During Morning Prayer, we often pray A Collect for Guidance:
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Some days, I wonder if the reason it is so difficult for the Church to attract the attention and devotion of her people is because our busyness causes forgetfulness. Or, could it be that we are distracted? That's certainly a possible explanation during this time of pandemic, politics, economic uncertainty, unemployment, and a host of other distractions.
Has our generation forgotten God? Or, is it that, given all the other things we have to remember, we just don't think of God that often. Maybe we are "practical atheists." By that I mean, we believe in God but don't allow God to have that much to do with our lives.
What does it teach our children when we never forget an athletic event but don't remember to be present for worship and Sunday school? What does it say about our values when we leave a 15% tip on the table at the restaurant but balk at the idea of 10% for God? What does it say about our integrity when we have time for the news, weather, and sports but not for daily prayers?
Do we just forget to remember God?
If so, we're not the first generation to do so. People forgot to remember God after the death of Joshua and his generation. "Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10).
This is not a rant about making America a "Christian nation" or about how bad people are. It's a reminder to myself to rearrange my life so that the Lover of my soul is not left out and life can be what it is meant to be. I'm missing so much when I'm not trying to see the world and the people around me as God sees. I want to please those I love. I want to please God. But without God, I cannot please God.
So, today, I invite you to pray with me to God, "…that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but remember that we are ever walking in your sight."
Blessings,
The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue Interim Rector St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church Keller, Texas
Since we stopped gathering in person in March, I have been focused on the present and the future. It just occurred to me that I’ve been with you for one year and that half of that year has been during this pandemic. So, I thought I’d look back to see what has happened at St. Martin’s during the last six months.
The staff helped me make the following list of accomplishments in the parish:
The Regathering Team was organized and has met weekly to develop plans and work out solutions.
We created and implemented surveys to plan both for the present and future.
We developed alternative ways of gathering online including Sunday worship, Morning Prayer, meetings, Christian formation, and coffee hour.
Two Eagle Scout projects have been completed benefiting missions of the parish – The Good News Garden (complete with drip irrigation system) to provide fresh produce for 4Saints Food Pantry and a rock border for the Labyrinth and the path to it.
The Good News Garden Team is being formed to tend the garden and harvest the produce.
Our Lenten Outreach Project raised $700 for shoe that grows.
We instituted Drive-in Worship with a safe way to administer Holy Communion.
Eucharistic Visitors resumed their ministry and are sent out every Sunday to take the Sacrament to those unable to attend in person.
Joe Henry joined our staff and has helped to keep music ministry going. The choir meets virtually every Wednesday evening.
Father Chris Thomas completed his curacy and was called to St. Thomas the Apostle in Dallas.
Paula Jefferson was ordained to the Diaconate and began her curacy with us in June.
The yearly audit of financial records was completed in July.
Contributions have been on or ahead of plan, even through the month of August!
We were able to have one Discovery Weekend (Catechism) class just before the quarantine.
We had a wedding.
23 new members were added to the rolls in the past year.
We applied for and received a PPP loan, which we expect to be forgiven before the end of the year.
The Stewardship Committee has met regularly and has recruited members to provide testimonials, carried out the necessary mailings, and made plans for Consecration Sunday on October 4. (Rsvp if you have not already done so!)
Children’s Sunday School has been meeting regularly on Zoom.
Our school was able to switch to online classes and chapel for the last two months of the school year and our wonderful teachers did an amazing job navigating students through the early days of the pandemic.
A friend of St. Martin’s has given us a Steinway upright piano, which will be placed in the Choir Loft.
Outreach continued for 4Saints Food Pantry, including donations of $647 in August. Much of that came via a virtual “Red Envelope” offering.
Chuck Ambrose stepped in to be our A/V guru, leading us to increase our A/V capabilities.
Our parish hall was made available for a memorial for a member of the community
Holy Mowers have continued to keep the campus looking great.
The Memorial Garden is being maintained.
The Rector Search Committee has continued to move forward in the process that will ultimately lead to the call of a new spiritual leader for St. Martin’s. A parish-wide survey was conducted in June and Holy Conversations took place in August, both providing important insights for the development of a parish profile soon to be released.
The Labyrinth was resurfaced.
Meals and gift boxes were delivered to the Band of Moms members.
A prayer shawl and ornament from Prayer Shawl Ministry and a Starbucks gift card from the Band of Moms was delivered to new member Kate Szprengiel and baby Victoria
The Quiet Committee continues to be helpful to those in need.
The Pastoral Care Commission has been very active, especially in staying in touch with members by phone.
A Helping Hands ministry was organized to run errands and do small projects for others as needed.
Most of our ministry groups continue to meet by Zoom.
The School Board put many hours and great care into the very difficult decision of closing the school.
Seven commissions formed at the beginning of the year have been meeting and continuing their work in the parish.
Endeavors that are underway or soon to happen (I couldn't help myself) include:
A music room in the Parish Hall to support and build the Choir.
When we regather, musicians in the parish will be invited to share their music.
The Lectionary Study group will resume virtually on September 20.
An adult Christian formation study will begin in October – "Human Flourishing" – What is flourishing? What gets in the way of flourishing?
Parents of our youth are meeting with the Christian Formation Commission to find the way forward for youth ministry.
Outreach will continue with Red Bags for 4Saints families and the Angel Tree to provide Christmas gifts for children.
Virtual Discovery Classes for those who wish to explore their relationship with God and The Episcopal Church will be held later in the fall and in the spring.
God willing and the people consenting, Paula Jefferson will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests in the coming months.
I do realize that neither the list of accomplishments nor the list of good things to come are complete. But they are remarkable in light of the fact that we are operating under such unusual conditions, aren’t they?
When we say, “The buildings may be closed, but the Church is open” we truly mean it!
Thanks to everyone for your prayers, your patience, your gifts, your flexibility, and your commitment to discovering new ways to be the Church. May God continue to give us the grace to persevere.
“…Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1).
Blessings,
The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue Interim Rector St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church Keller, Texas
What do Christians mean when we use the word faith? Often, we are speaking of a set of beliefs or doctrines. But there is a more important meaning without which all our doctrines and words are empty – to have faith first means to trust God, especially when we are not 100% certain about something.
In his book, Living Faith While Holding Doubts, Martin B. Copenhaver writes, "There are times when we must make a 100% commitment to something about which we are only 51% certain"
When God calls to you, how do you answer? With doubts, anxieties, fears? You are not alone! But can you listen beyond them to God's reassuring voice, calling you to trust God to lead you through them, perhaps even to use those obstacles to faith as bridges into the future where God is trying to get you to go with him? Can you say, I'm 51% sure, God, but I'll trust you with the other 49%? If you can, you are not far from the kingdom of God.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I'll see you in Church!
The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue Interim Rector St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church Keller, Texas
There is an ancient legend about a sea king who longed for the fellowship of a human being. One day, upon hearing a cry, he left his palace beneath the sea and rose to the surface of the water to investigate. There he discovered a lonely child in an abandoned boat. The sea king's heart was uplifted by the thought that the child could be the companion for whom he longed. Just as he reached for the child, a rescue party intervened and he missed the prize he wanted so much. But as the child's rescuers left the spot, the sea king threw a salt wave on the head of the child. And as he submerged to return to his undersea palace, the sea king said to himself, "That child is mine. When he grows to young adulthood, the sea will call him, and he will come home to me at last."
It is only a legend, but it holds the suggestion of a larger truth; that God has placed eternity in our heart. We are restless and constantly on a quest for something better, something eternal.
The story of the Magi is the account of humanity's quest for something more, something always just beyond, something that makes us pilgrims on the earth, always in search of something of eternal value and significance.
Those wise men followed a star. The star led them to the Only Begotten Son. They worshiped him. And then they returned to their own country to live out their lives. When they returned, they were different people. They had encountered eternity in their journey and it must have transformed them.
Throughout our own lives, there are those times when we too encounter eternity. In these personal epiphanies we are changed, made new, and enabled to reach a littler higher, to show a deeper reverence, to walk in new ways, and to allow the Only Begotten to be made manifest to others whose paths intersect with ours.
Each year, during this season, we read accounts of ways God was manifested in the life of Jesus Christ – for example, in his Baptism by John in the Jordan River, at the Wedding Feast in Cana of Galilee, in his preaching and teaching, in the calling of his disciples, in works of healing, and in his Transfiguration.
Each example proclaims the good news that God's manifestation in the Only Begotten Son was for all people in all times. Our Baptism declares that we are included in that manifestation! Baptism launches us on our quest for eternity. In Baptism, we are "sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own for ever."
What God says to us and to the world in our Baptism is similar to what the sea king said after splashing water on the head of the child for whom he longed, "That child is mine…and will come home to me at last."
How is your quest going? Perhaps this is a good time to renew your pilgrimage, or to seek Christ in new places or different ways. There may be a ministry to which you are being called and that will allow God to be manifest to others in new ways through you. You may have gifts or talents that you need to share with your community of faith to build it up and extend its influence in the lives of others.
This season of Epiphany is a good time to check to see if there is forward movement on life's most important quest. If you'd like to talk about it, priests and spiritual guides are available to you. Don't pass up the opportunity.
I'll see you in Church!
The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue Interim Rector St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church Keller, Texas
Have you thought about the fact that, while the Ascension Window in the rear of the Cathedral Nave is our largest window, we hardly ever talk much about the Ascension other than when we're reciting the creeds?
Perhaps the reason the Church has neglected the Ascension in its preaching, teaching, and liturgical life is that it is so easy to let issues such as the location of heaven, behavior of clouds, and laws of gravity obscure the central theological affirmations of the event. I invite you to look beyond the literal description of the event with me and consider those affirmations.
The first affirmation is that it rings the curtain down on the earthly ministry of Jesus.
He had walked with them and talked with them about the Kingdom before and after the resurrection. He had walked the way of the cross. He had journeyed with them along the road to Emmaus and appeared to them in the breaking of the bread. He stood among them in that fear-filled room in Jerusalem and restored their courage and their faith. For forty days he had shared with them his risen presence. He had prepared them for his going away and promised them that he would send the Comforter, power from on high, and that because he was going to the Father, they would be able to do even greater works than he had done. Now it was time for the earthly part of his ministry to cease.
The Ascension was a farewell scene. They needed a transition and this was the event that made it possible. We know the need ourselves. His departure points to a new day in God's Realm, a new relationship with his followers, and a new responsibility for his work. So, the Ascension affirms that his earthly ministry has come to a close and his work in the world is now to be done by those whom he has chosen and empowered.
A second affirmation of the Ascension is a broadening understanding of the purpose and mission of the Church.
The figure in white asked them, “Why are you standing there looking up into heaven?” That may be another way of saying, “You have been told what you are supposed to do and it is NOT to stand there looking up into the sky. Jesus told you he’ll return but he didn’t give you a schedule. You have things to do. Go and do them!”
The challenge to the Church now as then is, while we expect his return at any moment, we are not to spend our waiting time looking up into the sky and meditating on the past but moving into mission in the world. Theologian Leslie Newbigin once observed, “The Church is unique in that it exists not for its own sake but for the sake of those outside it.”
We are not to become so caught up in gazing in wonder that we fail to capture the vision of the mission field at the doorsteps of our churches into which we are sent at the end of every service. We must not be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good in advancing the reign of God in our part of the world!
The third affirmation of the Ascension is that Jesus, the suffering and crucified One, is now with the Father.
What does that mean? I am reminded of Luther’s debate with Zwingli during which Zwingli was challenging Luther’s perspective on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Zwingli declared, “He can’t be in two places at once, and the scripture says he’s at the right hand of God.” Luther responded, “The right hand of God is here, there, and everywhere.”
The right hand of God is not a geographical location you can Google, but rather the power bestowed upon the Son by the Father. He brings God’s power to us. It means that the One who has been given all power and authority has been touched with the feeling of weakness, knows our pain, has wrestled with temptation. His incarnation, which began with his Nativity and concluded with his Ascension, has brought something of our humanity into the very life of God.
It means that he is Sovereign of the Universe. All that is left is for the universe to acknowledge that truth.
And, it means that the ultimate outcome of history is no longer in question. The Kingdom, the power, and the glory are his now and forever. He has triumphed and, we who are his sisters and brothers through Baptism are heirs of all that he has won. His victory is our victory. You might say that his victory is hidden in our history, to be perceived only through eyes of faith. What do you see when you look around? Look again!
In the Letter to the Ephesians, we are told that the world should be able to get a glimpse of God's Reign when it looks at the Church, his Body. We have to confess that is not always what the world sees. It’s not always what we see either. But he’s probably doing more with us than he’s getting done with any other group on this planet. The Church is still alive and at work in human lives, bringing compassion, healing, purpose, and victory to people of all types in all places.
Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (BCP)
I'll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Cathedral Jackson, Mississippi
P.S. This Charles Wesley hymn about the Ascension is a favorite of mine.
One of the most important tasks we’ve undertaken during this time of transition is to foster the engagement of the members of the Cathedral community in one or more ministries. Why is this important?
• “Every Member is a Minister” is the teaching of The Episcopal Church.
The Catechism of The Episcopal Church can be found on pages 844-862 in The Book of Common Prayer. This brief summary of the Church’s teaching, grounded in Scripture, is also known as “An Outline of the Faith.” Among the teachings we find in the Catechism is a description of how the mission of the Church is carried out and by whom:
Q. Through whom does the Church carry out its mission? A. The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.
• “Every Member is a Minister” is a characteristic of fruitful congregations.
Fruitful congregations understand that every member is a minister, called by and connected to Jesus Christ and engaged in one or more ministries. At St. Andrew’s, these ministries are carried out with assistance of the clergy and staff under the leadership and engagement of our commissions, committees, guilds, and various ministry groups. Some of our ministries that had become dormant have been revitalized. Others have been strengthened. Still others are new initiatives.
• “Every Member is a Minister” describes a church that is ready to enter the next era of mission.
Soon, a new Dean will arrive, ready to lead you into a future where God is calling you. He or she will expect to have a well organized, active, involved laity with whom to work because that’s how the profile you helped develop describes St. Andrew's. To have all the ministries populated with people, sleeves rolled up, called, equipped, and empowered will make a big difference.
• We’ve come a long way but there is room for more.
Several weeks ago, we sent out an invitation to participate in a time and talent survey called “I Will, With God’s Help.” The intent of that survey is to determine three things:
• Places of ministry members feel called to explore or begin, • Places of ministry members wish to continue in the coming year, • Places of ministry where members are serving beyond the parish.
We've developed a document describing the ministries of the parish. It is entitled “Charters for Mission and Governance” and you may see it HERE. This document was prepared in collaboration with commissions and committees and finally approved by the Vestry in February of this year. Along with those descriptions, there are brief descriptions of just about every one of our ongoing ministries in the survey itself.
If you have already participated in the survey, thank you very much! If you have not, there is still time. Click HEREto participate.
As you consider this invitation, I encourage you to read again the words of St. Paul to the Ephesians. Read them as if they were written for this community of Christ's followers in this time and place.
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. – Ephesians 4:15-16
I’ll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Cathedral Jackson, Mississippi
The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah to the gentile world. In the season following the feast, we are reminded of various ways he manifested his messianic role – miracles, healing, preaching, teaching, and calling people to follow him.
He spent time with those who responded to his call, forming them into a community, equipping them to continue his messianic work in the world. Each follower of Jesus was given gifts for this work. Some were placed in positions of leadership to provide the formative experiences for others in the generations that followed. In this way, the community of followers of Jesus, the Church, is strategically ordered to advance his mission from generation to generation.
Writing to the followers of Jesus in the city of Ephesus in the first few years after Jesus ascended into heaven, St. Paul wrote of this way of ensuring the future of Christian mission:
“But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7, 11-13).
Notice that the “work of ministry” is entrusted to “the saints.” Who are the saints? The saints are the members of Christ’s Church, the followers of Jesus. Our Episcopal catechism expresses it this way, “The Church carries out is mission through the ministry of all its members” (BCP, p. 855).
Larger congregations, like ours, have several members of the clergy and a number of staff members. It is easy to see the clergy and staff as the ones who carry out the Church’s mission. Sometimes even the clergy and staff begin to see it that way. However, when that happens, the saints are deprived of their missional opportunities. It is our responsibility to help each member discover his or her gifts and discern ways in which Christ wants those gifts to be used, with God's help, in the ongoing mission of Jesus Christ.
Some are called to serve primarily within the life of the Church. Others are called to ministries out in the world at our doorstep. Many are called to do both! Christ calls each of us to be engaged in his mission. Every member has a ministry! Vibrant, fruitful churches are filled with people who believe that and exercise their ministries to the glory of God, thereby building up the Church in pursuit of Christ’s mission.
So, during this season when we recall those whom Christ called to follow him during his earthly ministry, we reclaim and reaffirm our own vocations. Where are you called to serve Christ in his Church? If you know, your clergy and staff are here to assist you and support you. And, if you are not sure, we are here to help you find a ministry that is right for you.
Tomorrow, I will send out a message announcing this year’s engagement campaign, “I Will, With God’s Help.” Building on last year’s campaign, we are hoping once again to have strong participation in this effort to engage everyone in the ministries of St. Andrew’s Cathedral. There is a long list of possibilities in the survey we have prepared. Please watch for the email. When it arrives, I invite you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to take some time to review the opportunities and respond to the call to serve in one or more ways.
By responding to your vocation, your call, you give us the privilege of fulfilling ours! Please let us hear from you.
The Collect for the Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany is a good prayer to offer while you are considering your call to serve.
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I’ll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Cathedral Jackson, Mississippi
Next Sunday's gospel is Luke 5:1-11. It is the story of Jesus' encounter with Simon, James, and John on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee). You might want to read the story here to refresh your memory of their miraculous catch of fish and how Jesus told them they would be catching people.
The Greek word zogron, which means “catching,” was commonly used of teachers: they “caught” their students and brought them new life. I remember an occasion at dinner with friends when my wife, Gay, who was a high school English teacher, was talking about a new data projector she had been issued by her school. It was a somewhat novel thing at that time. She explained how she could project a movie on an entire classroom wall for the students to watch and she described their response to a movie she wanted them to see. One of our dinner companions exclaimed, “You caught them!” That is what Jesus means when he says to Simon, James, and John, “don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
The sense in which the followers of Jesus are called to “catch” people has to do with inclusion in a redemptive, prophetic, community of faith. We are woven into a network. My salvation and yours are connected. My part of Christ’s mission and yours are tied together. When we are called into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are called into life in Christ's community. We are woven into a network through our Baptism and cast out into the world to “catch” people with the love of God.
Someone has said, “Christianity is more easily caught than taught.” Another person expressed it like this, “We belong before we believe.” Our life and witness as disciples, students, followers of Jesus Christ is not done in isolation either from Jesus or from the community of faith.
The First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas is remarkable for its progressive faith and its architecture. It is one of the few Southern Baptist Churches with the pulpit on the side instead of in the center. A large communion table sits in the center, surrounded by seats. Rising above the table in a recessed area are about four stories of organ pipes. And draped in the opening in front of the pipes are two enormous fish nets. I don't know that I've ever seen a more powerful reminder of the network of disciples Jesus has called to carry on his work in the world.
As we live and grow in our relationship with him and with one another, we are woven into this amazingly strong and reliable net that the Lover of our souls casts out into the world so that his love manifested among us may catch others, draw them in, and give them life. This net really works!
In the next few days, we are going to extend an invitation to become involved in the network of disciples at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. We are hoping some will continue in the places of service in which they are now engaged. Some may feel called to some place of ministry that is new to them. We are also hoping some who have not been involved will respond to the invitation by finding a place of service. Watch for the invitation and let us know how you believe you are called to be woven into this Cathedral net to ensure that it continues to work on behalf of Christ’s mission in the world.
I’ll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Cathedral Jackson, Mississippi
On Sunday, we’ll observe the Feast of All Saints. And, we’ll help God make some saints when we Baptize two children. By water and the Holy Spirit, they are going to be sanctified through Baptism. They are going to become “holy ones of the Most High” who “shall receive the kingdom.” I promise you, neither of them has volunteered to have this holy water poured over them any more than they have volunteered to be born with their skin color, born to their parents, or born into their families. Neither will they volunteer to have vaccinations, learn to wear clothes, take baths, or brush their teeth. They won’t volunteer to stay with the babysitter, go to school, come home before curfew, or fall in love. On Sunday, without their consent, we are going to pour some water over them, rub some oil on their heads, and declare that they are saints – Baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked as Christ’s own for ever. We are going to vow to do whatever it takes to help them grow to claim the new identity given to them in Baptism, to be formed as saints of God as we have been.
Whatever else they may be called during the course of their lives, in God’s eyes they are saints – blessed, sanctified, made holy, not by their own will but by the will of God. And, by virtue of the fact that someone baptized us, so are we. We are saints of God by grace and adoption. Above every other reason, when we return here week by week to worship with other saints, we return to be reminded who we are and to give thanks – to offer Eucharist – for the divine gift of and vocation to sainthood. For we were created by God to bear a divine image, to be shaped and formed by the will of our Creator, to be filled with the fullness that only God can give.
We become members of the Church through Baptism. The Church is a unique institution in God’s eternal purpose, where the saints live in unity with God, one another, and those who have gone before us. We sometimes speak of the Church’s message, but if you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that it is the other way around. It’s not so much that the Church has a Message as that the Message has a Church. The saints, who are the Church, are the delivery system for the Message. That is our inheritance; our gift from God.
A colleague of mine enjoys telling of a time when a little boy was visiting his grandfather, whose church had beautiful stained glass windows like ours. The little boy asked his grandfather who the people in the windows were. His grandfather told him, “Those are saints.” And the boy exclaimed, “Oh, I get it! Saints are people that the light shines through.”
Saints of God, you and I are people through whom God’s light shines. Throughout our lives, as our wills are transformed and we grow less resistant to God’s grace at work in us, the light of Christ shines more brilliantly through us.
I recall a wonderful woman who often used an expression that has all but vanished from our language. She would say, “Be a saint.” “Be a saint and help me with these packages.” “Be a saint and run to the store for me.” “Be a saint and help me with the dishes.”
Jesus call to us is to “Be a saint.” Or, even better, “Be the saint I have created you to be.” Be a saint and help me feed the hungry. Be a saint and help me raise the children to know, to love, and to follow me. Be a saint and help me heal the sick. Be a saint and help me deliver my message of God’s love. Be a saint. Be a saint. Be a saint.
I'll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Cathedral Jackson, Mississipi
Several remarkable things have happened during the two months I’ve been with the People of St. Andrew’s Cathedral and I want to make some remarks about some of them.
Electronic Mail – We use Constant Contact for our weekly e-news and any number of other communications with our members. Constant Contact provides us with metrics that help us understand how many people open emails, how many bounce, and how many emails are sent. Last week, The Epistle was emailed to 901 addresses, 368 of which actually opened the email. That’s a 42% open rate. While 100% would be better, Constant Contact tells us that 33% is a very good open rate. So, our members are above average in reading their emails. This tells me you are interested in what is happening at your church. That makes my heart glad.
Stewardship Campaign – 224 households have pledged to give $1,054,341 next year for God’s work through St. Andrew’s Cathedral. 69 pledges are new and 94 are increases in giving. Each pledge represents a commitment to God and God’s Church to engage in faithful stewardship as a spiritual discipline. The prompt and generous response is a sign of spiritual health.
Habitat for Humanity – On Wednesday of this week, the Staff and others from the Cathedral spent the day working on the house that four Episcopal churches are building on Greenview Street. During lunch, served by the Holy Smokers, our fearless and able leader, Thorne Butler, thanked everyone for participating and made some announcements. When he was finished, I asked him if he had full sign up sheets. He said, “Yes! In fact, we oversubscribed. There are even more people than we expected.” That’s an indication that members of the Cathedral community want to be engaged in Christ’s work in meaningful, life changing ways
Meals on Wheels – At a meeting of the newly revitalized Pastoral Care Commission, June Stevens reported that she has forty people who are participating in this important ministry. Forty! That is another indication that the members of the Cathedral community want hands-on engagement.
Newcomer Dinner – Thirteen people who are new to the Cathedral recently attended a lovely dinner at the home of Gayle and Holmes Adams. Several members of the vestry and staff, along with a wonderful group of hosts, were there to extend a generous and warm welcome. The newcomers left with a feeling that they have a place in this community of faith and the warm glow on the faces of all those who made the evening possible indicated that they knew they got their message across.
Women’s Book Study – If one more person shows up for the Women’s Book Study, they may have to move to the Parish Hall. They enjoy each other’s company and the lively discussion of some significant literature.
Men’s Ministries – I’ve tried unsuccessfully several times to start opportunities for men’s fellowship, including a Society of St. Andrew and something like the Dean’s List. I was impressed upon arrival at the Cathedral that we have both opportunities and they are thriving.
This is a community of Christians who enjoy one another’s company, look forward to opportunities to work, pray, give, and play together, and go out of their way to include everyone.
These are certainly not the only examples of congregational health, but I wanted to recognize them and call your attention to them in hopes of encouraging all our ministries and all our groups to keep up the good work because in so doing you are building up the Church and living in the spirit of the exhortation found in the Letter to the Hebrews, "Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24).
Draw us in the Spirit's tether; For when humbly, in thy name, Two or three are met together, Thou art in the midst of them: Alleluya! Alleluya! Touch we now thy garment's hem.
As the brethren used to gather In the name of Christ to sup, Then with thanks to God the Father Break the bread and bless the cup, Alleluya! Alleluya! So knit thou our friendship up.
All our meals and all our living Make us sacraments of thee, That be caring, helping, giving, We may true disciples be. Alleluya! Alleluya! We will serve thee faithfully
Words: Percy Dearmer Music: Harold Friedell
I’ll see you in Church!
The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue Interim Dean St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral Jackson, Mississippi