Tag: growth

What I Am Giving God This Year – A Life That Bears Delicious Fruit

I'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.

John the Baptizer came preaching repentance, saying, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance. . . every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mt. 3:8, 10). In other words, “Give God a life that tastes as good as it sounds!” That’s one of the things I want to give God this year, a life that bears delicious fruit. How do I do that?

I have to recognize the need for change and growth. A plant that stops changing and growing stops producing fruit. Things happen to people that cause them to stop changing and growing and their lives are not fruitful. A life that tastes as good as it sounds knows the necessity of change and growth.

I also have to learn to recognize good from evil. Have you ever bitten into a beautiful piece of fruit that has no flavor or is bitter? When dealing with fruit, it doesn’t take much more than a taste to tell the difference between good and bad. Why is it more difficult in dealing with the fruit of our lives? A life that tastes as good as it sounds recognizes the difference between good and evil. But then…

I have to make a choice. We may not be able to choose our parents or color of our skin or land of our birth. But we must choose how to respond to the people and the conditions around us. To give God a life that tastes as good as it sounds, we’ll have to change and grow, discern between good and bad, and make some responsible choices.

Our tradition includes both John the Baptizer and Jesus the Messiah! With only John, I’d know I am a snake, an unproductive bush. But with the Messiah, I know I have divine help to live a fruitful life.

Christian Baptism is not so much the dedication of a person’s life to God as it is the dedication of God’s life to a person and to a community of persons. John baptized with water for purification. But Jesus brought a baptism that included fire and the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, we are incorporated into God’s life, provided opportunities to turn to God, warned that being a faithful witness is costly, and given the Holy Spirit to help us live a fruitful life that tastes as good as it sounds.

Blessings,

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

December 3, 2020
Put Together With Light

The leaves on the Aspen trees outside my window are turning yellow. This is not a rare or disturbing phenomenon. The tree is not dying. What is happening is the predictable effect of photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar. The word means “put together with light.” Chlorophyll gives plants their green color and helps make photosynthesis happen. As summer ends and autumn arrives, days become shorter and there is not enough light for photosynthesis. So, during autumn and winter, the trees stop producing food. They rest and live off the food they stored during the summer. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves and other colors are visible.

Soon, the leaves will fall to the ground and add nutrients to the soil that will benefit the tree when spring and a new era of growth arrives. This annual process of change is necessary in order for the tree to thrive.

Human life also involves change. But we do not have to regard ourselves as “victims” of change. Unlike trees, which do not have the privilege of deciding how to manage change, humans have choices. We have options! The greatest options involve intangibles such as attitude, inspiration, perspective, and spirit. After all, the inner life of a child of God is different from that of a tree. The kind of light we “put together” with the elements of our lives is a different kind of light, one we can seek in any season. Enlightenment is the human equivalent of photosynthesis.

We regard our Creator as changeless. Creation, on the other hand, is made alive by change. Of all God’s creatures, humans have the most options for managing change in purposeful ways that impact the unfolding story of creation. When we are able to work with changes that impact our lives, they are more likely to become springboards that propel us into the next stage of growth. Learning to live creatively with change allows us not just to survive but to thrive.

So, in the light God gives, let us relish opportunities to explore changes that are thrust upon us and to purposefully initiate changes that will promote life and growth. In learning from change we expand our lives and become more fully human. By exercising our faith in God to guide and protect us through transitions, “we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life” will find rest and refreshment in God’s eternal changelessness.

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. – BCP, page133

October 14, 2015
From Maintenance to Mission

Here is a portion of the Epistle from last Sunday:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 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. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 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 knit 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 4:1-7, 11-16

Isn’t it exciting? We are called and gifted in unique ways for the purpose of ongoing service and growth into Christ, constantly becoming a whole and holy community, built up in love.

In that spirit, the vestry and I have been working to strengthen and further develop our organizational plan. We have adopted a rotation policy that establishes three-year appointments for committee members, limits committee chairs to two years in that role, and ensures that each committee has a vestry liaison. Members of the vestry will not normally chair committees. In the coming year, we will prepare for the rotation of members and leaders. Then, next July 1, we will start the process rolling. We hope this plan will open more doors for new leadership to emerge and prevent the burnout that happens when people do the same thing for too long. And, since the Holy Spirit gives a variety of gifts, we believe it will allow members to serve in a variety of ways.

We have also developed committee charters with succinct descriptions of the work and expectations associated with each committee. These charters have been posted on our parish website and HERE.

Please read them and, if you feel called to serve on one of these committees, contact me so we can talk about it. Committee charters are not chiseled in stone any more than are the needs that prompt our service! As needs and circumstances change, the charters may be modified to reflect God’s call to us at given points in time.

How we organize and manage ourselves for mission and how we stir up and rely on spiritual gifts contributes to fruitfulness in the mission entrusted to us. The rotation plan and charters are necessary to healthy organizational life. But those things would be only about maintenance without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, moving us toward maturity and working through us for the building up of the Church in love and service to God and our neighbors.

The Rev'd Steve Muncie, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York, has something similar to say:

God is inviting – challenging – us to see the world with all of its brokenness through the eyes of divine love and mercy. We are called to a broader vision for the loveless, a deeper look at the plight of the powerless. The danger for the Church is to remain blind to God’s great vision while we busy ourselves with our own limited sight, reducing God’s Mission in the world to our maintenance of the local church. The local church and its ministries are vitally important to building up the people of God. We need to make plans and establish priorities for strengthening congregational ministry. We need structure and accountability. We need to maximize participation in sharing the vision. However, God’s great vision is still waiting to be seen by those who have eyes to see.

Now, read that passage from Ephesians again.

I’ll see you in Church!

August 6, 2015