We have just completed a series of intentional holy conversations at St. Martin’s. Many thanks to all who participated!
The recent parish survey provided an enormous amount of important data for the Rector Search Committee to consider while they are preparing the parish profile. The holy conversations have now provided confirmation of that data as well as a sense of what is on the hearts of the people of this parish. The notes taken during those conversations fills twenty-one pages. The committee now sets about the task of telling the story of St. Martin’s in hopes it will inspire Priests to enter into discernment with them concerning a call to serve as the next Rector. Please remember them in your prayers as they enter this next phase of the search process.
The series of holy conversations was called Yearning to Know God’s Will. The topics we covered were The Power of Discernment During Transition, Honoring the Past, Embracing the Present, and Reaching for What Lies Ahead. These topics helped us look at the past, the present, and the future in the context of spiritual discernment. We asked "What is God up to at St. Martin's?
At the beginning of each conversation, I gave a presentation about the topic at hand. In one presentation, I spoke of an interview I saw with a young man who had walked 750 miles to attend the recent March on Washington. After describing the encounters he had along the way, he said, “When I started out, I thought my goal was to be here in Washington, D.C. But I now understand that the goal was the journey itself.”
In the transition between Rectors at St. Martin’s and in this protracted time of pandemic, we especially need to be reminded of the importance of the journey. How we use the period between the beginning and the end of a thing is vitally important. Did you know the first Christians called the movement “The Way?” Later on in the history of Christianity, more emphasis was placed on the destination – heaven. Maybe too much. Perhaps this is a good time to draw inspiration from those earliest followers of Jesus and focus more on the journey.
Where is God’s hand at work in the world around me today?
How is God blessing me and others in the present moment?
Where is there a hurt to be healed?
Where is there a need to be filled?
What is the word of hope and encouragement that I can to speak?
How can I be Christ to someone around the next corner?
This verse from The Servant Song expresses it this way:
We are pilgrims on a journey,
We are trav'lers on the road;
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
Eternity is not just the end, it is also the journey!
Blessings,
The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Interim Rector
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
Keller, Texas