My Blog

Tag: Elijah

  • How is it with your soul?

    A friend said to me the other day, “Maybe it’s just me, but 2021 is beginning to look a lot like 2020.” He’s right; it kind of is, isn’t it? An impeachment trial in the Senate, more pandemic, challenges of trying to get everybody vaccinated, brutally cold weather, a breakdown in the Texas power grid, loss of water pressure, and more. Surprises, disappointments, inconvenience, unfamiliar emotional terrain, and rising anxiety levels as we wonder what’s next. It’s enough to try one’s soul.

    How is it with your soul? The Season of Lent calls us to grapple with that question every year, but this year it has a different intensity. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe the mounting pressures can move us to seek the help we need for the care of our souls. Maybe we will be more intentional in taking advantage of the spiritual disciplines of self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. Maybe we’ll read the daily Lenten Reflections that members of our parish have shared with us.

    If our faith teaches us anything, it teaches us that our God is the gracious Lover of our souls who will never leave or forsake us. In fact, that is the one thing that can never be taken away from us, no matter how bad things may be. In Baptism, we are “marked as Christ’s own for ever.”

    The familiar hymn It is Well With My Soul was written after traumatic events in the life of Horatio Spafford. The first two were the death of his four-year-old son and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which ruined him financially. His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873, at which time he had planned to travel to England with his family on the SS Ville du Havre. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn. All four of Spafford's daughters perished. His wife Anna survived. Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words when his ship passed near where his daughters had died. Phillip Bliss composed the tune for the hymn and called it Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.

    The series of tragedies could have broken Spafford. By God's grace, he dealt with the question, "How is it with your soul." The outcome was his echo of the response of the Shunammite woman in her encounter with the prophet Elijah, "It is well." Moreover, the hymn he wrote about the experience has brought reassurance and peace to countless souls for a century and a half.

    So, I ask again, how is it with your soul? Seize the opportunity Lent provides to grapple with that question. Observe the Lenten disciplines. Your clergy are always available to help, as are members of the parish who have emerged from their own experiences with renewed spiritual health.

    Blessings,

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped

     

     

     

     

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

     

  • What Are You Doing Here?

     

    "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" is a hymn with words taken from a longer poem, “The Brewing of Soma” by American Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. A couple of lines from this wonderful hymn have been on my mind during the last couple of months as we have had news of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and mass shootings.

    Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
    O still, small voice of calm.

    These words are inspired by a passage of Scripture, I Kings 19:11-13, in which the Prophet Elijah is struggling to hear God’s voice. God tells Elijah to go and stand before the holy mountain. When he does, there is a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire. But he is not able to hear the “still small voice” of God in the midst of any of those numinous, frightening, destructive events. He is only able to hear God’s voice in the silence that follows.

    Elijah is asking God, “Where are you and what are you doing?” But when the response comes from God, it is God who is asking the questions: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    Maybe we have been trying to hear God’s voice and wondering what God is doing in the face of all these horrific events that have destroyed life and property, dashed hopes, and undermined our sense of security. “Where are you, God, and what are you doing?”

    Silence.

    But, as we see from Elijah’s experience, silence may be the environment in which we are finally able to hear – to reflect, to discern, to understand – the Divine Voice.

    And when we do hear the Voice, we may hear the same question that Elijah heard: “What are you doing here, Ron?” Here, at this point in time, in this place, in the aftermath of the wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the violence.

    God and God’s people have been responding to all of those tragedies, offering hope, healing, and relief to people whose lives have been suddenly torn apart. Episcopal Relief and Development, for example, has people in place, working with local relief agencies and authorities to take immediate steps to help. The members of St. Andrew’s Cathedral have sent contributions to Episcopal Relief and Development to provide the funding needed to carry out the work that needs doing. Some have made their contributions directly, and others have contributed through the Cathedral. Thus far, we have sent $7,370 for hurricane relief.

    Soon, it will be time to respond to calls for teams of people to go to affected areas and get physically involved. This article by ERD head Rob Radtke provides a helpful description of what is being done and what each of us can do to help in the days ahead. The Episcopal Diocese of Nevada is providing support and advocacy following the massacre in Las Vegas. And people around the world are joining their voices in prayer for the victims and for divine guidance for those who work to make do the things and make the changes that will protect God’s children.

    Thank you for what you are doing. When the time comes for a call to go, I hope we will have people with the physical strength and time to respond. In every case, may we continue to listen for God’s voice!

    Here's a beautiful recording of that hymn, sung by the Choir of Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire, England.


    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