Tag: Lent

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,

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

February 18, 2021
Getting Ready for Lent

Next Wednesday, we will begin our annual observance of the Season of Lent. Lent is a time for engaging our new life in Christ more deeply, risking new levels of trust. The purpose of Lent is not to dwell on suffering, or to spend forty days bewailing our manifold sins and wickedness for the sake of feeling our pain. Lent is about engaging in the ongoing process of renewal, regeneration, and new birth; it is about encouraging us to trust and to risk going forth and being sent out with the promise of new life.

Lent may require us to “think outside the box” of piety and religiosity, just as Abram and Sarai had to break with their past, and Saul and Nicodemus the Pharisees with theirs. The promises of God bear not only upon the future of our individual lives in relationship to God, but also upon the future of our parish, our diocese, and our Church as a whole.

To respond to the promise for new life means we have to be ready to redraw and rename the places on the journey. When the ancient ones told the story of Abram and Sarai, they were also inscribing new place names and creating a new social geography on the territories of their migrations in company with God.

God may be inviting us to rethink how we do Church in light of the socio-geographies of the times we live in. When Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Apostle as we know him, he brought new words, images, and new community structures into being, “calling into existence things which do not exist,” by trustfully following Jesus into new life.

Lent is for listening to that call in our own lives. In the words of James Russell Lowell, “New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth.” Lent is for careful thinking about how to step into the as-yet-unmapped future, to deepen our relationship to God, to trust the picture of new life in Christ, and for identifying the breaks with the past that we need to make in order to respond to the promises of God.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

Blessings,

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

February 11, 2021
Fasting and Feasting During Lent`

Here's a wonderful way to keep a Holy Lent, by William Arthur Ward:

    •    Fast from judging others; Feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
    •    Fast from emphasis on differences; Feast on the unity of life.
    •    Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of light.
    •    Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
    •    Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that purify.
    •    Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
    •    Fast from anger; Feast on patience.
    •    Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.
    •    Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.
    •    Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
    •    Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
    •    Fast from unrelenting pressures; Feast on unceasing prayer.
    •    Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
    •    Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
    •    Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.
    •    Fast from personal anxiety; Feast on eternal truth.
    •    Fast from discouragements; Feast on hope.
    •    Fast from facts that depress; Feast on verities that uplift.
    •    Fast from lethargy; Feast on enthusiasm.
    •    Fast from thoughts that weaken; Feast on promises that inspire.
    •    Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity.
    •    Fast from idle gossip; Feast on purposeful silence.
    •    Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that strengthens.

—William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994.)

February 20, 2020
Nurturing the Most Important Relationship of All

Think of the most important relationships in your life. Who are the people who matter to you and to whom you matter? How do you nurture those relationships? Do you routinely show up for meals with them? Do you communicate with them? Do you celebrate special occasions with them? Do you check in with them on a regular basis? Do you go out of your way for them? Do you feel a sense of responsibility to them? Do you delight in their company? Do you lavish gifts upon them to express your devotion? Do you tell them what they mean to you? What would your life be like without them? Do you ever take them for granted? Would it bother you if you drifted apart.

Does your relationship with God matter as much? How do you nurture your relationship with God?

One of the consistent themes of the Bible is God’s desire for a relationship with us. God went searching for Adam in the Garden of Eden. God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him. The first two commandments God gave to Moses on the mountain have to do with putting God first. God in Christ said, “Follow me” to some strangers and formed them into a community of friends and disciples. They and their successors called to others to follow Christ and join that community, the Church, where we continue to work on that relationship today.

God wants to be first in our lives and promises to transform all other relationships. In an attempt to express the primacy of our relationship with God, the faithful do things like give the first tenth of their treasure to God and worship on the first day of the week. Because God matters, we show up for meals, communicate, celebrate special occasions, check in regularly, go out of our way, feel a sense of responsibility, delight in God’s company, lavish gifts upon God, and express what God means to us through prayers and praises. Life would not be the same without God and we don’t ever want to take God for granted.

God matters to us. But even more important is the message that we matter to God! Of all God’s creatures, human beings come first. We are the apple of God’s eye. Because this relationship is so important to God, God shows up for meals, communicates with us, celebrates special occasions with us, goes out of the way for us, feels a sense of responsibility toward us, delights in our company, lavishes gifts upon us, and tells us we are beloved. We matter to God and God never takes us for granted.

St. Augustine of Hippo prayed, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” We were created with a desire to live in relationship with our Creator as well as our neighbors. As we approach the Season of Lent, I pray that we will make a new resolve to open ourselves more fully to that relationship. This 19th Century hymn echoes Augustine's prayer. Take a moment to listen to this a capella rendition by Danny Byrum.

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.
It was not I that found, O Savior true;
no, I was found of thee.

Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea.
'Twas not so much that I on thee took hold,
as thou, dear Lord, on me.

I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee!
For thou wert long beforehand with my soul;
always thou lovedst me.

I’ll see you in Church!

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

February 21, 2019
Invitation to a Holy Lent

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

With these words and with the sign of a cross of ashes imposed on our foreheads, we begin our annual Lenten journey. Those ashes, made from the palm branches we waved as we sang hosannas in celebration of Christ's Triumphal Entry last Palm Sunday, are a sign of the tentativeness of our praises and the shortness of our lives in the grand scheme of things. They mark the beginning of a season of reflection upon the impact we will leave in a universe that can and will go on without us.

Anglican priest and physicist John Polkinghorne expanded my own thinking about those ashes and our place in this universe in his book Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity. He writes, "Every atom of carbon inside our bodies was once a star. We are all made from the ashes of dead stars." Then, he goes on to explain how special our universe is. "Only a cosmos at least as big as ours could endure for the fifteen billion years necessary for evolving carbon-based life. You need ten billion years for the first-generation stars to make the carbon, then about five billion years for evolution to yield beings of our sort of complexity."

Woven into the complexity of our life is the "invincible divine purpose for good" and "the faithfulness of God who will not allow anything good to be lost." The death and resurrection of Christ bear witness to that truth and constitute the "seed event" of the new creation. From that "seed" springs forth fruit in the lives of those who follow him.

So, when you receive those ashes, marked on your forehead in the sign of the cross of Christ, receive with them the invitation to examine your life, seek what is good, and discard whatever interferes with the fruitfulness and goodness you may contribute during your brief sojourn. Many people resolve to practice a Lenten discipline beginning on Ash Wednesday. Some give up something through the practice of fasting. Others take on something, such as additional daily prayers, Bible study, more frequent attendance at corporate worship.

If you are considering a Lenten discipline, perhaps these words of wisdom from the early Christian mystic St. John Chrysostom will be helpful to you: "No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great." Pope Francis echoes those words in his Lenten message when he writes, "Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience."

So, whatever you give up or take on, let's ask ourselves if the practice will benefit others in some way and if it will help liberate us from indifference to our neighbors, especially those in need.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. (BCP)

I'll see you in Church!

The Very Reverend Ronald D. Pogue
Interim Dean
Saint John’s Cathedral
Denver, Colorado

February 28, 2017
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ February 28, 2016

The Third Sunday in Lent

Sermon for Lent 3C 2016

Read the Sermon for February 28, 2016

February 28, 2016
Fasting and Feasting During Lent

Wednesday, February 10, is Ash Wednesday. At the services on that day, we will be invited to observe a holy Lent with these words:

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

There are many ways to observe a holy Lent. Some people give things up. Some people take things on. There’s a way to do both at the same time. The chief purpose of these disciplines is to become more conscious of ways we depend on things more than we depend on God so that we may draw closer to God and grow in our love for our neighbors.

Here are some ways to keep a Holy Lent, by William Arthur Ward:

Fast from judging others; Feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; Feast on the unity of life.
Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; Feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; Feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; Feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; Feast on eternal truth.
Fast from discouragements; Feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; Feast on verities that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; Feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; Feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; Feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that strengthens.

—William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994.)

I’ll see you in Church!

February 4, 2016
Remember Who You Are – A Responsible Being

Lent is a time to remember who we are and, in the light of the Biblical revelation, responsibility is one essential ingredient of our human identity. Responsibility is something human beings consider important. In the context of the Christian faith, what am I really saying when I say, “I am responsible?”

To say that one is responsible is to assume a given condition of human life.

To be fully human is to be able to respond. When we unable to respond, our humanity is diminished. With the exception of those who are mentally or physically handicapped, responsibility is something humans have in common.

Who am I in the eyes of my Creator?

I am formed of the dust – a part of the material universe.
I am washed and cleansed – by water from living springs flowing from the Source of all life.
I am chosen – to play a special role in the life of creation.
I am responsible – for how I deal with all this information about myself.

Our Creator asks for a response from creatures like us. In expecting a response, God is expecting something that is a reasonable and universal expectation in the set of human expectations.

Whereas the Law implies that it is the duty of God’s people to respond, the Gospel proclaims it is a joy!

The contemporary meaning of the Ten Commandments is more than moralism; their meaning in any age helps to define God’s call to us.

For example, the commandment to serve no other gods needs to be seen in a world where our other gods are no longer Baal or Astarte, but political ideologies, socioeconomic status, physical appearance, race or ethnicity, culture, or class consciousness. The commandment to honor our fathers and mothers is not a call to fulfill the obligations of the extended family in a patriarchal agrarian society, but it has some profound implications for living with our parents who are always a part of us. The admonition against adultery today exists neither for the purpose of protecting our property nor for guaranteeing our immortality in our children. It relates to a profound sense of mutual fidelity only recently identified in the Christian theology of marriage.

The God revealed in Christ, who is the same God who both spoke and fulfilled the Ten Commandments, calls us into a covenant that is not prescribed by laws written on stone or in a book. This is the God, as Jeremiah tells us, who writes a covenant on our hearts. In any age, the ethical norms for our behavior do not exist for their own ends. They are efforts to describe action that is most human, the best response to what God has expressed to us.

It is the believer’s joy to respond to God!

This is at the heart of Jesus’ outburst at the Temple. He recognized a forced, oppressive response and literally overturned it. He was not seeking to destroy the worship in the Temple but to transform it. God reaches out to us in an expression of love. Christ is the clearest expression of that love. God yearns for a response of love answering love. And, remember, God's covenant includes the promise to respond to us when we call.

Viewed in this way, our response to everything becomes a response to God. We learn that responding is the way we experience a relationship with God. Exercising our freedom to respond to God is an attitude of remaining open to the power of God as manifest in the profound mystery of the cross. This Lenten pilgrimage is an opportunity to more completely embrace and rejoice in our God-given ability to respond!

I’ll see you in Church,

The Rev’d Ron Pogue, Interim Rector

March 4, 2015
An Invitation

On Wednesday of this week, your Priests will read this invitation to keep a holy Lent from the Book of Common Prayer to those gathered at one of our three services (7:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 7:00 p.m.).

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

This invitation is one you don’t want to decline!

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent offer the faithful an opportunity to participate in an ancient discipline that promises spiritual growth and health. You'll be a better person and a better Christian if you take it seriously.

According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a forty-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting or abstinence for the followers of Jesus. In case you are counting the days on the calendar, you will notice that there are actually forty-six days from Ash Wednesday until Easter. That’s because of the forty-six days until Easter, six are Sundays. As the Christian sabbath, Sundays IN Lent are not included in the fasting period and are instead "feast" days.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a celebration and reminder of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. The ashes used are typically gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. Here, we burn them to make ashes when we gather for the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.

What do we do with the Season of Lent? How do we keep Lent "holy?" How does it prepare us for the Easter Feast? The invitation itself provides the answers.

By Self-examination and Repentance

Each of us is equipped with something called a conscience. It is the part of our mind that allows us to distinguish right from wrong, truth from falsehood, good from evil. During Lent, we take more time than usual to examine our consciences and, when we find something for which we are sorry, we repent. One meaning of repentance is to feel or show that you are sorry for something bad or wrong that you did and that you want to do what is right. In Jesus’ preaching, repentance also meant to change course toward the abundant life God offers. We turn from that which leads to death and toward that which leads to new life in Christ.

By Prayer, Fasting, and Self-denial

Any important relationship depends on good communication. Our relationship with Christ is no exception. Prayer is the primary way we communicate with Christ. We pray privately and as a Christian community during corporate worship. If you have fallen out of the habit of daily prayer weekly Holy Communion, Lent is a good time to return to Church! And, by the way, this applies to our children as well as adults. Remember those promises we made on their behalf at the time of their Baptism? They are on this journey with us and they look to their parents and other adults to help them find God's way.

Fasting is a type of prayer. It has sometimes been called “the prayer of the body” because when we refrain from some physical pleasure or craving, our body literally cries out. Those “hungers” remind us of places in our lives where we have substituted things and experiences for what comes only from God. So, our bodies cry out for God to feed our deeper hungers.

By denying ourselves, we also are better able to identify with our sisters and brothers who don’t have shelter or enough to eat or adequate care for their mental and physical health. Self-denial can, therefore, prompt compassion in us and that can lead to seeking ways in which we can reach out to those in need, more intentionally seek peace and justice in our world, and respect the dignity of every human being.

By Reading and Meditating on God’s Word

Lent is a time when we can start or resume a discipline of daily Bible reading. We can follow the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and the readings provided in the lectionary for those services. We can take the Bible Challenge, or join a Bible study group. We can take the readings for the Sunday services more seriously in the days leading up to or following Sundays.

As Episcopalians, we search the Scriptures through the lenses of tradition and reason. Generally speaking, tradition is the historic and evolving teaching of the Church. Reason gives us the ability to explore, to question, and to apply the meaning of Scripture to the way we live. As we journey through this forty-day season, we can take a fresh look at the ancient texts that have transformed the lives of multitudes and appropriate them for ourselves.

These are the things the Church calls us to do to keep Lent “holy” – a time that is especially set apart to attune our lives to God’s and a time to ask God to do with us more than we can possibly do with ourselves. This holy time helps us continue on the journey with God. In last Sunday's gospel, we heard how Peter wanted to stop the procession when Jesus was transfigured and stood on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah. But Jesus pointed down the road. We have not yet arrived at our destination. There is more to come and Jesus Christ invites us to continue the journey with him. Then, at the end of Lent, when we reach the celebration of Christ's triumph over death, we'll have a greater appreciation for the depth and power of God's love for us. Please don’t pass up this opportunity.

I’ll see you in Church!

March 3, 2014
The Way of the Cross – The Path of Obedience

During the first week of April we will observe the last week in the life of Jesus. One of the most poignant passages we will read during this Holy Week is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Church at Philippi:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Phil. 2:5-11

I am struck by the description of the depth of Jesus’ obedience “to the point of death – even death on a cross.” His journey, especially during the days leading up to the Crucifixion, was a journey of obedience. That gets right to the heart of Holy Week, doesn’t it?

We know that the journey was not without its moments for Jesus. He prayed about it until he sweated blood. The temptation to take another path, to escape, to avoid the cross, was always there. But he knew his mission and was obedient to the One who had set this path before him.

By his obedience to that higher vocation, Jesus was able to overcome his inner conflict. By his commitment to the mission entrusted to him, he was able to remain steadfast until he fulfilled it. By his discipline in the midst of confusion, he was able to discern the way forward toward his redemptive objective.

In the story Ninety-three, Victor Hugo tells of a ship caught in a violent storm. When the storm was at its height, the frightened crew heard a terrible crashing below. A cannon they were carrying had broken loose and was banging into the ship’s sides, tearing gaping holes with every smashing blow.

Two men, at the risk of their lives, managed to secure the cannon again, for they knew that the loose cannon was more dangerous than the storm. The storm could toss them about, but the loose cannon within could sink them.

So, too, the outside storms and problems of life aren’t the greatest danger. It’s the terrible destructiveness of a lack of obedience to the highest, best, and noblest dimensions of life that can send us to the bottom.

The cross could have destroyed Jesus. But it didn’t because in humility he submitted himself to a discipline that kept him within the Divine Will. We could use some of his obedience in our own lives. Maybe some will rub off on us as we walk with him in the Way of the Cross during Holy Week, through the Crucifixion, into the Tomb, and into the glorious Resurrection on Easter. Let’s do it together!

March 29, 2012