those, I would like nothing better than to assist you with the process. Here’s how it works:
- If you have never been Baptized, we can prepare you for Baptism, then present you to the Bishop for Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant.
- If you have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, with water and in the Name of the Trinity, in any Christian denomination, we can record your Baptism. Then, as soon as possible, we would like for you to be prepared to be Confirmed by the Bishop.
- If you have been Baptized and Confirmed in another denomination, we can record you as a Baptized member and prepare you to be presented to the Bishop to be Received into The Episcopal Church.
- If you have been a member of another Episcopal Church, we can write for the transfer of your membership.
The process of belonging in any of those ways involves completing a couple of forms that provide us with information for our database and serving as your commitment to “work, pray, and give for the spread of the Kingdom of God.”

If you are uncertain about your member status, please contact Michelle Vieria, the Assistant Cathedral Administrator, either by email or by telephone (303 577-7721). She will look up your record and let you know if there is something that needs to be done. The fact that you have taken the time to read this message is an indication of your desire to participate, belong, and support the mission of Saint John’s Cathedral. Thank you for that!

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado
January 24, 2017
It’s 2017! Let’s get started.

Dear ,

Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were a blessed time and that you are ready to start 2017 with optimism and faith.

Saint John’s Cathedral is entering the final stages of the transition that began two years ago with the election of Peter Eaton as Bishop of Southeast Florida. The Interview Committee will present two or three names for the Vestry’s final consideration this month. The Vestry will then bring the final candidates and their families to Denver for interviews and, after a period of discernment, will meet to elect one of them as your next Dean.

In The Episcopal Church, the discernment process is a mutual one. That simply means that the candidates are looking at this Cathedral community just as the Interview Committee and Vestry are looking at them. What will they see?

It is my sincere hope that they will see the People of God in active pursuit of the Mission of God. There are many signs of that happening. I invite you to do your part in three specific initiatives that we launched at the end of last year:

Be One in a Thousand – Let us know how you are engaged in direct ministry with those who are living in poverty. Whether it is something you will do once, monthly, weekly, daily, or occasionally during 2017, we would like to record what you will be doing. That information will be shared with the final candidates and we will publish stories from those who are willing to share them. Use a One in a Thousand response card or go online to share how you are involved.

Balance the Budget – I will never ask a Christian to give to a budget. Tithes and offerings are gifts to God and for God’s mission. However, a church budget is a mission plan, the intent of which is to identify the work to be done and the resources that are necessary to do that work in a specific community of Christ’s followers. After months of discernment and hard work, your clergy and lay leadership have determined that we must stop deficit spending and that the new Dean should be handed a balanced budget. We’ve cut expenses and reduced the size of the staff and are still $353,000 out of balance. Six families have joined together to offer challenge gifts that will encourage the rest of us to increase the pledges we have made or to make a pledge in order to balance this budget. All of your clergy have increased our pledges in response to this appeal. We invite you to do likewise. Use a pledge card, send an email to Canon Charles LaFond, or go online to join this effort.

Invite a Friend – The fact that you are taking the time to read this message indicates that Saint John’s Cathedral meets important spiritual needs for you and your household. Why not share it with others? Seventy-five percent of those who visit a church for the first time do so at the invitation of someone they know – a friend, colleague, neighbor, or family member. People are more receptive to an invitation to a church in January, mostly because it is a new year. So, make a list of people in your life who may not have a spiritual home. Then, invite them to start the new year with us at Saint John’s Cathedral. Pick them up, meet them in the Welcome Center, take them out for a meal afterwards. It doesn’t have to be a worship service; it can be a concert, a fellowship event, or an educational opportunity. Just invite a friend!

Your participation in these three initiatives will strengthen our life together and help demonstrate how this Cathedral community is making the best use of this time of transition.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

January 3, 2017
What Does My Pledge Mean?

For the past eight weeks, we have been engaged in a campaign to teach about stewardship. A key element in that campaign has been an appeal for members of the Cathedral community to make a pledge of financial support for 2017. Why?

First of all, a pledge of faithful stewardship of our money is a practice we recommend as one of the spiritual disciplines of our lives. According to the biblical story, human beings are created in the image of God and called by God to be stewards, managers of everything God gives us to sustain and enrich life on planet Earth. Along with that vocation, God has given human beings gifts and abilities that no other creature posses. A pledge of financial support is a tangible profession of our belief that our Creator has called and equipped us to be stewards of God’s bounty. Outward, tangible signs of our beliefs are woven into the fabric of the community of faith: Holy Baptism, Holy Eucharist, works of mercy, standing or kneeling for prayer, going to church, and reading the Bible are some of the other outward and tangible signs of our spiritual life.

In addition, our pledge is more about the giver’s need to give than about the Church’s need to receive. Certainly, as we grow in generosity toward God, the work of the Church benefits as a result of our giving. There are many worthy non-profit organizations. Christians are encouraged to get involved in those organizations and to support them financially. But the Church is not just another non-profit; the Church is of God and is God’s primary instrument for carrying out God’s work in the world. So, we give to God through God’s Church and we make that gift the first priority in all our charitable giving.

Also, our pledge is a reminder that everything we have, whether saved, spent, or given away is a sacred trust from God. When we make contributions to fulfill our pledge, we are mindful that we are stewards over what remains. It causes us to be more intentional about how we use our resources and helps us have a healthy relationship with our possessions so that we don’t rely on them more than we rely on God.

And, our Cathedral community, like the entire Church, is a covenant community. The God we worship has welcomed us into a covenant and calls us to live in covenant with one another. So, when I make any kind of pledge, promise, vow, in the context of my faith community, it is a tangible expression of my desire to participate in and be accountable to my sisters and brothers in Christ. All people are welcome to be consumers of the ministries of the Church. But the ministries of the Church are carried out by those who consider themselves members. The members are the delivery system. Our Vestry, Staff, and Finance Committee develop a mission plan each year. Our pledges give them a reliable estimate of the amount of funding available to carry out that plan. Therefore we have to be committed to one another in Christ’s mission. A pledge of financial support is one of the ways we are expected to demonstrate that commitment. Our pledge says to God and to God's covenant people, “You can count on me!”

Some have expressed concern that there are those who are waiting until the new Dean arrives before making a pledge. In truth, very few people are doing that. Most of our members at Saint John's Cathedral understand that faithful stewardship is about giving to God for the mission of God's Church, not giving to the Dean. And they understand that a pledge is not a bargaining tool for getting their way or a means of expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In fact, if our people respond as generously as I believe they will, those who are discerning a call to be the new Dean will be impressed by this sign of spiritual vitality and maturity.

If you have made your pledge of faithful stewardship, thank you! I hope this reflection strengthens your resolve. If you have not made a pledge, please do so very soon and join us in growing in generosity in the coming year. If you have never made a pledge, please give it prayerful consideration. You may find, as so many of us have found, that the discipline can have a transforming effect in your spiritual journey.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John's Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

November 8, 2016
Claim the High Calling…

To have a vocation is to be called by God to do something. Some vocations are rather specific, such as a call to Holy Orders, a call to teach the Christian faith, a call to work for peace and justice from a religious perspective. All believers share a call to serve God and our neighbors as stewards of what God has provided to sustain and enrich creation. Each time we renew the Baptismal Covenant we promise to live by the implications of our Baptism.

In the biblical stories of creation, the vocation of stewardship is given to human beings alone. I think it is fair to say that the vocation of stewardship is one of the things that makes us human. No other creature is given such responsibility nor the ability to exercise such responsibility. Along with the call to be faithful stewards of God's creation, human beings possess the ability to act with purpose, to create, to communicate in complex ways through many languages, and to live in a conscious relationship with the Creator. Because the story of our faith says this vocation was given to humans by the Creator "in the beginning," I sometimes say that stewardship is in our DNA.

Last Sunday, I was reminded twice of the call to faithful stewardship.

At the principal service, our retiring hymn was "Come, Labor On." It's a hymn that stresses divine call and human response. The first part of one stanza got my attention; "Come, labor on. Claim the high calling angels cannot share." Not even the Holy Angels are expected to do what humans are called to do. To each order of creation is given certain roles that are not given to other orders of creation. Among the roles human beings are given is the vocation to serve God as stewards of creation. That responsibility does not belong to angels or any other creature. As beautiful, mysterious, powerful, and wondrous angels are, their vocation is different from that of humanity.

Later in the day, the Cathedral was full of the creatures with which we share the planet earth – dogs, cats, fish, snakes, ferrets, and other pets – that their human protectors had brought for our annual blessing of the animals. People have a special relationship with their pets. Pets bring a lot of joy to our lives. But as wonderful as these creatures are, they do not share the calling entrusted to their protectors. The Creator did not call them to do the things humans are called to do and they are not endowed with the same abilities and responsibilities as humans.

All this is to say that our annual emphasis on stewardship, which happens in many Christian churches in the fall of the year, is more than a fund raising campaign. It is an opportunity to celebrate God's call to be faithful stewards of God's bounty. It is an opportunity to take a closer look at our relationship with our possessions, our neighbors, and our planet. It is an opportunity to see how we can grow in generosity. It is an opportunity to invite God to use us more and more as instruments who move the world toward the vision God has for it. It is an opportunity to address our need to give as a central aspect of our humanity. It is an opportunity to celebrate the life God gives us through a new covenant to give to God in gratitude for what God has given us and to share our life and treasure with God's people.

Over half of the teachings and proclamations of Jesus have to do with possessions. I believe that is because he realized how easy it is for us to be possessed by our possessions. I believe he also understood that possessions are those things that are most likely to come between us and God, us and our neighbors, us and creation, and even to come between our selves and the selves we are meant to be, our spiritual identity. And, I believe Jesus wanted all people to be liberated from whatever enslaves us. The story of Jesus' encounter with the rich man who came to him seeking eternal life is recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Jesus told the man that the only thing he needed to do was to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow him. Mark's version of the story is slightly different. Mark's version of the story reads, "Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). Jesus said what he did out of love. He knew the man was enslaved by his wealth and true liberty for him would not be possible until he ceased relying on his stuff more than he relied on God. He was inviting the man to be a faithful steward of God's bounty, to become fully human.

And that is the invitation that is annually extended to each follower of Jesus during the fall stewardship emphasis. That is why I look forward to this time of year. Every year, I hear from people who took the next step in pursuit of "the high calling angels cannot share." I hope you will be one of them this year!

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

October 4, 2016
Follow the example of the bees…

Labor Day, observed on the first Monday in September, celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. We pause to remember and give thanks for those whose labor contributes to the quality of our common life. So many of the products we enjoy in this country are presented to us in final form in markets, stores, and showrooms that it is easy to take granted those who produced them. It is also easy to forget how our own work impacts the lives of others.

Our Book of Common Prayer provides us with fitting words of gratitude and intercession to God on this day:

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We can also apply the petition, "…not for self alone, but for the common good" to our Cathedral community. During this time of transition, everyone is called to work for the common good so that the mission of the Cathedral remains strong and vibrant. The ongoing life and work of any community of faith is not about who's in charge; it's about remaining faithful and steadfast in the work to which God is calling us. When I think of an image of work “for the common good,” I think of bees. I have been observing the bees that live on the Cathedral campus. Every one of them buzzes about doing its part on behalf of the hive.

Throughout history, bees have served as a reminder to humans of how important it is for humans to work for the common good. Bees are helpful not only to their own kind, they are helpful to humans and other creatures that depend upon food that requires pollination. For example, did you know that one in every three bites you eat and 70% of America's food sources are pollinated by bees? That is one reason we should be concerned about and seeking solutions to the worldwide decline in the bee population.

The bee and the beehive have often been used in Christian art and architecture as metaphors for the Church and its members. St. John Chrysostom wrote: “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because it labors, but because it labors for others” (12th Homily). The honey produced by the bee is agreeable to the palate and symbolic of spiritual sweetness and religious eloquence. For this reason, the beehive is emblematic of St. Ambrose and of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, two Doctors whom the Church calls mellifluus and mellificuus, that is, with an eloquence as suave and sweet as honey.

Honeybee Democracy is a book written by Thomas D. Seeley, a professor of biology at Cornell University. He has devoted his career to the study of these amazing creatures and the way they work together for the common good. In the prologue, the author writes, “The story of how honeybees make a democratic decision based on a face-to-face, consensus-seeking assembly is certainly important to behavioral biologists interested in how social animals make group decisions.”

The more we contemplate the energetic work, cooperative nature, and fruitfulness of bees, the better we understand why others have seen in them an example of how Christians might work, pray, and give in unity. We can follow the example of the bees!

There is a place for healthy competition in the secular environments where so many people work. There is even a place for a little friendly competition within Christian communities. In attempting to inspire the Corinthian Christians to greater generosity, St. Paul introduces a little competition when he tells them how generous the poor Macedonians when they insisted on sending aid to the Church in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:1-7).

Perhaps we are doing the same thing when we compare the giving patterns of this Cathedral community with the giving patterns of the wider Church and other congregations nearby. It doesn't take a mathematician to recognize in these comparisons that there is room for improvement and lots of it.

But the key to a more generous spirit, I think, is not to be found in comparing ourselves with others or competing with them. God is not calling us to be some other church. Nor is God calling us to aspire to the average contribution level of Episcopalians across the country. (I would be a poor priest indeed if all I did was try to inspire the people of this parish to be average!) The key is to hear the call of God to each of us to be the generous creatures we were designed to be and to all of us to work together more energetically so that we can share God's bounty with others. When we do that, people are uplifted, transformed, and healed, and God is glorified.

St. Paul went on to tell the Corinthians, “You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor. 9:11, 12).

Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, is our greatest example of generosity. St. Paul referred to him as God's “indescribable gift.” Jesus’ method was to form a community and teach them by word and example. You and I are the descendants of that first community and now the message of Jesus and its meaning for our world today is entrusted to us.

Where are the places in the life of Saint John’s Cathedral in which you can work more energetically, pray more fervently, and give more generously for the spread of the God's reign on earth? Please pray about that.

I’ll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

September 5, 2016
The Foundation for Christian Mission

The other name for the Episcopal Church is “The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.” As members of this Church, we're taught that each of us is a missionary. What is the foundation, the basis for our work as missionaries? I don’t mean to be overly simplistic, but I believe the Christian mission has its basis in the Great Gift, the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission:

• The Great Gift (John 3:16-17) ~ 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. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

God’s greatest gift of Love surpasses all I possess, given not for condemnation but for redemption. The Gift of the Son of God to reconcile us to God and to others inspires, empowers, and motivates us in the work of reconciliation God has entrusted to us.

• The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) ~ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus' summary of the law is the guide for our words and actions. Everything else depends on these two commandments, like a door depends on its hinges. Demonstration of love for God and love for our neighbors are the highest values of the Christian’s life.

• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) ~ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus gave this commission to the Church. He intends for us to be united in God's mission. What happens when we gather for worship, study, and fellowship is to prepare us to GO back into the world to be and to make disciples for the sake of the world. We are blessed not just to feel good about ourselves, but so that we may be a blessing to others.

How are we doing, Jesus?

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

August 30, 2016