e-piphanies

Bob McKee's Advent Gift

Around the middle of Advent every year for a decade, our friend Robert (Bob) McKee would invite us to join him and a group of friends for the Madrigal Dinner at Rice University. The event took place in the Faculty Club/Cohen House on the Rice Campus. Singers from the Shepherd School of Music, under the direction of Tom Jaber, dressed in elaborate Elizabethan costumes and sat at an elevated head table. From that platform, they sang carols and other music of Advent and Christmas. During the meal, magicians, jugglers, and acrobats entertained us. We always had a wonderful time and Bob’s guests became our good friends. Next to the celebration of the Savior’s birth, it was always the highlight of the season.

I was reminded of those Madrigal Dinners, Bob McKee, our friends, and the glorious music today when I heard a recording of the Wexford Carol, the first verse of which was always sung a cappella at the very end of the evening. It became my favorite carol. It gladdens my heart at this time each year.

Listen to this lovely rendition of the Wexford Carol, ponder the lyrics, and steep your soul in the beauty as you prepare for the Natal Feast.

Those occasions brought people together and fostered lasting friendships. Our nation and our world need more such occasions and all the things the Messiah came to bring into the world. Bob has joined the Choir Immortal, as have several of the regular guests. Others remain in touch, though now scattered about the country. Through the years, we've moved around quite a bit and more friends have entered our lives. Gay and I give thanks to God for them and all of you. We pray that you have a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with love, peace, and goodwill!

Faithfully,

 

 

 

 

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
Arlington, Texas

 

The Wondrous Gift

While visiting the Holy Land in 1865, The Rev. Phillips Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to assist in the Christmas Eve midnight service. That blessed moment in his life inspired him to write one of the most cherished of all Christmas carols, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
    So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

God in the flesh IS the “wondrous gift” that is given to those whose hearts are meek enough and trusting enough for the gift to make a difference. So, come. Together, in our hearts, let us go to Bethlehem to receive this wondrous gift so the world of need at our doorstep will become a better place when we step into it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

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

While visiting the Holy Land in 1865, The Rev. Phillips Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to assist in the Christmas Eve midnight service. That blessed moment in his life inspired him to write one of the most cherished of all Christmas carols, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
    So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

God in the flesh IS the “wondrous gift” that is given to those whose hearts are meek enough and trusting enough for the gift to make a difference. So, come. Together, in our hearts, let us go to Bethlehem to receive this wondrous gift so the world of need at our doorstep will become a better place when we step into it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

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

Seeking Balance During Advent

December 1 is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is hard to observe in our culture, isn’t it?

The Church tells us it is a period of preparation for the Feast of the Incarnation, Christmas. Our faith tradition encourages us to make it a reflective time during which we identify with those who waited long centuries for the appearing of God’s anointed one. The liturgy for the Sundays and weekdays in Advent direct our attention to the wonderful gift that has come to us in Emmanuel and the promise that he will come again at the end to establish his victorious reign over all things.

Yet, here we are again with all those sights and sounds and smells that tell us it is time to be the world’s most accomplished consumers. Our culture encourages us to believe that the things we need and the things our loved ones need to make their lives complete can be bought for a price, and quite possibly must be acquired if life is to be worth living. The liturgy of advertising and shopping mall directs our attention to the near frenzy involved in getting there while supplies last.

I’m not really suggesting that we should not buy gifts or support our local merchants who work so hard and rely so heavily on sales at this season. I enjoy going to the mall and listening to the music in the stores. I like to shop for presents and believe it is a good thing to be thoughtful and generous with others as God in Christ has been thoughtful and generous with us in offering us his very life.

What I am suggesting is that the spiritual dimension of the season can easily be overshadowed. We need to find a balance and the Church can help. Go to the mall, after you’ve gone to church. Buy gifts, after you’ve left your gift at the Altar. Spend time shopping for the perfect gift, after you’ve spent time in communion with the most perfect gift, Christ the Savior. And then, after you've observed the spiritual practices of Advent, have a wonderful, peaceful, and blessed Christmas!

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

                                                            “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
                                                            The Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)

I'll see you in Church!

 

 

 

 

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

How can we name a love?

Greetings! 

As I sit here contemplating the Christmas message, I am reminded that someone once said "the best way to send a message is to wrap it in a person." That's what God did in sending Jesus to us. In Jesus, the Messiah, we receive the message of God's love for us.  In Jesus, God's redemptive work continues to transform lives - not just change them, but transform them.

In this context, for one to change means to do something different  but to be transformed means to become someone different, a new creature. In Jesus, God Incarnate, "things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made" (BCP, p. 515).

That's the message for us this Christmas, and every Christmas. And that's my prayer for you and those whom you love as we join the shepherds at the manger to "see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us" (Luke 2:15).

These lines from the English hymn writer, Brian Wren, sum it up beautifully:

How can we name a Love that wakens heart and mind,
indwelling all we know or think or do or seek or find?
Within our daily world, in every human face,
Love's echoes sound and God is found, hid in the commonplace.

So in a hundred names, each day we all can meet
a presence, sensed and shown at work, at home, or in the street.
Yet every name we see, shines in a brighter sun:
In Christ alone is Love full grown and life and hope begun.

I'll see you in Church!

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

 

Sermons for Christmas Eve and Day at St. John's Jackson Hole ~ 2015

Christmas Eve 2015

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Christmas Day 2015

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The Wondrous Gift

While visiting the Holy Land in 1865, The Rev. Phillips Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to assist in the midnight service. That blessed moment in his life inspired him to write one of the most cherished of all Christmas carols, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

 

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
    So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
    Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

 

God in the flesh IS the “wondrous gift” that is given to those whose hearts are meek enough and trusting enough for the gift to make a difference. So, come. Together, in our hearts, let us go to Bethlehem to receive this wondrous gift so the world of need at our doorstep will become a better place when we step into it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

P.S. The icon is The Virgin of Vladimir by the hand of Gay Pogue. 

 

Sermon at The Episcopal Church in Parker County ~ January 4, 2015

 

The Second Sunday After Christmas Day

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Read the Sermon for December 4, 2015

 

Today's Icon

The Flight into Egypt, Dr Stéphane René

Dr René, a lecturer in Christian Art associated with the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, was born in Paris and is a London based iconographer working in the Contemporary Coptic Style. He is one of very few exponents of this sacred tradition in the West.

 

 

Sermon at The Episcopal Church in Parker County ~ December 28, 2014

 

 

The First Sunday After Christmas Day

Listen to the Sermon for December 28, 2014

Read the Sermon for December 28, 2014

 

 

 

 

Sermon at Christ Church Cranbrook ~ August 11, 2013

The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Listen to the Sermon for August 11, 2013

Read the Sermon for August 11, 2013

I quoted lines from "The Rose" in today's sermon.  Here is a recording of Bette Midler performing this beautiful song.

 

 

Sermons at Christ Church Cranbrook ~ Christmas 2012

Sermon for Christmas Eve

Listen to the Sermon for Christmas Eve 2012

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Sermon for Christmas Day

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Read the Sermon for Christmas Day 2012