Our Blog
Weekly reflections, updates, and news about our St. Stephen’s Community.
Christian Life Equips Us to be Companions in Pilgrimage
One of the blessings of being church is that we get to walk with each other throughout the course of our whole lives–from birth to death. There is strength to be found in knowing and being known, especially in times of joy and sorrow. Each of us is tied together in Spirit, place and prayer. We learn how to embrace the complexity and simplicity of human being.
Paul summarizes this way of life when he instructs the church in Rome:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). We develop compassion and love as we practice solidarity in relationships with one another, both within the church and beyond it.
This week one of our beloved communicants, Darcy Cassavant, died. Another, Carol Szulc, has been moved to hospice care. We weep with their families, responding to their needs at their pace and with their leading. One of the prayers we offer at burials is:” We thank you (God) for giving her to us, her, family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage.”
At our best, the church is a community of companions on earthly pilgrimage journeying together into the fullness of God.
-The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
The Calling of Matthias and Other Means of Discernment
How have you made momentous decisions in your life? Lists weighing pros and cons? SWOT analyses? Opening up the Bible and picking a passage randomly? Decisions about whether to have a child, questions of moving, responding to health situation requiring a choice of treatment or none, getting married, getting divorced—our lives are a series of choices which shape our present and futures.
It is amazing to see how often in the Bible throwing dice or picking straws (drawing lots) are how God’s will is discerned at a given time. Indeed, in the book of Exodus, Aaron is instructed to wear the Urim and Thummim, the holy dice in his priestly ephod/garment (Exodus 28). Traditionally the words ‘ urim’ and ‘thummin’ have been translated as “lights and perfections” or, by taking the phrase allegorically, as meaning “revelation and truth”, Folks would come to the priest to determine God’s will and the priest would throw the urim and thummin to reach an answer. In the New Testament, a similar practice occurred when the apostles had to decide a replacement for Judas; according to Acts 1 the disciples prayed together and two names were put forth, Justus and Matthias. Straws were drawn. The will of God was determined to be Matthias.
Biblical decision making seems to have involved prayer, inquiry, consultation and whimsy. The results were a commitment to a direction, with confidence that God’s will would be revealed in light of the choice.
Like the friends of Jesus in Acts 1, the Vestry of St. Stephen’s and the Board of Trustees of St. Stephen’s School met last Saturday to discern whether or not to release the request for proposal for a developer of our land on the south side of Sul Ross. After years of prayer, cost analyses, market research, town hall meetings, fundraising and deliberation, the boards have decided to be open to the possibility of partnering with a developer to meet our financial, environmental, and social sustainability goals. The Request for Proposal will be issued on Tuesday. Releasing this request does not commit the church and school to work with a development partner. It does open us to new opportunities.
Regardless of the outcome of this development process, our leaders are committed to be a community witnessing to revelation and truth in our Montrose neighborhood. We trust in prayer, collaboration and divine whimsy.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
Hotter Than Hell
When I was a young girl growing up in an evangelical Christian tradition I was terrified of hell. It was not preached about incessantly in my home congregation, but when it was, the images I had were horrific–a lake of fire, people burning in never ending torment cut off from one another. There is a reason that the Bible uses images of fire to describe life which rejects God; it is unbearable.You don’t want to go there.
I had a theology professor who once spoke of hell as a pedagogical tool used to prompt people to right action. Rather than being lured into righteousness out of love, some folks are motivated by fear, he said. Hell is a corrective device.
It is 105 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston today.
We have been living in what the meteorologists call a heat dome for weeks and much of the planet is experiencing similar heat related conditions. From Maui to Canada to Europe, much of the world is ablaze. Poor nations and the poor in wealthy countries are suffering from heat’s impact most acutely. For decades scientists have been warning of the dangers of global warming. Like the Hebrew prophets before them, they are ignored by many.
I am reminded of the story of the rich man and Lazarus that Jesus relates in the gospel of Luke.
19 “There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. 20 At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 “The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. 24 He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I’m suffering in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. 26 Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’
27 “The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. 28 I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’ 30 The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’ 31 Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31).
Jesus goads to his listeners that they, like the rich man, have eyes to see and ears to hear, if they choose to do so. We, too, have Moses and the prophets. While they might not name themselves prophets, our climatologists serve a similar role. They call us into right relationship with Earth, our island home, and each other across the divides of nation and class. Collectively we can respond, if we choose.
Getting a taste of hell this summer is a viscereral warning. While I may not be a biblical literalist, I appreciate the power of warning and warming.
– The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
Conversation about Public Schools
Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Educating children is one of the most important tasks adults have in this world. What we teach, who teaches, what is important, why learning is valuable and to what end are critical questions for a family, a school, a society. All these questions are being actively debated today. Whose rights are extended and protected in the act of education is also a live issue. Parents? Taxpayers? Students? Is that even the correct frame?
Nowhere are these questions more dramatic than in the City of Houston as our community deals with questions of public education. With the takeover of the Houston Independent School District by the State of Texas and the dissolution of the elected school board, the appointment of a new superintendent, and the roll out of a New Educational System, many of us are contemplating the role of public education and our role in its functioning. We also are concerned about the children.
On Sunday, August 13, at 9:30 a.m. in the Havens Center, St. Stephen’s will be holding a conversation about the state of public schools and our hopes and concerns as Christians and members of this civil society. I invite those of us who are students, parents, teachers, administrators, librarians, those who are retired educators and those who are interested into a conversation about this moment in the life of our schools.
We will also be praying for those who embark on teaching, learning, and leading in this new school year. I hope you will join me.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
Tony Bennett’s Secret to a Full Life Resonates with the Ministry of Development
I listen to Michael Moore’s podcast, Rumble with Michael Moore. Two weeks ago Moore paid tribute to Tony Bennett, the great interpreter of the American songbook, upon his death at age 97. Moore considered Bennett a mentor and at one point asked the singer his secret to such a long life and productive career. Bennett’s response was, “I do not engage nostalgia; I live in the present and look to the future.”
Living in the present and looking to the future is the ministry of people who work in advancement or development. Last week I shared in this column that our Endowment Board was assisting in funding the position of the Director of Development at St. Stephen’s School. I was unclear in my communication about the why of that decision. Our Endowment exists to further the mission of St. Stephen’s Church and to ensure its ministry into the future. Planned giving is an essential component of fundraising to grow our ministry beyond our individual lives and tenures. The Endowment Board recognized that it needed professional expertise to enable us to expand our endowment. A portion of the School’s Director of Development’s time will be shared with the Church to enable the parish to deepen its mission now and into the future by assisting us with fundraising for both the endowment and the operational and capital needs of the Church.
I am delighted to introduce to you Avis McCray who joined St. Stephen’s Episcopal School’s staff on August 1 as the Director of Development.
Avis has over 30 years of experience in the non-profit sector, including roles as Director of Development at The Briarwood School, Development Officer at Houston Public Library Foundation, and Executive Administrator at the Susan G. Komen, Houston Affiliate. She holds a BA in Professional Writing and an MPA in Nonprofit Management from Grand Canyon University, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Rice University. Avis also serves on the Board of the Community & Family Historical Preservation Association in Jasper, Texas, where she has created and implemented all fundraising campaigns and obtained grants for major building renovations.
She said, “I am honored to be joining such a prestigious institution and look forward to working with the exceptional team to advance the mission and vision of St. Stephen’s. Together we will accomplish many great things!”
I join Dr. Troy Roddy, our new Head of School, in welcoming Avis to our St. Stephen’s community.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
An Update on People and Place
“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.”
Jorge Luis Borges.
It has been a while since I have updated you on our building progress because there has not been much to report. The Vestry and Board of Trustees of St. Stephen’s School have authorized the Project Oversight Committee to continue to work with the architects, owner’s representative, and our builders to refine the design development plans so that construction drawings can begin in September 2023.
Several factors have impacted the pace of progress toward construction:
-The costs of construction have radically escalated since the pandemic, causing a significant gap in our funding model;
-The requirements of the School’s program have changed as a result of enrollment strategic priorities;
-The drop in enrollment and church attendance as a result of the pandemic decreased our fundraising base; both are now rebounding but the impact lingers.
The boards decided to explore the market for mixed-use development on our site. This was envisioned as a second phase of our master plan, originally; however, the funding gap sparked a desire to examine this possibility in the nearer term. A ground lease would provide an additional revenue stream for mission and ministry—and potentially help finance the Phase 1 building.
As a result, St. Stephen’s has been working with its Mission Real Estate Team to create a request for proposal for a developer to create a mixed-use structure on our site which will allow St. Stephen’s to share parking and some possible uses. Working with Mission Real Estate, HR&A has created a draft RFP which is now being circulated to our partners at Trinity Wall Street and diocesan staff. The Vestry and Board of Trustees will be considering this document and whether to pursue this course in August.
The School is in the process of hiring a new development director, a position which is being partly funded by the St. Stephen’s Endowment, to assist the School in annual fundraising, the community in planned giving, and another capital campaign. We will need to close our funding gap to complete our Phase 1 building, regardless of the completion of the mixed-use development deal.
The Church and School are on schedule to begin the construction documents in September 2023 and we anticipate breaking ground in 2024.
You will be hearing more about our progress as we move along the way. Our community is blessed with dedicated leaders and I want to acknowledge the diligence and wisdom of Dwight Wolf, Lucy Cockrum, John Siegel, Susan Hawes, Dan Maxell, Tyler Swanson, David Kelley, Tamala Singleton, Bill Wooton, Elizabeth McClintock, Esteban Tirado, Chris Nelson and Owen Treddenick who serve on the Project Oversight Committee and the Mission Real Estate Team.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
Wrestling with The Bear
One of the stops in my vacation this past June was Chicago. I went with my husband to the national convention of the American Library Association. While it is true that there were many older women there wearing sensible shoes (I among them!), there were also hundreds of young people with tattoos and brilliantly colored hair who were working to protect libraries from those who would limit our access to books. One could cozy up in a big chair to be photographed reading a banned book of one’s choice.
Chicago is old and gritty in a way that Houston is not. The architecture and density are as solid as its natives. Chicago is also a place of contradictions—real wealth and deep poverty. On posters around the downtown were advertisements for an FX series called, “The Bear.” I decided over the July 4 weekend to binge watch it on Hulu.
The series is about a young chef who returns to Chicago from New York to assume responsibility for the family’s restaurant, after the suicide of his drug addicted brother. Carmine, the young chef, has achieved recognition for his talent by winning a 3-star Michelin rating in his New York restaurant. In the home of his youth these accolades are meaningless. Instead, what he discovers is the intersection of alcoholism, co-dependence, trauma and redemption.
In this Sunday’s lectionary readings, we will encounter Paul’s grappling with the cosmic and internal dynamics of sin in our world and in our selves. In Romans he puts it succinctly, “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:16). Paul captures the battle that we each face as we struggle with effects of brokenness and evil in ourselves, our families, and in our communities. But Paul also offers hope—grace which is offered in Christ Jesus bringing transformation and redemption.
In the TV series we see that redemption working out in the family of the young chef and his co-workers. Ala Non, community, the risk of growth and change through learning and encouragement bring hope and nurture love. A pointing to the grace of God is offered by a reluctant intercessor in a fabulous Christmas episode in season 2 which captures with painful excellence the trauma of addiction in our families.
We all wrestle with the bear of sin, regret, trauma individually and collectively. With Paul, we can proclaim the relief and victory of grace.
The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector
The Spiritual Practice of Pride
When I was traveling recently, people asked me how we celebrate Pride here in Houston. The only answer I could come up with was… “Big!” I notice during this season that the spirit of freedom and joy extend so much farther than a single day or weekend, that it seems to be infused into every molecule of our swampy air. There are so many headlines and heartaches that hang over the LGBTQIA2+ community, especially here and now in Texas. It is a good and holy thing for all of us to remember that we are more than our very valid fears and hurt. God makes us a people who are also overflowing with liberation and care.
As with Juneteenth, Pride is a celebration that centers an oppressed community and yet is a blessing to the whole of creation. Pride commemorates the sacred exodus led by transgender women of color against institutionalized violence and the prevailing drive to dehumanize. But Pride is also more than bricks; it is the subversive power of wearing flowers in your hair and rainbows on your shoulder even so. Just as the women of Palestine showed me a place and people who long for shalom, who are more than stories and scenes of rubble and loss. We/They are also tied to joy, laughter, and hope.
We have good reason to be alert and active, but also to delight. Just as sabbath rest makes a proclamation that the base of our belonging and belovedness is in our being and not just our production, so does joy proclaim that lament and weariness ultimately pale against the promise of prevailing love. Joy is holy revolutionary resistance against indignity and despair. May we all be blessed by such proud goodness.
Reverend Ashley Dellagiacoma, Associate Rector
Juneteenth, Holy Land, and Shared Sacred Joy
Next Monday, June 19th is celebrated as Juneteenth. The holiday marks the day that news of the Emancipation Proclamation was read in Galveston, TX (two years after it was penned). Sometimes people think of it as a “black” holiday, but even the oppressors get a little more free when their soul isn’t wrapped up in the harm of others and as Christians we “rejoice with those who rejoice.” In recent years Juneteenth has gained more national recognition, but it is a special thing to live where this liberation begins to unfold. Just down the road from us, Emancipation Park in the Third Ward neighborhood was a plot of land purchased by local residents so that the community could gather to celebrate. We walk on holy ground and we get to be a part of the ongoing story.
My recent trip to the Holy Land has only reinforced this understanding of the powerful connection between place and sacred stories. It invites us to be strengthened by the courage and joy of generations past and be inspired further into the hope of wholeness. God’s promise of love and life abundant is not only for our souls in the hereafter, but for our bodies and neighborhoods here and now.
What if we treated the hand-laid bricks of Freedmen’s Town with the same reverence as the steps of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem? What if we recognized the face of Christ the liberator in the face of our black and brown neighbors who still long for the earthly promises of freedom to be fulfilled? What if we celebrated the way our blessing of joy and divine freedom is intertwined?
Reverend Ashley Dellagiacoma, Associate Rector
Summertime and the Living Is…
St. Stephen’s is headed into summer mode…that means it’s time to go easy and to connect with each other. We are engaging in two new efforts:
- We have removed the back pews so we can gather inside for hospitality. We are also encouraging everyone to greet someone they don’t know at the peace.
- We are inviting you to update your data as we prepare for a new s as Ms more user friendly software system. We will also be asking for your interests in different ways to connect in ministry. Be on the lookout for mail and in person options ways to respond and update your contact information.
Enjoy the languid life of Houston summertime!
-The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector