Tag: pandemic

Pausing to Look Back
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
September 18, 2020
Pilgrims on a Journey

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

September 3, 2020
Looking Forward Together

Last Sunday we had our first Drive-In worship service at St. Martin’s. We had about twenty cars in the parking lot and forty-five worshipers. The devoted people who have been providing online worship for the past five months successfully made a quantum leap forward in adding the celebration of the Holy Eucharist so those outside could receive. Our Regathering Team contributed in very helpful ways to our planning. St. Martin’s staff took care of numerous details that are necessary to such a service. Conversations with our Bishop and other clergy sparked creativity and identified resources, We are grateful to all of you!

Even after we are able to resume some level of in-person worship inside the church, I expect we will continue the Drive-In worship for those who are uncomfortable or unable to be inside. On August 23, our Eucharistic Visitors will begin taking the Sacrament to those who are unable to get out. In September, our Christian Formation Commission along with Children’s and Youth Ministries, will be rolling out some new online opportunities to learn and grow together in our faith. Sometime in October, we plan to offer a Discovery Class for those interested in membership or exploring their relationship with God and the Church.

There is much to look forward to! In the days ahead, you’ll find us recalling this encouraging word from the Prophet Jeremiah, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). We’ll be listening more closely and looking more deliberately to see God’s hand at work in the world around us. Surely, there are signs of hope from God all around us. When we find them, we’ll join hands with God and one another to help bring in a new and better time beyond this pandemic. Offering hope to the world is central to our mission, isn’t it?

Whenever I think about the mission God has entrusted to us, I am always guided by the words of Titus Pressler, “Mission is not fundamentally something we do as Christians but a quality of God’s own being. It is not a program of ours but the path of God’s action in the world. The mission of the Church, therefore, derives from the mission of God, and it has meaning only in relation to what God is up to in the universe. Already engaged in mission, God simply invites us to participate in what God is doing.”

On the evenings of August 20, 23, 27, and 30, we will be engaging in virtual holy conversations about what God is up to in this parish. We’re calling the series, “Yearning to Know God’s Will.” Our conversations will be about discernment, honoring the past, embracing the present, and reaching out for what lies ahead. Click HERE for more information and to register. I hope we have broad participation!

As we move through this time, I invite you again to pray this discernment prayer from The Book of Common Prayer daily:

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who
call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand
what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and
power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Blessings,

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

August 13, 2020
A Virtual Hug for Families With Children and Youth
This message is addressed to families with children and youth and those who care about them.

We have reached a point of frustration with this pandemic that is about to be compounded by the myriad of issues surrounding the opening of school. Our kids are anxious about what that is going to look like. Parents are concerned not only for their safety if they return in person, but also for the challenges raised if they participate in a virtual classroom. Either way, many parents will have to make a choice between family and employment, sooner or later.

Then, there are the people who make school happen – the teachers, counselors, administrators, cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, and others without whom schools in normal conditions would simply stop working. They, too, risk exposure to the Coronavirus if the students return to the campus. What happens to a classroom of students when the teacher tests positive or a busload of students when a driver tests positive? Do they all go into quarantine at home? Who looks after them? A dozen other questions come to mind, but I’ll stop there.

Several weeks ago, St. Martin’s made the painful decision not to reopen our school. The change in student/teacher ratio, the added sanitation protocols, announcements of free public school early childhood programs in the area, no liability coverage for COVID-19-related incidents, a bleak financial outlook, along with the aforementioned questions, presented a perfect storm of obstacles. We could not see a way to open the school and safeguard the health and well-being of our kids and our teachers.

All that said, I do understand the difficult decisions public and other independent schools are facing. The decisions their leaders must make and the decisions parents and families must make are daunting. Like you, I wish I knew the right answer. But I don’t.

What I do know is this:
- The people of St. Martin's will not shame parents for whatever difficult decisions they make.
- The people of St. Martin's will stand by our parents, pray with you, and do whatever we can to help you uphold what you think is best for your children and youth.
- The people of St. Martin's will remain steadfast in offering an abundance of faith, hope, and love to parents and families.
- When this is over – and it will eventually end – the people of St. Martin's will be here for you and rejoice to see your faces reflecting the light of God’s countenance, the God who always sees us through both the bad times and the good times. Maybe that is actually the light at the end of this tunnel!
I remind you of St. Paul’s words, which we read last Sunday, in the hope that you will let them resonate in your heart and mind during this time when all these things conspire against us and seem so overwhelming:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose…What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?…Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28, 31, 35, 37-39)

May this message be a great big virtual hug for our families with children and youth. We love you!

Blessings,

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Interim Rector
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
Keller, Texas
July 30, 2020
A Ray of Hope
This morning, I was reading reports about the impact of the Coronavirus and struggling to find a ray of hope to share with you. Then, I saw a Facebook post by our friend Jim Mayfield in Henderson, Nevada. It provides a window through which that ray has begun to shine. Here is his post in its entirety.

The world is in the midst of a sea change. Sea changes cannot be controlled nor can reliable predictions be made of resulting outcomes. However, historical lessons can guide the development of policy and strategies to effectively react to unpredictable conditions.

The Black Death of the mid-1600’s and worldwide plagues of the 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th Centuries triggered massive destruction to existing social, economic, and political strictures. For example, the Black Plague ended the Medieval period by unleashing forces that brought about the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the redistribution of wealth and political power. Therefore, the study of plagues is relevant today because of insights they reveal about how to cope with resulting disruptive breakdowns attributable to them.

Plagues consistently cause
Attempts by wealthy interests that control governments to manage the crisis and return to the pre-plague status quo fail and delay implementing essential changes. The reason their efforts fail is that a plague-driven crisis reveals already existing inadequacies in social, economic, and political structures to equitably distribute wealth to working persons, middle class persons, and persons who are structurally disadvantaged.

The bad news, which we are finally having to acknowledge, is that this is going to get worse before it gets better. Reality is staring us in the face: COVID-19 is not just like the flu, the virus is not just going to miraculously go away, and that reopening is not making everything normal again. We can no longer pretend that racism is a thing of the past, that wealth inequality can be corrected by giving more to those who are already wealthy, that affordable healthcare is a privilege and not a right, and that our government isn't dysfunctional.

The good news is that we can seize this opportunity to devote the best that is in us to turning our breakdowns into breakthroughs. That’s what those who came before us did, resulting in major cultural, scientific, social, and technological advances. We were designed to be agents of creative and purposeful change in the ongoing process of creation. We are called to overcome evil with good.

As I said a few weeks ago, I doubt that things will return to “normal” and I’m not sure even a “new normal” will be all that great. This sea change must result in a new creation; one that is better, more just, inclusive, and loving than ever before. I admit that I have more questions than answers. But I have confidence that people of good will, working together, looking for answers, reaching in hope for what lies ahead, can accomplish great things, especially if they ask for God's help.

People don’t like change. I get that. I’ve actually studied resistance to change most of my life. That's why my ministry for the past ten years has been helping churches through transitions. However, in times like these, change is trust upon us and the God who made us also has equipped us with the will and the capacity to bend change toward our benefit and the benefit of those who come after us.

Can you see the ray of hope that is breaking through? It is breaking in to us and through us so that we can bring hope to others; hope for a better tomorrow, a new creation. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Blessings,

The Very Rev'd Ron Pogue
Interim Rector
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
Keller, Texas
July 2, 2020
Not When But How

Earlier this week, I was involved in a conversation with clergy colleagues about our current predicament during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Most of us have been asked when will we return to gathering physically for worship in our churches? We’ve also been asked when will we return to normal. A wise person reminded us that the important question is not “when” but “how.” Each worshiping community is set in its own unique context, has its own challenges, and must sort through its own resources to determine how we will move through this time into a brighter future.

The Wardens and I are working on the appointment of a “reentry team” to help us formulate a plan. As we do that, we are mindful that whenever we emerge on the other side of this crisis some things will be different. There will be changes. We recognize that everyone has some degree of difficulty with change, regardless of how beneficial or unavoidable it may be. At the same time, we know that human beings are endowed by our Creator with a remarkable capacity for change. In fact, the pages of sacred scripture are filled with examples of how the exercise of that capacity has impacted the story of God’s people. Also, in the New Testament, change is central to the message of Jesus Christ. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14, 15). The Greek imperative metanoiete, which we translate “repent”, is a call to change one’s life.

Some biblical stories are about those who were able to make the changes necessary to be faithful to God, such as Abraham, Moses, David, and the Holy Apostles. Other stories tell us about those who were unable to make such changes, such as the people who were destroyed by the Great Flood, the generation of Hebrews who had been slaves in Egypt, several generations of Israelites whose apostasy resulted in defeat and captivity, the rich young man who came to Jesus, and, of course, Judas Iscariot.

There’s good change and there’s bad change and, quite often, there’s just change. Not all change is equal. But life, as God gives it, is one change after another. The struggle with change is bound up with the struggle with faith in God. Those who thrive are those who adopt a hopeful attitude toward our God-given potential, draw upon the uniquely human capacity for adaptation, and bring about purposeful refreshment, recreation, and renewal among the communities where they live and worship.

Simply put, our faith provides us with insight into how to draw upon that capacity for creative living and the advancement of God's redemptive purposes. People of faith have lived through crises and catastrophes before and this time will not be the last time. But this is our time! We want to be faithful stewards of that time. How we live use this time and how we journey through this transition as a community of faith is ours to discern, with God’s help.

One of my favorite prayers from the Book of Common Prayer came to mind as I was thinking about the relationship between change and faith. When I turned to it, I realized that it is a prayer that is primarily used in liturgies for times of significant transition in the Church’s life and liturgical cycle – such as Ordinations, the Celebration of a New Ministry, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter. It is a wonderful prayer for any time in the life of the Church, but especially when we are asked to make some sort of change as we progress in the journey of faith. I commend it to you today:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look
favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred
mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry
out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world
see and know that things which were cast down are being
raised up, and things which had grown old are being made
new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection
by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus
Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessings to you and yours,

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

P.S. Here's a hymn that explores the world of change God has made.

April 22, 2020
Righteousness and Rewards

The Gospel for The Fourth Sunday in Lent this year is John 9:1-41. Jesus seems to give a non-answer to a very serious question about a blind man’s suffering.

Rabbi Harold Kushner's book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, was a best seller. In the book, the rabbi addresses the haunting question about the correlation between sin and suffering, about righteousness and rewards. Rabbi Kushner says it all has to do with luck. There is good luck and there is bad luck – neither of which is dependent upon a person's goodness or badness. There is a kind of randomness to life.

Today, we want explanations, answers that make sense to us and reassure us that we are okay. Thousands perish of AIDS and famine in Africa, people are crushed in an earthquake in Haiti or Chile, hurricanes destroy lives and property in Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands, floodwaters destroy people's homes, terrorists gun down innocent people in the streets, and the Coronavirus Pandemic casts a pall of sickness, unemployment, economic calamity, and death across our planet. How can God be good and still allow bad things like these to inflict good people like us?

Jesus' own disciples asked him questions like that. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus didn't take Rabbi Kushner's approach. In today's climate, Jesus wouldn't win any awards in the pastoral care department either. He said, “Neither. This man was born blind so that the glory of God might be revealed.” Consistently, Jesus denies any direct correlation between the kind of person you are and what happens to you. In another instance he declares that, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

Why did this happen to me? Probably, for no good reason. Bad things happen to the good and the bad all the time. The notion that only good things happen to good people was put to rest when they crucified Jesus. Now, this same Jesus takes our question and makes it cruciform: can you trust God – in joy or in pain – to be your God? Can you love God without linking your love to the cards life deals you?

And then, we have televangelists who tell us that this pandemic is divine retribution for some views people have on various social issues. They want us to believe that if we don’t agree with their particular view of things, God will smite somebody at random and it will be our fault. That’s a pretty scary way to look at our God.

God's love carries no promises about good or bad save the promise that God will not allow anything worse to happen to you than happened to God’s own Son and that beyond sickness and death, life is changed, not ended.

Saint Augustine of Hippo mused over the great suffering that occurred when the barbarians sacked Rome. He noted in his City of God that when the barbarians raped and pillaged, Christians suffered just as much as non-Christians. Faith in Christ did not make them immune to pain and tragedy. Augustine wrote, “Christians differ from Pagans, not in the ills which befall them but in what they do with the ills that befall them.” The Christian faith does not give us a way around tragedy. It gives us a way through it!

What do we do with our neat little distinctions in a church where we think being nice is the way to salvation? God's sunshine and rain keep blurring them! This is the way God responds to our questions – not with answers that flatter us, or make the world simpler than it really is, but with God’s life given for us, that we might more fully give our lives to God.

So, during this time of anxiety, let's look for ways for God might be manifested in our lives and ways God can use us to bring peace and calm and hope to others. We don’t know how long this social distancing will last nor do we know the full impact of this health crisis. Gathering together is central to how we have always done Church but we can't do it right now. We are trying to learn and practice more and new ways to be Church when we can’t physically meet together. Worship will be streamed by video each weekend we are apart. Our clergy and pastoral care ministry are reaching out to people in the parish who are vulnerable. We are encouraging everyone to connect to our online directory (Breeze). We've set up a Helping Hands Network in order to learn who needs to receive help and who is willing to provide help. Groups are meeting via video, teleconferences, and email chains. When we need to get important information out, we will be more redundant than usual, employing a variety of avenues including social media, email, voicemail, and text messaging.

If you have put off learning how to use new technology in order to communicate with others, please, please find someone to help you learn what you need to do today! We need to see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices. This situation is not likely to be over for months. Our faith compels and equips us to find the way through this and do it together!

Blessings,

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

March 19, 2020