The Second Sunday in Lent
Listen to the Sermon for March 4, 2012
Read the Sermon for March 4, 2012
Blog
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What ONE Can Do at Ashland’s Calvary Church…
Gay and I are grateful for the warm and generous welcome we have received during our first week at Calvary. There is an inviting vitality and authenticity among you and we are very happy to be here.
In addition to routine pastoral duties, there are three main objectives that I need to accomplish during the time I am with you and prior to the call of your next settled rector.
• Help you establish patterns of parish life with a full time rector. During the Holy Conversations last fall, the membership of the parish resoundingly expressed the desire to call a full time rector. The vestry and the nominating committee are well into the process of doing just that. As that process moves forward, you’ll have opportunities to practice on me as your full time rector in the interim!
• Help you with necessary organizational and administrative adjustments prior to the arrival of your full time rector. Those who are interviewing for the position will want to know how things get done at Calvary and who is responsible. There will also be questions about how the communications system works and what equipment is used to support the ongoing life of the parish in its mission. I’m working with the vestry and parish leadership to address the most important of these organizational and administrative adjustments.
• Help you strengthen your commitment to faithful stewardship and generous giving. God is providing all the resources to provide for Calvary’s mission. You want to be operating “in the black” and have a balanced budget by the time your new rector arrives. The key to both of those realities lies in the heart of the giver.
Each one of you has a vital role to play in this final stage of transition as you prepare to call a rector. Following the example of ONE Episcopalian, here’s what YOU can do:
• Worship ONE additional Sunday per month. If you are attending once a month, make it twice. If you are attending twice a month, make it three times. And so forth…
• Move up ONE step toward the tithe. The Episcopal Church teaches that the tithe – giving one tenth of our household income – as the minimum biblical standard. If you are now giving one percent, step up to two. If you are now giving two percent, step up to three. And so forth…
• Move forward ONE pew when you come to worship. The pews in the front of the nave are almost empty. Newcomers will be more at home at first on the back pews, which are now almost full. (Ten of the sixty-six worshippers last Sunday were visitors).
• Participate regularly in ONE Calvary service activity. Whether it is outreach to those in need, visiting the sick, preparing a meal, singing in the choir, taking care of the altar, or helping out in the parish office, each ONE of you needs to be actively engaged in service to Christ and this church.
• Spend ONE hour in prayer each day. Does that sound like a lot? Pick up your Book of Common Prayer. If you spend fifteen minutes each day saying Morning Prayer and fifteen minutes each day saying Evening Prayer, you are half way there! Add five minutes at noon and ten minutes at bedtime and you’ve spent forty-five minutes in prayer. That leaves only fifteen minutes, which can be easily accomplished during your daily routines as you remember people or concerns that need your prayers. If you are homebound, this can be your special ministry to your Calvary family because you have more time than others who are working and raising families. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples that evening in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Could ye not watch with me one hour” (Mt. 26:40)? I’m not asking any more than Jesus asked!
There are many other ways in which you can and do make a difference at Calvary. Don’t stop! But these five things are contributions almost every member of the parish can make and when that happens the results will be phenomenal. You, as ONE member of Calvary Church, do make a difference.
I’ll see you in Church!
The Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Rector -
When I look at your heavens…
It took months for photographer Randy Halverson to photograph the stars above the White River in central South Dakota, Arches National Park in Utah, Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado, and Madison, Wisconsin. He combined his images in a time-lapse video with music by Bear McCreary, composer of soundtracks to "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Walking Dead."
Along with a star-filled sky, Halverson captured the tail of a meteor and the northern lights. In this four minute video, Halverson takes us through "Temporal Distortion." There is also a 23-minute version.
God took a long time and immeasurable care to create a universe that sustains human life. We are the stewards of it. What a privilege. But I'm not the first to notice!
Psalm 8 (NRSV)
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!Give thanks to God today for your amazing place in this amazing universe. Do something today to exercise your role as a steward of it.
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May God continue the good work begun in you!
My service as Rector in the Interim at the Church of the Good Shepherd is drawing to a close. I will begin a new interim assignment at Calvary Church in Ashland, Kentucky on Shrove Tuesday. You are preparing to welcome your new spiritual leader, The Rev. Brian Cole. The community to which I am going has just said farewell to The Rev. Jeffrey Queen, who served as their interim for two years. In the midst of all this change, I am reflecting on the wisdom St. Paul shared with the Corinthian Church regarding transitions in leadership.
The Corinthian Christians were having difficulty adjusting to new leadership. In his first letter to them, St. Paul describes how transitions are a normal aspect of the life of Christians in community. His focus is upon the common purpose of building up the Church in its mission.
For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. – I Cor. 3:4-9
I might have written it this way:
It is human nature for one to say, ‘I liked Fr. So and So’, and another, ‘I didn’t like Fr. Such and Such’. Both are Pastors who tried to help you in your journey of faith using the gifts the Lord gave to each of them. One planted seeds, another watered them, but the resulting growth came from God. So, it’s really not about the Pastor, it’s about God! Each of us Pastors has a common purpose and that is to help you have enough faith to do the work God has prepared for you to walk in. – I Ron 3:4-9
I am not the Pastors who came before me. Nor am I the Pastors who come after me. God has gifted each of us in different ways according to the leadership God desires the Church to have in a particular place and time. Each of us brings something different to the communities we serve. Each one builds upon the work of those who came before, so the changes each one brings are not intended to dismantle things. Instead, the changes are related to the common purpose we share and are to be understood as additions or enhancements to what has been. Our common purpose is to help you be the Church in mission. It’s not about Fr. So and So or Fr. Such and Such. It’s not about me. It’s about God and God’s mission of reconciliation in the mission field at your doorstep.
You have been very open to changes during the last eighteen months. However, change is difficult for many people. We don't like it when something upsets the equilibrium and pushes us out of our comfort zone. So we resist and complain. Resistance to change, while human, can undermine the true spiritual discernment that has led to this union of Pastor and People, thwarting God's purpose. Most complaining about change when a new Pastor arrives constitutes avoidance of the real work to which God is calling the faithful. Valuable spiritual energy is wasted in an activity that is useless to the cause of Christ! So, I urge you to embrace the changes that are coming your way as new ways for God to work through you and your community of faith.
This time of transition is a unique opportunity for God to work wonders through divine interaction with the new relationships that are being formed. That is why departing clergy must step away. God is creating a new context in which to bring about growth. Trust God enough to invite your new Pastor and encourage one another to fully express the gifts God has given to help you be the Church. You will grow, the Church will grow, and the Kingdom of God will grow.
So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. – I Cor. 3:21-22
Gay and I will continue to hold you and your new Rector and his family in our prayers. We will miss you, but we will rejoice as we watch from a distance as a new era of fruitful ministry unfolds. May God continue the good work God has begun in you!
Faithfully yours,
P.S. – Here is the diocesan leave taking policy, which the Senior Warden and I have signed.
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What moves you?
Mark uses miracle stories in his gospel to illustrate a point the way Matthew and Luke use parables for that purpose in theirs. Jesus’ cleansing of a leper as recorded in Mark 1:40-45 is an example.
A man who was afflicted with leprosy confronted Jesus. The leper broke the code of ceremonial cleanliness just by speaking to Jesus. It was a very bold thing to do. Here is one who is considered unclean and wretched by his people because he has contracted a hideous disease. Leprosy represented sin to the people of Jesus’ day and, like sin, it was considered contagious, more to be cleansed than healed.
A leper was banished from the community and had to dwell alone or with other lepers outside the community. This man had to go about with torn clothes, bared head, and a covering upon his upper lip. As he went, he was required to give warning of his polluted presence with the cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” The leper had not only to bear the physical pain of his disease, he had to bear the mental anguish and heartbreak of being completely banished from human society and totally shunned. So, it is incredible that he would approach Jesus at all, let alone dare to speak to him.
Even more remarkable than that is the fact that Jesus responded to him as he did. He could have run away. He could have had the leper killed. He could have reacted with horror. But he didn’t. Instead, we are told in the story that his response was one of compassion and understanding. Jesus was “moved with pity.” He broke the code and defiled himself when he reached out and touched the leper. In so doing, his power over evil was demonstrated by a miraculous cure. He broke the law and, at the same time, he fulfilled it.
Then he sent the man to the priest and in so doing placed before the religious establishment a difficult problem. Only the priest could certify the cure. To reject it would be to break the code. To accept it would be to acknowledge Jesus’ power and authority. To make matters even worse, this cleansed leper couldn’t keep all of this to himself, even though Jesus had asked him to. Is it any surprise?
In this miracle story, we see that it was Jesus’ nature to be moved by the sight of human need. But sympathy isn’t worth a dime unless it leads to action. Jesus was first moved to pity, then to action. He continues to be moved to compassion and he still reaches out and touches those in need of help. People who have experienced this compassionate power find themselves moved. They become enthusiastic about life and they glorify God in whatever they do.
I recently streamed the movie Bad News Bears. It had been years since the last time I watched it. There is a character in the movie named Lupus. Lupus is a little boy who had a runny nose all the time and was smaller than the others. He had learned to stay in the background because that’s where everyone else told him he belonged. One day, some boys on another team put ketchup in his hat and slapped it back on his head. One of his teammates took both of them on in defense of Lupus. He lost the fight, but afterwards, Lupus said to him, “You’re the first person who ever took up for me.” A short time later, the coach sent Lupus in to play during the championship game and he actually caught a fly ball. Nothing could ever stop Lupus again because someone finally believed in him. That gave him the courage to get out of the background and take his God-given place as a full-fledged member of the team.
Like the story of the cleansing of the leper, the story of Lupus is a miracle story. It tells us what can happen on an infinitely greater plane when Jesus Christ touches a human life. His touch tells us that he believes in us and when we know that touch, we’ll never be the same. We’ll have a new perspective on life, a new confidence in ourselves, and a new ability to reach out to others, especially those who have been pushed into the background, marginalized, and condemned.
Today is a good day to keep my eyes open to watch for a miracle. Today is a good day to experience a miracle for myself. Today is a good day to help a miracle happen for someone else. God, let me live today in miraculous expectation!
P.S. That leper could have written this hymn! Maybe the fact that the tune is not as familiar to American ears will help you listen to the words a little more carefully.
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Entrepreneuerial Christianity
My wife, Gay, has become a quilter. Shortly after arriving in Kentucky, she became involved with a group of women in a ministry of the Church called “Cross Quilts.” They gather weekly in the home of a member and make quilts to give to veterans, homeless persons, and children who are Baptized at the Church of the Good Shepherd. Working together adds something to their mission.
She told me about an experience she had recently while shopping for fabric for one of her quilts. As she was walking through the fabric store, a young woman stopped her and asked for help in selecting some ribbon for a project she was working on. Gay was intrigued that this complete stranger would ask for her opinion and curious to see where this encounter might lead. The young woman explained the project to Gay and they discussed the ways in which the ribbon would be used with different fabrics. At some point, she made her decision, thanked Gay, and took the ribbon to the cashier.
What fascinated me about this story is the openness to collaboration between these two women, who had never met before and will probably never meet again. I’ve seen a lot of that since coming to Kentucky, such as the man I wrote about last week who helped me with my shopping cart. I’ve seen a spirit of collaboration in the churches, in the communities, in circles of friends, and among complete strangers.
I don’t know if it is primarily a cultural phenomenon or if it’s in the water or the air we breathe here in the Bluegrass, but people here seem to value each other’s opinions and appreciate opportunities to work together toward some purpose. Perhaps that is why economists point out “entrepreneurial support” as an attractive economic feature of the Lexington area. Entrepreneurs know the wonder of collaboration in bringing together assets in new ways to develop new things.
There are parallels with the Christian mission. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he worked collaboratively with his disciples and others to open hearts and minds to the new thing God was bringing about. He was critical of those who were locked into one way of doing things and who resistant to the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. But to those who were willing to enter into a trusting relationship with him and each other the way to abundant life.
In her sermon today, during a celebration of The Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral here in Lexington, Dean Carol Wade told us that she has established commissions to explore various aspects of the Cathedral’s life and witness. I was fascinated to hear her say that one of those commissions is “The Entrepreneurs Commission.” She described their role as “discovering resources for the increase of ministries.” What a great concept! What an expression of a theology of abundance!
God has provided all the resources we need to do what God is calling us to do. Our job is to open our eyes to see God’s hand at work around us to discover those resources and employ them in new ways in the service of the Gospel.
At the top of the list of resources is people who share a love of Jesus Christ. Christianity has been a collaborative and entrepreneurial enterprise from the beginning. Despite tendencies of the culture to cast Christianity in terms of a private relationship between the believer and Jesus, authentic Christianity is always corporate and collaborative at the core.
A good example is Matthew 18:19-20 where Jesus says, “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” The Greek word for agree in this passage of scripture is συμφωνία, meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος, "harmonious" (Oxford English Dictionary). It is also the origin of the word symphony.
Is it any wonder that Christians sing when we gather? When we live and work collaboratively in Christ’s mission, we make beautiful music that expresses our life in Christ.
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An Epiphany in a Shopping Cart
On a cold, windy day last week, Gay and I drove to the supermarket to shop. Upon arrival at the parking lot, we discovered that lots of other people had the same idea and we had to park about as far away from the store’s entrance as one can park.
When we returned to our, we loaded our purchases into the trunk and I started looking around for the nearest shopping cart return rack. It was halfway back to the store and I shivered when I thought about having to stay out in the cold wind any longer.
Just then, I heard a voice behind me say, “Here, I’ll take that.” I turned and saw a man who had just alighted from his pickup and was walking toward me. As I looked at him, he smiled and said, “I saw you looking for a place to put that cart and I’m headed that way. Let me return it for you.”
I barely managed to say, “Thank you” before he was briskly pushing the cart toward the store entrance. From inside the car, I watched him return the cart to the rack and continue on toward the entrance in pursuit of whatever mission was on his mind.
The memory of that simple, thoughtful, neighborly gesture has remained with me for more than a week. The subtle significance of that brief encounter between strangers continues to gladden my heart. In that moment, the Kingdom of God came near to both of us. Something changed in my universe and, perhaps, in his. I have no idea who he is or what motivated his good deed. I’d like to think it had something to do with his faith, but there is no way to know that. What I do know is that it had something to do with my faith. It is my faith that prompts me to see God’s hand at work in that moment in the lives of two of God’s children – one of us in need and the other with a meaningful response to that need. That empty cart was full of grace. It was an epiphany from a shopping cart.
We often focus on big goals in mission and ministry: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, rebuilding storm-ravaged communities, teaching at-risk children to read. But let us not neglect to do good in those smaller, simpler ways, such as offering to return someone’s shopping cart, share a heavy load, sending a smile to someone who has a frown, speaking a word of encouragement to someone who seems worried, letting someone know you are thinking about them. There must be thousands of opportunities to do those good works that God “has prepared for us to walk in” every day. May God open our eyes to see them and move our hands and feet to respond. For in the intersection of another’s need and our response, no matter how simple, the universe is changed. And because God is at the center of those intersections, the change is for the better.