My Blog

Tag: Advent

  • Bob McKee’s Advent Gift

    https://www.milwaukeecatholichome.org/wp-content/uploads/maxresdefault.jpgAround the middle of Advent every year for a decade, our friend Robert (Bob) McKee would invite us to join him and a group of friends for the Madrigal Dinner at Rice University. The event took place in the Faculty Club/Cohen House on the Rice Campus. Singers from the Shepherd School of Music, under the direction of Tom Jaber, dressed in elaborate Elizabethan costumes and sat at an elevated head table. From that platform, they sang carols and other music of Advent and Christmas. During the meal, magicians, jugglers, and acrobats entertained us. We always had a wonderful time and Bob’s guests became our good friends. Next to the celebration of the Savior’s birth, it was always the highlight of the season.

    I was reminded of those Madrigal Dinners, Bob McKee, our friends, and the glorious music today when I heard a recording of the Wexford Carol, the first verse of which was always sung a cappella at the very end of the evening. It became my favorite carol. It gladdens my heart at this time each year.

    Listen to this lovely rendition of the Wexford Carol, ponder the lyrics, and steep your soul in the beauty as you prepare for the Natal Feast.

    Those occasions brought people together and fostered lasting friendships. Our nation and our world need more such occasions and all the things the Messiah came to bring into the world. Bob has joined the Choir Immortal, as have several of the regular guests. Others remain in touch, though now scattered about the country. Through the years, we've moved around quite a bit and more friends have entered our lives. Gay and I give thanks to God for them and all of you. We pray that you have a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with love, peace, and goodwill!

    Faithfully,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Arlington, Texas

     

  • What I Am Giving God This Year ~ My Trust

    Adventcandles3I'm reflecting on the custom of gift-giving, which is grounded in God's greatest gift to us. We spend a lot of time selecting just the right gifts for our loved ones. And what shall I give to God? Advent provides me with the opportunity to consider that question.

    Today, I'm thinking the gift of my trust is something God would value.

    John the Baptizer had the task of pointing others to a greatness into which he himself did not enter. That required a great deal of trust on his part. In a Bible study course on the gospels, when we came to Matthew 11:2-11, the passage where John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah, the question arose, “Was John having second thoughts? Did he have doubts that Jesus was the long-awaited anointed one?”

    I don’t think John was having second thoughts about Jesus. I think John realized his particular task was just about complete. His fate was sealed. The last thing he needed to do was to send his own disciples to Jesus so that they could join in following him. It was not John but John’s disciples, therefore, who needed convincing that day. So they said to Jesus: “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And, Jesus reply was meant for them that they might believe – as eyewitnesses to his Messianic work: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And, blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

    Someone tells of how from the windows of his house every evening he used to watch the lamplighter go along the streets lighting the lamps. But the lamplighter was blind. He was bringing others light that he would never see. Like the lamplighter, John had to trust that his work had a purpose beyond what he could see with his own eyes.

    Trust! That’s something I want to give God this year. But it is a costly gift.

    It is so easy to fall into doubt and fear, especially during this horrible pandemic. The best way to resist doubt and fear is to practice trust; Trust God and one another to get us through. Frankly, practicing trust is harder than giving in to doubt and fear. We don't need God's grace to be afraid, do we. We need God's grace to be able to trust.

    When I turn my life over to God, I give God leadership. Doing that means I will advance even though I do not know where God will lead me. It means I have to reshape my thinking to make my thoughts large enough for God to fit in! I have to let the size of my trust set the size of my aims and objectives in life so that my expectations match God’s abilities.

    One of the things my Father and I always did together at this time of year was to string lights on the roof of our house. At first, my help was confined to checking the bulbs. Then, later, I could stand on a ladder and hang the ones under the eves. Finally, I was allowed to get up on the roof. But that required assistance. I needed a boost getting up and help getting down. The booster and the helper was my dad. If I wanted to help put up the lights, I’d have to trust him not to drop me. Because of that experience, I knew Dad could be trusted not to drop me.

    The everlasting arms of God are even more trustworthy. They undergird all of us. They boost us up and they keep us from falling. Blessed are we when we trust God above all others.

    I’m giving God my trust this year.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

     

  • What I am Giving God This Year – My Undivided Attention

    Advent_candle“’Tis the Season!” You may wonder why I’m just getting around to saying this inasmuch as our shopping malls have been displaying Christmas merchandise since Halloween, reminding us that it is the season for gift-giving.

    When we worship during Advent, we are reminded of the reason for the season. Our custom of gift-giving originated in our attempt to emulate God who gives himself to us. But, it is easy to forget to put God on our gift lists. After all, isn't the One who has given us the one necessary gift worthy to receive a response from us? So, I’m going to concentrate on what I’m giving to God this year and I especially want to give God my undivided attention.

    To say that I am giving God my undivided attention doesn’t mean that I am supposed to find a hermitage somewhere and leave this life behind. It means that in the midst of everyday activities I need to be alert to the One who is looking for me through those events and guiding my response to them.

    Advent is about those long centuries of waiting for the promised Messiah. Advent is about the thrill of knowing that promise has been fulfilled. Advent is about the expectation that the Messiah will come again to take us unto himself. But mainly, Advent is about watching and waiting for his appearance in the present moment.

    Jesus said, "Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come" (Mk. 13:33).

    A tourist stepped into the beautifully kept garden of the Castle Asconti in northern Italy. He encountered the gardener and asked when the owner was last there. “Twelve years ago,” the gardener said. The tourist then observed, “But you keep the grounds as though your master was coming back tomorrow.” The gardener quickly replied, “Today, sir. Today.”

    A Christian watches and works as though the Master will return this very day because he does. He greets us in the mystery of Word and Sacrament on Sunday morning and at the intersection of the highways we travel on Wednesday afternoon. In this sense, as in the ultimate sense, his coming into our lives is something to which we should look forward. That merits my undivided attention.

    Collect for the First Sunday of Advent

    Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

  • Seeking Balance During Advent

    December 1 is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is hard to observe in our culture, isn’t it?

    The Church tells us it is a period of preparation for the Feast of the Incarnation, Christmas. Our faith tradition encourages us to make it a reflective time during which we identify with those who waited long centuries for the appearing of God’s anointed one. The liturgy for the Sundays and weekdays in Advent direct our attention to the wonderful gift that has come to us in Emmanuel and the promise that he will come again at the end to establish his victorious reign over all things.

    Yet, here we are again with all those sights and sounds and smells that tell us it is time to be the world’s most accomplished consumers. Our culture encourages us to believe that the things we need and the things our loved ones need to make their lives complete can be bought for a price, and quite possibly must be acquired if life is to be worth living. The liturgy of advertising and shopping mall directs our attention to the near frenzy involved in getting there while supplies last.

    I’m not really suggesting that we should not buy gifts or support our local merchants who work so hard and rely so heavily on sales at this season. I enjoy going to the mall and listening to the music in the stores. I like to shop for presents and believe it is a good thing to be thoughtful and generous with others as God in Christ has been thoughtful and generous with us in offering us his very life.

    What I am suggesting is that the spiritual dimension of the season can easily be overshadowed. We need to find a balance and the Church can help. Go to the mall, after you’ve gone to church. Buy gifts, after you’ve left your gift at the Altar. Spend time shopping for the perfect gift, after you’ve spent time in communion with the most perfect gift, Christ the Savior. And then, after you've observed the spiritual practices of Advent, have a wonderful, peaceful, and blessed Christmas!

    How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
    So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.
    No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

                                                                “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
                                                                The Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)

    I'll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

  • An Advent Story

    Advent is a time of preparation. The messages of the Hebrew prophets and of John the Bapitzer tell us that repentance is a necessary element when we are preparing for God’s entrance into our lives. The call to repentance is a call to examine our lives and change directions in ways that open our lives for God to do something new.

    A Christmas CarolAt this time of year, many people turn again to the wonderful Victorian era classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As I read it, A Christmas Carol is really an Advent story. The surly old curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, lives a miserly existence with his entire being. Then, he is visited in a dream by three Christmas ghosts. He sees his past and then his present. But what is most frightening to him, what shakes him to the core, is the vision of his future. Scrooge awakens to find that nothing has changed. Dickens says, “The bedpost was his own. The bed was his own. The room was his own.” Then Dickens adds, in what might be an Advent text, “Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in.”

    Scrooge undergoes a radical transformation and becomes an entirely new person. He leaves behind the cold and indifferent miser and becomes generous and compassionate. He seizes the time and becomes what the Bible might call “a new creation.” The world has not changed, but he has!

    It is a heart-warming story. But more than that, it is a hopeful story. It provides us with the hope that we too can have a change of heart and mind when we know we should. John the Baptizer tells us that someone is coming, someone so spectacular that it is not enough simply to hang around waiting for him to arrive. It is time to get ready, to prepare the way, so that when he comes he can walk a straight path right to us.

    That’s what makes the news good! The call to wake up and change directions is filled with the promise that something new is about to happen right before our eyes and in our lives. The time before us is our own “to make amends in” as we prepare room for God to make us new creatures. May this Advent be such a time for you.

    I’ll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

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

  • U Turn Only!

    No U TurnYesterday, I took a wrong turn on a street in Jackson. When I got to the next intersection, I was frustrated to see a “No U Turn” sign. After several minutes of wandering around in unfamiliar territory, I finally managed to find my way to my destination.

    It occurs to me that the message of John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-18), which we will be hearing again during Advent, is something like the opposite of a “No U Turn” sign.  John says in no uncertain terms that a U Turn is required. The Greek word metanoiete, which we translate “repent,” means to turn, to go in a different direction, to change perspective. 

    There are countless biblical examples of how God's way is not always the shortest way, or simplest way, or our way.  God even admits it: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).  Certainly, God choosing to be born in a barn and die on a cross doesn't seem to me like the best way to establish God's reign. Do you remember when Peter tried to suggest a shortcut to Jesus at Caesarea Philippi? Jesus’ response to Peter was, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Matthew 16:23).

    ThAdvent is an attitude adjustment time that invites us to step back, turn in a different direction, and get a different perspective that will allow us to receive the amazing news of the Incarnation. Like a required U Turn, Advent directs us to do something that seems counterintuitive in order to get our lives headed in the direction God needs us to follow as our spiritual journey continues. And, for some of us hard-headed and stiff-necked people, the sense of it is in the doing of it.

    I'll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

     

  • Why Blue for Advent?

    The Season of Advent Blue Advent Sky

    The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin Adventus, which means “coming” or “arrival.” It is the season of preparation for the celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah. Advent has been observed in the Western churches, since about the fifth century C.E.. Advent begins the liturgical year and includes the time from the fourth Sunday before Christmas, until Christmas Day. The first Sunday of Advent is always the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, November 30th, and always falls between November 27th  and December 3rd.

    The Color for the Season

    For centuries, the season of Advent was observed as a penitential season. Sometimes, it was even referred to as the “Little Lent.” And, following the pattern of Lent, the designation of the four Sundays of the season were Sundays “in” Advent rather than Sundays “of” Advent. Also, as in Lent, the color violet or purple was the seasonal color. 

    During the ecumenical liturgical reforms of the 1960’s and 1970’s, a strong consensus emerged that Advent should be a season of hope and anticipation, rather than penitence. As the new lectionaries were developed, the Sunday readings reflected those themes. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer reflects that emphasis on hope and anticipation.

    Many churches sought a different seasonal color. Liturgical leaders were drawn to the color blue, which was used in the ancient Sarum Rite (Salisbury, England). In subsequent years, use of the color blue has become widespread during Advent. Blue symbolizes hope, confidence, anticipation and expectation, all adjectives that describe the season of Advent.

    The Advent Wreath Candles

    Advent Blue CandlesUse of the Advent Wreath entered our observance of the season during the last century. The wreath consists of four candles, one of which is lighted on each of the four Advent Sundays. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, we light more candles until we celebrate the birth of the Light of the World on December 25, symbolized by a larger white candle in the center of the wreath.

    When purple or violet was the seasonal color, that was the choice of color for the hangings, vestments, and Advent Wreath candles. However, rose, a lighter shade of purple, was often used on the third Sunday. Rose was thought to be representative of a less penitential theme for that Sunday, on which the first word of the Introit was “Rejoice.” Now that Advent is no longer observed as a primarily penitential season, the candles, like the hangings and vestments, are blue and there is no need for a rose candle to suggest that we  “lighten up.”

    I invite you to take time in this season of Advent to prepare your heart and mind in new ways for the news of the birth of Jesus Christ, God With Us. When you see the color blue in the Cathedral, or anywhere for that matter, may it trigger in you a reminder that God’s Messiah is always moving in our direction to assure us that we are beloved, to foster hope for a brighter future, and to lead us to “walk safely in the glory of God” (Baruch 5:7).

    I’ll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

     

  • Always Rejoice, Pray, and Give Thanks! Really?

     

    StA AdventRejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – I Thessalonians 5:16-18

    In his First Letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul exhorts Christians to be people who always rejoice, always pray, and always give thanks. How in the world does one go about living such a life? It is a very important question to ponder since, as St. Paul says, it is God's will for us.

    To rejoice does not mean simply to adopt a positive attitude, cheer up, or have a nice disposition. To rejoice means to be centered in the joy that comes from having been joined to Christ in the waters of Baptism and thus in his ultimate victory. That joy in our lives is born of the awareness that no darkness can ever overcome the Light to whom we belong. During his darkest moments Martin Luther clung to the words, “I am Baptized.” Our Baptism is a current event as much as it a past event. We hold it present with us as the gift of God – the gift that keeps on giving – the gift by which God says, “You are worthy of my love.” In every circumstance, this is all the reason we need to rejoice!

    To pray without ceasing does not mean to spend our days on our knees with our nose in the Book of Common Prayer. Prayer on our knees, alone or together, using the prayer book is an essential part of the life we are called to live. Those prayers are extended as we grow in conscious contact with God during our routine daily activities. Brother Lawrence called it "practicing the presence of God." In this conscious, constant dialogue with the Divine, our offering of all that we see, do, and think encounters God who is constantly giving himself to us. God is with us. We are never alone. In every circumstance, this is all the reason we need to pray!

    To give thanks in all circumstances does not mean to give thanks FOR all circumstances. Not every circumstance is a cause for thanksgiving. Many circumstances are not God's doing. But no circumstance is beyond God's reach. When we know that, we look more carefully to discern God's hand at work for good, God's power at work to overcome evil, God's mercy at work to heal and transform. What we see is not all that is there and gratitude opens our eyes to see what God wants us to see. In every circumstance, this all the reason we need to give thanks!

    So, rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks always are expressions of a life that is conscious of God and conscious of the circumstances in which we live our lives moment by moment, breath by breath. Advent reminds us that our God is not aloof and waiting to come to us until everything is all tidy and neat. God comes to us in every kind of circumstance.

    The truth is, the more we rejoice, pray, and give thanks, the more conscious we are of the presence and power of God at work in us leading us through the present with all its ups and downs and into a hope-filled future. For it is not the divine will for us to draw life from the circumstances, up or down, but from our relationship with God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all life. Even now during these days of Advent, God is coming to us in power and might to make of us more than we can make of ourselves. In every circumstance, that is all the reason we need to rejoice, pray, and give thanks! So, let’s do it – always.

    I’ll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped 28

     

     

     

     

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

  • Finding a Balance in Advent

    It’s Advent. Advent is hard to observe in our culture, isn’t it? StA Advent

    The Church tells us Advent is a period of preparation for the Feast of the Incarnation, Christmas. Our faith tradition encourages us to make it a reflective time during which we identify with those who waited long centuries for the appearing of God’s anointed one. The liturgy for the Sundays and weekdays in Advent directs our attention to the wonderful gift that has come to us in Emmanuel and the promise that he will come again at the end to establish his victorious reign over all things.

    Yet, here we are again with all those sights and sounds and smells that tell us it is time to be the world’s most accomplished consumers. Our culture encourages us to believe that the things we need and the things our loved ones need to make their lives complete can be bought for a price, and quite possibly must be acquired if life is to be worth living. The liturgy of advertising and shopping malls directs our attention to the near frenzy involved in getting there while supplies last.

    I’m not really suggesting that we should not buy gifts or support our local merchants and workforce who work so hard and rely so heavily on sales at this season. I enjoy going to the mall and listening to the music in the stores. I like to shop for presents and believe it is a good thing to be thoughtful and generous with others as God in Christ has been thoughtful and generous with us in offering us his very life.

    What I am suggesting is that the spiritual dimension of the season can easily be overshadowed. We need to find a balance and the Church can help. Go to the mall, after you’ve gone to church. Buy gifts, after you’ve left your gift at the Altar. Spend time shopping for the perfect gift, after you’ve spent time in communion with the most perfect gift, Christ the Savior. And then, after have a wonderful, peaceful, and blessed Christmas!

    How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
    So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.
    No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

    "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
    The Rt. Rev. Philips Brooks (1835-1839)

    I'll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped 28

     

     

     

     

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

    P.S. Maybe some of your family and friends would appreciate an alternative Christmas gift, a contribution in their honor to a worthy cause. Alternative Christmas Cards are available at St. Andrew's before and after services and at the Welcome Desk during the week.

     

     

     

  • An Advent Story

    Advent is a time of preparation. The messages of the Hebrew prophets and of John the Bapitzer tell us that repentance is a necessary element when we are preparing for God’s entrance into our lives. The call to repentance is a call to examine our lives and change directions in ways that open our lives for God to do something new.

    At this time of year, many people turn again to the wonderful Victorian era classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As I read it, A Christmas Carol is really an Advent story. The surly old curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, lives a miserly existence with his entire being.  Then he is visited in a dream by three Christmas ghosts. He sees his past and then his present. But what is most frightening to him, what shakes him to the core, is the vision of his future.  Scrooge awakens to find that nothing has changed. Dickens says, “The bedpost was his own. The bed was his own. The room was his own.” Then Dickens adds, in what might be an Advent text, “Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in.”

    Scrooge undergoes a radical transformation and becomes an entirely new person. He leaves behind the cold and indifferent miser and becomes generous and compassionate. He seizes the time and becomes what the Bible might call “a new creation.” The world has not changed, but he has!

    It is a heart-warming story. But more than that, it is a hopeful story. It provides us with the hope that we too can have a change of heart and mind when we know we should. John the Baptizer tells us that someone is coming, someone so spectacular that it is not enough simply to hang around waiting for him to arrive. It is time to get ready, to prepare the way, so that when he comes he can walk a straight path right to us.

    That’s what makes the news good! The call to wake up and change directions is filled with the promise that something new is about to happen right before our eyes and in our lives. The time before us is our own “to make amends in” as we prepare room for God to make us new creatures. May this Advent be such a time for you!

    I'll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue

     

     

     

     

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