I have accepted the call to serve as Rector of
St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Livingston, Texas, after serving as Vicar of St.
Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church in Galveston, Texas for the last eight years.
It is the close of one chapter and the beginning of another.
I cannot help but be filled with great
anticipation and excitement! At the same time, I know that to be a minister of
the Good News of Jesus Christ is, to say the least, quite humbling. We feel
inadequate; yet God provides for our inadequacies. At my ordination the
preacher, the Rev. Samuel R. Todd, took the words from the ordination rite in
the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and during his sermon reminded me of my
charge as a priest:
Have always therefore
printed in your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge.
For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom
he shed his blood. . . . And if it shall happen that the same Church, or any
Member thereof, do take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence, you
know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will
ensue. Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of the Ministry towards the
children of God … and see that you never cease your labor, your
care and diligence, until you have done all that lies in you, according to your
bounden duty, to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge,
unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and
perfectness of age in Christ, that there be no place left among you, either for
error in religion, or for viciousness in life.
As I begin my new ministry, I am reminded by St.
Luke of the task before me. He opens his
Gospel addressing “Theophilus,” meaning “Lover of God,” and St. Luke tells his
reader, Theophilus: “Having carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most
honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were
taught.” Lk. 1:3-4.
I have my charge from St. Luke in my new ministry
at the parish named after him. To care
for the Lovers of God, to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who know him and to those who do not yet know him.
Let us pray: 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 being 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.
