Tag: Community

Together in the Journey of Transition

Gay and I are grateful for the extraordinary ways in which we are being enfolded in the embrace of the St. Andrew’s Cathedral community! The generous welcome and hospitality you have extended is helping us to get acquainted with the parish and get started in the work of transition. I am so impressed with my clergy colleagues and the entire staff. In my meetings with them and several ministry groups during my first week, I have seen a deep commitment and strong desire to serve Christ through this community of disciples. We are looking forward to our first Sunday with you on August 27!

Permit me to mention several things that will be central to the fruitfulness of this season of transition.

Momentum in Mission ~ As I meet with key leaders and ministry groups, I am finding a healthy and vibrant momentum in your pursuit of Christ's mission. We will look for ways to encourage that forward movement. In some cases, that will mean doing exactly what you are already doing. In other cases, we will be looking at next steps, which will involve expansion or refocus. In still other instances, we will be looking at new initiatives.

Search Process ~ The process of searching for and calling a new spiritual leader is a process of mutual discernment. While St. Andrew's is searching for a new Dean, Priests across the Church will be just as deliberate about studying what is happening in the life of the Cathedral community. In the past few years, this process has changed in positive and important ways throughout The Episcopal Church. Each Bishop Diocesan, directs a process tailored to the diocese and congregation. Our parish leadership will work closely with the diocesan transition officer, Canon Paul Stephens, as the process unfolds. In the early stages of the process, members of the parish will be asked to provide information that will allow development of a contemporary and accurate profile of the parish. At each stage of the process, the parish will be provided with as much information as possible.

Focus Areas of Transition ~ You will hear frequent references to “Focus Areas of Transition.” They are:

Heritage: Understanding and celebrating the history of this congregation and its relationship to previous clergy, the community, and the diocese.

Mission: Discovering the congregation’s unique identity, what it is called by God to be and to do, in accordance with and apart from previous clergy leadership.

Leadership: Encouraging and facilitating naturally evolving shifts in leadership roles which occur in times of transition and allowing new leaders to come to the forefront in creative and constructive ways.

Connections: Assisting the congregation in discovering how they can bless one another, the larger community, and their present and future clergy. Continuing relationships with the diocese, so that each may support the mission and work of the Church.

Future: Building commitment to the leadership of the new Dean in order to move into the future with openness to new possibilities.

These five tasks are the work of the congregation and are ongoing, not sequential, in nature. They represent the key ways in which the parish takes an honest look at itself. As we make decisions, we will ask lots of questions and have lots of conversations.

My Priorities ~ In addition to the usual duties of a Dean, I will facilitate the five focus areas. I will also devote particular energies to several areas of parish life that the Vestry and I will identify together as opportunities for special attention of the parish and focus of my vocational experience and gifts. We will emphasize the call for every member to be engaged in some way in the mission of the Cathedral and developing the stewardship, community, and organization that are so vital to the fruitfulness of that mission.

Congregational Health ~ As we journey together during this transition, we will be mindful of the overall health of the congregation and its missionary activity. Five of the most important elements of congregational health are good communication, trust, mutual accountability, service to others, and healthy interpersonal behaviors.

In all things, we want to prepare every aspect of the life and ministry of the Cathedral community to receive your new Dean and ensure that your ministry together is positive and fruitful in every possible way.

I'll see you in Church!

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

August 24, 2017
Compassion

I’m attending the Interim Ministry Network Annual Conference this week in Las Vegas. One of our speakers shared a story about compassion.

A student asked the great anthropologist, Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture?” The student expected her to say a clay pot, a grinding stone, a tool, or maybe a weapon. But that’s not how Mead answered. To the question what is the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture, Mead said, “A healed femur.”

Professor Mead explained that healed femurs are not found where the law of the jungle reigns. A healed femur shows that someone cared for the injured, did that person’s hunting and gathering, stayed with that person, offered protection and companionship, until the injury could mend. Evidence of compassion, says Mead, is the first sign of civilization.

By way of a parallel, the same thing is true within the Church. The first sign of Christian civilization/community is not preaching, music, theology, or organization. Rather, the first sign of Christian civilization/community is compassion – how well we care for those who are wounded or injured in body or spirit, how well we rally around a person in a time of need, how we offer healing, comfort, protection, and companionship until they are able to rise up and walk again.

The Scriptures of our faith are filled with descriptions of God as a God of compassion. For example:

"The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness." – Psalm 103:8

The God of compassion is fully revealed in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ:

"As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd…" – Mark 6:34

The followers of Jesus are called to be instruments of God’s compassion:

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32 NIV

I reflected throughout the day on compassion as a sign of civilized society in general and Christian civilization/community in particular. I saw many signs of compassion. Perhaps that was because I was looking for them.

A group of us went out to dinner and when we returned to our hotel it was 102º. This hotel is a sprawling complex of buildings and my room is about three blocks from the lobby. As I was going to my room, I noticed an elderly lady pushing her walker. The walker had a seat on it and on the seat was an ice bucket. I spoke to her and she said, “Do you know where the ice machine is? It is so hot and I need some ice water.” I took her ice bucket and told her to wait right there. I filled her bucket with ice from the machine, which was about 50 yards away, and returned it to her. She thanked me three times before I was able to continue on the walk to my room.

For her, it was a great relief. For me, getting her some ice was no big deal. It took less than two minutes. But those two minutes changed me. I felt more alive, more human, and more connected to the civilization/community of Christians. I share this with you in the hope that you will take a little more time to watch for and to perform acts of compassion. It is one way to love your neighbor as yourself. Even more, it is a way to advance civilization and change the world.

I’ll see you in Church!

June 9, 2016
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ April 19, 2015

The Third Sunday of Easter

Listen to the Sermon for April 19, 2015

Read the Sermon for April 19, 2015

April 19, 2015
Collaboration and Community

When I started the car and the radio came on, an interview was already underway with the author of a recent book about the significance of civil discourse at every level of our lives. I was unable to get the name of the author or of his book. However, in the course of the interview, he made this statement about the statutes, ordinances, policies, guidelines, and customs which govern us: "These are the structures we have set in place to make it possible for us to collaborate."

I'd like to add that followers of reveal religions like Judaism and Christianity believe some of those structures are God-given. The Ten Commandments come to mind. They are given to us as a revelation of God's desire for the children of God to live together in ways that advance God's vision for creation.

Because human beings are by nature more or less suspicious of authority, if not defian of it, we tend to resist rules that are imposed upon us. And, yet, the author's words remind us that we need such things to make it possible for us to work together toward common objectives and shared visions. If our human structures for collaboration are ineffective, then we have structures to guide us through an orderly process of improving them. We have been given higher order thinking ability to move us past our fears and mistrust into collaborative behaviors.

Theologian and University President George Rupp wrote a book about community and commitment in which he points out that there is no life without community and no community without commitment. God created us for community. We have been placed in families, tribes, nations, societies, nations, and organizations. Jesus' first act in his public ministry was to form a community when he called his disciples. The call to follow Christ is always a call to life in community with others of his followers. Continuation of community requies something of us. We need each other!

In our life together in the Church, the nation, or the global village, we accomplish more together than apart. We live in an increasingly interdependent world. At the same time, we are more aware of the differences that threaten us. In light of that interdependence and diversity, perhaps effective collaboration is more critical now than at any point in human history. Our world and our progress as God's children requires that we devote ourselves to working together in effective ways.

The Baptismal Covenent in The Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church contains two questions that invite us to commitment to civility, collaboration, and community:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

Our answer to these questions is, "I will, with God's help." Those of us who have given such an answer to these or similar questions are in the best possible position to become specialists in civil discourse and collaborative behavior in pursuit of our Creator's vision of healing and advancement of human life on "this fragile earth, our island home." God help us do it!

February 10, 2011
An Epiphany From Grits

Have you ever eaten blue grits? Have you even heard of them? Of course, they are made from blue corn. I bought some this week that were freshly ground at a gristmill, brought them home, cooked them for breakfast this morning, and they were over the top delicious! I'd never tasted blue grits before. They taste pretty much like their yellow corn cousins, particularly the stone ground variety. But then, there's the color.

On our way back to Galveston, Gay and I spent the night with friends Bill and Mary Hearn in Waco. The next morning, we went out to visit Homestead Heritage, which is a short drive north of Waco and west of I-35. That's where I bought the blue grits. Another friend, Harley Tripp, told us about this place and recommended that we take a look. Harley studied furniture making there before his retirement from Shell Chemical Co. several years ago and he owns a longleaf pine wall clock that was made there.

Homestead Heritage is a Protestant Christian community where about 900 members live on 500 acres and commit themselves to living a traditionalist "back to the land" lifestyle. We enjoyed meeting members of the community, touring their woodworking shop, pottery shop, forge, gristmill, and had lunch at the restaurant, where natural and organic foods are served. They produce a wide assortment of items and conduct numerous workshops. Their breads and cheeses are delicious.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a community authentic. There are all sorts of communities and most of us have a longing to belong to a community that is healthy and authentic, one that both enfolds us in its corporate life and encourages us in our individuality. Many people have found such an experience in their religious community.

From time to time, critics have expressed reservations about the Homestead Heritage community. I found an interesting and balancing point of view in an article on beliefnet. Rod Dreher cautions those who read stories about the communal life at Homestead, "All I'm saying is that we should read stories like this critically, aware of our own biases. Most people, I think, have a favorable view of the Amish as pastoral agrarian separatists, which they are. But it is also a fact that some of the problems that critics have identified in Homestead have also been identified among the Amish. It is impossible to escape sin. At the same time, I am unpersuaded by those who point to problems with communities like this as conclusive evidence that the only sane way to live, therefore, is like everybody else."

As we sometimes say in Texas, "There's a saddle for every seat." My community may not work for you or yours for me. And, we know all too well that some communities are unhealthy and destructive. It is fair and prudent to ask questions and investigate any community. But before we rush to judgement about anybody's community, religious or otherwise, let's take the time to seek understanding. Maybe we'll encounter some values in another community that can be brought to our own and advance its authenticity.

Blue grits may not be for everybody. I probably won't make them a staple in my diet and will most likely stick to the grits I have come to know and love. Still, I am grateful that I live in a world that has blue grits in it and I'm better off for having acquired an appreciation for them. So, I'll offer a berakhah: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Soverign of the universe, that I should have lived long enough to experience blue grits, (and the community that produced them)!

July 11, 2009