Tag: creation

Creation Has Been Given Into Our Care
During the next few weeks, we will be hearing a lot about faithful stewardship in preparation for Consecration Sunday, October 4. We're asking everyone to save the date and plan to worship together that morning either in the parking lot or online. While we are passing through this pandemic, we need all the hope, gratitude, and generosity we can summon. That's why we've chosen as our theme the words of the Prophet Jeremiah: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Members of the parish will be sharing wonderful testimonials about stewardship and their faith journeys. I hope you will take the time to read them and listen to them. I, too, have a story to share. It is basically the same every year. I shared it with you when I arrived last year and I'm sharing it again for emphasis, for it represents the theological foundation that guides how I follow the spiritual practice of stewardship.

Creation Has Been Given Into Our Care.

In the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, we read that God created human beings in God’s own image. God blessed our species, entrusted the rest of creation into our hands, and gave us all the gifts we will need to fulfill our unique purpose.

This ancient passage is the basis for our Christian theology of stewardship.
- To be created in the “image” of God means to be a living witness to the Creator and to be an official representative of the Creator on planet earth.
- To “subdue” the earth means to bring things under control and to manage them according to God’s purposes.
- To have “dominion” means that human beings have been appointed as the rulers and protectors of all living things, serving under the ultimate sovereignty of God, their Creator.
So, human beings have been entrusted with the vocation of stewardship, the call and commission to represent our Creator in caring for everything in the amazing universe that has been given to us to sustain all life.

God doesn’t expect such things from other creatures nor has God equipped other creatures for such a role. Birds, for example, build essentially the same kind of nest every year. A robin builds a robin’s nest. A cardinal builds a cardinal’s nest. A hummingbird builds a hummingbird’s nest. From one generation to another, each kind of bird builds the kind of nest into which it came into this world.

Humans, on the other hand, have the capacity to build an infinite variety of buildings for an infinite variety of purposes. We build houses, schools, hospitals, office buildings, convention centers, and churches. Every one of them can be different from the others and from those that we built a generation or a year ago.

The vocation of stewardship is given uniquely to human beings. Therefore, it is one of the chief attributes that makes us human.

Everything we have, whether spent, saved, or given away, is a sacred trust from God. We are stewards of all of it.

Nothing pleases God more than for us to consciously live our lives as God envisioned. To understand ourselves as stewards of God’s bounty is the perfect way to do that. When we deliberately surrender to God a portion of our time, talent, gifts, and service, as a spiritual practice, we consecrate all the rest of our resources and declare our intention, with God’s help, to manage the rest in ways that please God. In that way, we become fully alive children of God.

What a remarkable way to honor and glorify God.

Blessings,

The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue
Interim Rector
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
Keller, Texas
August 27, 2020
What then are we to say about these things?

NBC News carried a report on Wednesday of this week concerning a so-called Bible teacher who is claiming that this coronavirus pandemic is the consequence of God’s wrath having been ignited by “gays, people with depraved minds, and environmentalists.” Before this is over, I’m sure we will be subjected to more of the same kind of wild declarations. I don’t know who is more dangerous; the people who say such things or the people who believe them.

Alas, there have always been and perhaps always will be those who believe God uses events such as pandemics and natural disasters to punish humanity and those who try to pinpoint the end of history when God’s judgment will be rendered.

These issues have been around so long we even have terms for theological discourse concerning them. For example, Theodicy attempts to deal with how and why a benevolent God allows evil and suffering. And, Eschatology is the study of questions about the final events of history or the ultimate destiny of humanity.

Our response to human tragedy and our beliefs about God’s intentions probably say more about our own personality and outlook on life than about God. It is understandable when people are hurting and need to assign blame for the events that caused harm. And people whose experience of life involves heavy doses of righteous indignation and divine retribution naturally want God to take charge and straighten out everybody they disapprove of.

For my own part, I’m impressed with the complexity of the physical universe. The more science discovers about things like quarks, chaos, leptons, and pheromones, the more my view of the Divine Being expands. Why would God go to so much trouble just to perplex humanity and then to destroy us? Isn’t it just as likely that God created all things for good and gave human beings the resources to discover ways to cherish and protect creation and its creatures? For me, life is one big epiphany!

When I peer into suffering, I see the God of compassion not causing harm but caring for those who are hurting. When I ponder the end of history, what comes to mind is not a so-called “rapture” or celestial supreme court, but instead a cosmic “Ah-ha” experience in which “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess” (Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10,11).

The issues are far from settled and the discourse will continue. Those who need a wrathful God and an end of things characterized by judgment and retribution have plenty of preachers and churches to reinforce their viewpoints. But I am grateful to be a part of a church that believes “the universe is good, that it is the work of a single loving God who creates, sustains, and directs it” (BCP, 846). I am privileged to foster a view of the Christian hope, which is “to live with confidence in newness and fullness of life, and await the coming of Christ in glory, and the completion of God’s purpose for the world” (BCP, 861).

St. Paul says it so beautifully in these words from the Letter to the Romans: “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?… Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31, 35, 37-39).

Here is a prayer from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer that I invite you to pray during this difficult time.

In Time of Great Sickness and Mortality.

O most mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto thee for succour. Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Page 45, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928)

God bless and protect you and those whom you love.

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

March 26, 2020
Seedtime in Mississippi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ll see you in Church!

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

April 12, 2018
When you don’t have the answers, hold on to the promises.

On Sunday morning, an avalanche took the lives of two young and vibrant members of the Jackson Hole community, Luke Lynch and Stephen Adamson. Two others, Zahan Billimoria and Brook Yeomans narrowly escaped. Their families, friends and associates, and the entire community are stunned and grief stricken. St. John’s caring clergy, staff, and communicants have reached out to the families and offered our ongoing support.

Two of Luke’s three children attend Bright Beginnings Episcopal Preschool. His wife, Kathy, participated in our mission to Cuba and shared her story with worshipers after their return. Stephen represented several of our members in legal matters and was involved in civic causes with others. He leaves behind his wife Sara and their two children. All of their lives are woven into the fabric of the Jackson Hole community in so many ways.

When something like this happens, especially to people who are in the prime of life, we are compelled to ask, “Why?” The simple answer is that there are no simple answers. Pastors and theologians have struggled for generations to answer such questions and we are never quite satisfied with our efforts.

But we do have the profound promise that in death life is changed, not ended. There is more to life beyond the grave. That conviction is not a matter of logic or scientific fact, but a matter of trust in our Savior who promised, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

When I celebrate the Holy Eucharist in St. John’s Chapel, I lift the silver chalice and can read the inscription memorializing Robert McLeod, the son of Dr. Donald McLeod, who was killed in a snow slide in the Pass in 1946. It is a reminder that this is not the first time sliding snow has claimed the life of a beloved member of this community or visitors to it.

It won’t be the last time. It possibly could be if we played it safe from now on. But we won’t, because we can’t. The impulses to adventure, to explore, to pioneer, and to master the elements, were planted in humanity by our Creator in the beginning. The account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis tells it this way:

"God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth'" (Genesis 1:28).

I do not want to minimize the danger. But let us not forget that those uniquely human qualities and abilities that led those men up Mt. Moran are among the things that make us human and permit us to be partners with God in the ongoing process of creation. Every significant advance in human society has been accompanied by risks, natural obstacles, limitations, and failure of others who went before.

One of the contributions of the Judeo-Christian heritage is the assertion that the human creature is at the top of the order of creation and not subject to it. We don’t pray to the god of the wind, the god of the moon, or to an array of agricultural deities. Instead, we pray to the God who is above all gods, the Creator and Sovereign of the entire universe who created us for himself, loves us as the apple of his eye, and who has more in store for us when this life comes to an end, whether early or late. God gives us amazing resources with which to live this life to the fullest and to be stewards of this planet. Abundant life is God’s desire for all of us. And that is why in this life and in the life to come, our whole trust is in God alone, for he has promised to watch over us and provide for us no matter what. It is not answers so much as promises that give me a perspective on tragedies like this.

These reflections may not make it any easier. But I share them because I do believe the promises on which they are based to be true. When Episcopalians are faced with tragedies and crises, our response is prayer and action. This response is prompted by the Great Commandment, to love God and our neighbor with everything we have. So we pray for those who have died and for those who mourn, for in prayer we place our trust in God. And we surround those who mourn with our steadfast compassion and care because together God makes us stronger.

Father of all, we pray to you for those we love, but see no longer: Grant them your peace; let light perpetual shine upon them; and, in your loving wisdom and almighty power, work in them the good purpose of your perfect will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, look with pity upon the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them, Lord, in your mercy; nourish them with patience; comfort them with a sense of your goodness; lift up your countenance upon them; and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I’ll see you in Church!

P.S. On Tuesday, May 26, at the conclusion of the memorial service for Luke Lynch, this song was sung a soloist with everybody joining in on the chorus. I thought it kind of echoed my thoughts about answers and promises, especially these lines,

So when there's music all around you and you just can't seem to hear
When the answer's just around the bend, but it never shows up clear,
And when there's darkness right above you, it's hard to know and understand,
But there's a heart out there that loves you, and there's a promise in your hands.

Click HERE to listen to "Spirit Song" by Bill Staines.

May 21, 2015
An Aspen Epiphany

Signs of spring are appearing a little earlier than usual in Jackson Hole. The snow is almost all gone in our yard and little green sprigs are pushing their way up through the soil. Buds are appearing on the branches of various members of the willow family. When I was out walking yesterday, I noticed the change on the branches of some aspen trees beside the road. This sight gladdened my heart because I’ve never before seen aspens in springtime. I’ve loved aspens for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, I played among them. When I was a youth, I hiked and camped among them. I’ve spent time around their white trunks in the summer, in the fall, and in the winter, but never before in springtime.

Jews have a tradition of offering a brief prayer of thanks to God (berakhah) whenever they have a new experience. I appreciate the tradition and try to practice it daily at every point when I experience the hand of God at work in the world around me. So, on the occasion of seeing the buds on the aspen tree, I said, “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Sovereign of the Universe and Creator of all things, for showing me your handiwork.”

The function of a berakhah is to acknowledge God as the source of all blessing. These short prayers also serve to transform a variety of everyday actions and occurrences into religious experiences that increase awareness of God at all times. For this purpose, ancient rabbis taught that it was the duty of every Jew to recite one hundred berakhot every day.

I wonder what would happen if every believer from every faith tradition were to adopt this practice. Greater awareness of the One who created all things might make us better neighbors, better stewards, better parents, and better sons and daughters. Offering a blessing to God for the abundance of blessings from God could, over time, transform us into more generous people. Acknowledging the majesty and wonder of our Creator would humble us and change us into more grateful creatures.

Let’s try it for a few days and see what happens!

I’ll see you in Church!

March 19, 2015
Sermon at Christ Church Cranbrook ~ November 17, 2013

Earth Day ~ November 17, 2013

Listen to the Sermon for November 17, 2013

Read the Sermon for November 17, 2013

Download the Order of Worship for November 17, 2013

November 17, 2013
Sermon at Christ Church Cranbrook ~ November 18, 2012

We observed Earth Sunday today, so the propers are different from the lectionary.

Listen to the Sermon for November 18, 2012

Read the Sermon for November 18, 2012

November 21, 2012
Stewardship is in our DNA.

Like many other congregations in America, ours is emphasizing stewardship of financial resources at this time of year. Next Sunday, we’ll invite worshipers to fill out new commitment cards and bring them to the Altar. Then, over the next couple of months, we’ll do everything possible to persuade everyone in the congregation to make a new, and hopefully increased, pledge of financial support of God’s work for the coming year.

I'm not sure why we have to work at this so hard to get Christians to do something so central to the Christian way of life. It came to my attention years ago that a substantial number of Christians consider the topic of stewardship to be less popular than some other ones. In fact, on several occasions, I’ve had church members suggest that I soft-pedal stewardship because some people might get upset. I’ve never taken that advice and here’s why.

Over half of the recorded sayings of Jesus Christ have to do with possessions. Jesus clearly knew how often possessions interfere with our relationship with God, our neighbors, and even our own spiritual identity. Think about it. Don’t most wars, lawsuits, family feuds, and legislative battles finally boil down to who possesses what and how much?

There is an event in the life of Jesus that illustrates this aspect of Jesus message. The story was so important to early Christians that it is recorded almost word for word in all three synoptic gospels. A rich man approached Jesus and asked, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded by telling him the only thing left for him to do was to sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus. The man couldn’t do it. Why? He was possessed by his possessions. He relied on his possessions too much. He derived too much of his identity, security, and status from his possessions. Jesus wanted to liberate people from whatever enslaved them and in this instance, the man was a slave to his possessions. Jesus was not condemning wealth. He was trying to help a man find the freedom and joy that comes from living in a right relationship with God, his neighbor, and his stuff!

Following the example of Jesus, I believe one of the most important aspects of my priestly vocation is to help people have a healthy relationship with their possessions so that all the other relationships of their lives will be healthier and they will know the kind of freedom Jesus called “eternal life.”

Another reason I believe it is important to help people be faithful stewards is because the story of stewardship is grounded in the story of creation. In the beginning, when God created human beings, our role as stewards of all that God has made was imbedded into our DNA. As the only creature made in the likeness of God, humans have the distinct privilege and responsibility of managing all the resources God has provided in ways that further God’s creative and redemptive purposes.

When human creatures abdicate their role as stewards, they lower themselves in the pecking order of creation. They view themselves as the subjects of their possessions or the elements. Before long, they make idols and their idols stand between them and God. As Martin Luther once observed, "Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god." The vocation to be stewards of creation is one of the fundamental things that makes us human! It is in exercising stewardship that we become more fully human and fulfill our God-given destiny in the ongoing progress of creation.

Fianlly, it is important to help the community of Christian people see how necessary the work and witness of the community is to the ongoing redemptive mission of Christ. The first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was to form a community. Throughout his ministry, he worked to strengthen that community and form them into an apostolic, missionary force. The last thing he did before his Ascension was to send that community into the world to bear his message and transform lives. We give a portion of the money and time and other resources that have been entrusted to us for the work Jesus Christ wants to be done through the community he called into being. When the community of Christ's followers is healthy and vibrant, the apostolic witness impacts the mission field at our doorstep in powerful, divine ways. We can't be faithful stewards if we neglect the community into which we are baptized and to which Christ has entrusted so much of his redemptive work.

When our lives are focused on stewardship instead of ownership, we experience greater freedom. When we embrace the pattern of Jesus’ life that is characterized not by having but by giving, our relationships are transformed. When we fulfill our vocation as stewards of creation, we become more fully human and realize more completely what it means to be created in the image of the Creator. When our giving strengthens the Church, the divine mission given uniquely to the Church can be accomplished.

As a priest, why would I want to soft-pedal something like that?

Almighty God, whose loving hand hath given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor thee with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of thy bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.827)

October 6, 2011
Sermon at Church of the Good Shepherd ~ September 18, 2011

September 18, 2011
Proper 20A

Read the Sermon for September 18, 2011

Download Sermon for Proper 20A 2011

September 19, 2011