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Remembering Deacon Lynne

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A reminder popped up on my calendar Sunday –  Feb 28th was Lynne HoughIMG_9075‘s birthday.

Lynne was the Deacon at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach for many years. I was privileged to serve with her for 8 years as the Rector of St. Pat’s. Lynne died on December 22nd. I was blessed to be able to attend her funeral service at St. Patrick’s on December 28th.

The Reverend Canon David Johnson preached a beautiful sermon at Lynne’s funeral. David was the Vicar of St. Patrick’s at one time, and Lynne was a dear friend to David, his wife Nora, and their children. David, like myself and Kyle Bennett and others, had the awesome blessing of being trained by Lynne. For Lynne Hough knew what it meant to be a deacon. All Episcopal priests are ordained as deacons first and as priests later. We sometimes tend to forget our roots. Lynne was a living reminder to me and so many others what the ministry of a deacon was all about. And while I can never live up to her shining example, I hope some of Lynne’s deacon heart and soul rubbed off on me over those 8 years and afterwards.

Lynne knew how to tell it like it is! I appreciated that so much. She was fiercely loyal yet knew she could speak her mind and I loved that I always knew she would do so. Priests sometimes struggle with ego issues and Lynne knew part of her deacon role with us was to make sure our opinions of ourselves didn’t get out of hand!

That may sound more harsh than I mean it. Most of all Lynne was a person who exuded the love of Christ to all. She was such a great confidant and someone I could discuss difficult issues (or people!) with and know I would get an honest, thoughtful, and loving response. She was such a great clergy companion for me in what can often be a very lonely profession.

Lynne was beloved in our community as well. From her work at the Sun Herald, to her chaplain duties at Memorial Hospital, and her tender care of the poor in our area, she was a blessing to so many. She also was very involved at the diocesan level, she was the last living member of the Diocese of Mississippi’s first vocational deacon class and as a long time leader on our Commission on Ministry, she was extremely helpful for many who were in discernment processes, whether for diaconate or priesthood.

Lynne’s health had deteriorated the last few years but her death was still a shock to us all. With the health challenges she faced, I am glad she didn’t suffer too terribly. But that is only a small consolation for us whom she touched so deeply. Selfishly I wish she was still here, that I could pick up the phone and call her, see her at diocesan functions, laugh with her one more time, hear her wonderful stories and catch some more of her contagious love of Jesus and of all the children of God.

Lynne Hough, Deacon extraordinaire, was one of a kind. I will miss her deeply. My prayers continue for all her family and friends.

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Blessed

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For those who haven’t heard, I have accepted the vestry’s call to serve as Interim Rector of Christ Church Parish in downtown Pensacola. I started on December 15th. Jennifer and I had moved our belongings (clothes, etc. – furniture and much else went to storage) when we left Delray just before Thanksgiving. Thanks to the incredible generosity and hospitality of my in-laws, we were invited to stay in their condo in Perdido Key until we figured out where we would go next. As we were driving our uHaul our of Delary, , the interim search committee called to setup an interview, and the rest is history. I am about a 30 minute drive from the church. What a blessing! This has been a real palpable way of living into God’s ways and trusting God will provide for us. It could not have worked out any better!
Jennifer is now certified in Florida so she has started interviews for Pediatric Nurse Practitioner positions. Things are really coming together.

Arriving at a church ten days before Christmas is a different kind of experience. And doing so at a church like Christ Church Parish in Pensacola is even more exciting.
Fortunately CCP is served by two wonderful associate priests and a staff that had things well in hand before I arrived. Which allowed me to just enter into the flow and enjoy a wonderful Christmas experience. My associates handled all the “deacon” and “celebrant” roles until the midnight mass, giving me time to see how things are done around the altar.
I preached 4th Advent, Christmas Eve (with help from Christie, one of the associates, at the family service) and 1st Sunday after Christmas. They are probably sick of me already!

The biggest Christmas blessing for us was having our family with us at the condo. Our son, Joseph, came down Christmas Eve afternoon. Mackenzie and Wynne and 7 month old Juby arrived Christmas Eve, surprising Jennifer by making it to midnight mass just as it began! Juby’s first Christmas was with us and it was wonderful. Then the next day, Chelsea and John and 9 week old Eliza joined us! What a glorious time! Jen and I were on cloud nine having them all together, and I loved having my whole family at church on Sunday.

On Monday I was able to make it to the funeral of the Reverend Deacon Lynne Hough at St. Patrick’s in Long Beach. Lynne and I served that church together for 8 years, Lynne was there far longer and she was the bedrock clergy person for that parish. She was a wonderful deacon and fantastic person. She knew her calling so well, and was a foundation of love and grace and truth for us all. Lynne you are really missed.
From there we made it to Hattiesburg for the gathering of all the Knights at my parents house. All four of my brothers and all of their wives, children, and grand children were there. My parents now have 7 great-grands and all were present, including 3 born this year!

All of the above says one thing – we are truly, truly blessed. Many of you have held us in your prayers and I cannot thank you enough. I will have more “profound” posts coming up soon, but wanted to catch up on all our news. God bless and Merry Christmas (we have 8 more days of Christmas ya know!).

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All the Paths of the Lord

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9All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness *

to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

These words from Psalm 25, appointed for today, echo in my mind. Often when I am counseling people who are faced with difficult decisions, I tell them that I believe God honors our decisions when we enter into them carefully AND prayerfully. By that I mean there may always be several options but paralysis of analysis keeps us from choosing, or we give into the anxiety, terrified of making a “wrong” choice. God of course can work with and through and bless whatever choice we make, if it is a decision made in prayer and one in line with God’s “covenant and testimonies”.

I can certainly relate. During the months of discerning and searching for “what’s next” as my interim time at St. Paul’s was wrapping up, I felt myself giving in to the anxiety. But I can honestly say in the last couple of months I felt much of that anxiety leave me. Part of it was the tender love and care the people and leaders of St. Paul’s offered me, part of it was my wife’s unwavering belief that “all will be well”. And a big part of it was practicing what I preach, offering it all up to God and believing what the Psalmist wrote – all the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness to those who keep God’s covenant and testimonies.

It sounds simple. It’s not. We are all human and the unknown worries us. No doubt about that. So God often helps us along the way. In my case, it was the love and generosity of my parish that helped calm my soul and gave me space to “let go and let God”. I am forever grateful to them.

Now we know what we didn’t know. I am excited and delighted to join with Christ Church in Pensacola as their Interim Rector. When we left Delray Beach, we moved into temporary quarters that are only 25 minutes away from Christ Church. As we were driving a uHaul with all our possesions out of Delray Beach and wondering what was next, I received a call from their interim search chair to see if I could come to Pensacola for an interview. He had no idea I was going to be living so close.

All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness.

Amen.

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Venite

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In my daily prayers, I have returned to using “Venite”, an amazing prayer book put together by Robert Benson, a writer friend from Nashville. Benson has managed to produce a remarkable book which includes daily offices (morning, noon, evening, compline) arranged in ways that make them very assessable to anyone desiring a more disciplined approach to daily prayer, all in one book (which he states was his goal. In fact he wrote the book for his own prayer discipline and much later decided to publish it).

The offices include Psalms, Canticles, and Collects for the day of the month and/or the church season. For readings he includes sayings of Jesus for each day of the month. It is simple to follow and quite lovely as well as practical.
The book may be out of print but I found my copy on Amazon. It’s simply named “Venite” as it is itself a call to prayer. I highly recommend it.

Using a book such as this allows us, just like saying Morning or Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (from which Benson draws much of his prayer rhythm), to join our own prayers with those of people all over the world. And I think now is a good time for us to do so. Praying changes us. Jesus knew this about us. It’s why Jesus told us two things about other people – first we should pray for our enemies. Praying for our friends was easy, he said, let’s expand that to include even those who do us harm. And he asked us to pray for, as we all called to love, our neighbors as ourselves. Then, doggone it, he went and expanded that too in the story of the Good Samaritan. So today, in light of the evil news we seem to be bombarded with each day, I have tried to expand my prayers as Jesus expects, as Jesus calls us to do.

It’s not easy. It does make a difference. I commend it all to you.

I will close with the final verse of Benson’s version of the Song of Zechariah:

In your tender compassion, the morning sun has risen upon us – to shine on us in our darkness, to guide our feet into the paths of peace.

Let us Pray, My Main Blog

Uncertainty

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We live in anxious times. There is nothing new about this. From terrorist attacks and threats to economic concerns to the almost weekly mass shooting to ebola to the so-so-so-long election season, we are bombarded by crisis, by worry, by doubt. Our elected leaders seem to have lost all will to lead from strength, from compassion, from love of others and instead knee-jerk react in the ways they feel the most voters will appreciate. This is not leadership. I wish every elected leader at every level would read Ed Friedman’s “A Failure of Nerve”. Ordained leaders need to do the same. I know I do. I return to it often.

So what should the people of God do? We remember. In the service of Morning Prayer available online at missionstclare.com, the First Song of Isaiah is one of the chosen canticles for today. You know it. I know it. And today, I need it – to help me remember:

Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense,*

and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing, from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that his Name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,

for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

My sure defense, the prophet Isaiah says. The defense, however, is not from bullets or disease, as much as we would love that. The defense is from being conquered by despair, from allowing our very natural fear to overwhelm our faith. Our defense is remembering our salvation and then acting in ways that God expects even when we are worried and afraid. Especially then. By taking care of the stranger, the poor, the orphaned. By being living examples of people of God making God’s deeds known among all the people. We are called, my friends, to be in the world but not of it, remembering the great one in our midst is the Holy One. Surely it is God who saves me, I will trust in God and not be afraid.

That’s my morning prayer today.