Our Blog

This Sunday we will gather at one service at 9:30 a.m. outside on the playground to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. As you remember, Pentecost marks the beginning of the Church. The disciples gathered in Jerusalem and received the Holy Spirit so that all who were around them could hear the Good News of God’s redemption. People from all over the known world were able to meet Christ in their own languages through the witness of Jesus’ friends, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Since Pentecost, followers of Jesus have been engaging the cultures around them so that the Good News can be proclaimed. Christians have been masters at adapting the language and customs of folks around the globe in order to share the Gospel. It is the case that too often the Gospel has been adulterated by colonialism and genocide. Over 2000 years, our ancestors participated in corrupt and violent structures, but they also were led by the Holy Spirit to create a universal web of mutual regard. The Christian tradition upholds the humanity of people and communities the world over; the Holy Spirit knows no national boundaries.

Nor is the Spirit limited to one mode of action or communication.

COVID blew through the world like a hot wind, driving us all inside and apart. Yet the Church was able to pivot to new means of connection and sharing the Gospel as we embraced technologies for worship, music, study, prayer and connection. The Holy Spirit has sustained us and brought us into a new world of possibility and community.

Over the course of this summer at 9:30 a.m. in the Havens Center and on Zoom, St. Stephen’s will resume our custom of experimentation. This year our summer experiment will be creating a worship service that is designed for those who are online. We are calling this offering MOCA, Making Online Community Accessible. We want to spend time in reflection on what we have learned throughout the pandemic and then experiment with worship that is designed for folks online. This is different from live streaming an in person Eucharist. We want to see how the Spirit might be moving through the medium of the internet to broaden our outreach. This will also help us in our Go Church initiative as we seek to show up in hybrid ways…in the flesh and online.

God’s Holy Spirit is already moving in the world. Our mission is to give witness and voice.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

On Wednesday morning, the day after the massacre of 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas, I was leading chapel for students at our day school, children who were 15 months-12 years old. Many of the students and all the teachers were aware of the shooting. All of us felt heartsick. What to say? How to pray?

I had planned to explore the reality of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts God gives to each of us. I decided to proceed with the focus on the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in and among us. First, of course, I needed to create space for the children and their teachers to name their feelings. They expressed sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, insecurity, grief, loss of control, and sorrow. We then moved to explore how faith is a mindset that informs action. The gifts of the Spirit I explained were wisdom, knowledge, awe, piety, fortitude, counsel, and understanding. I invited students to come up and choose a gift that they see in themselves, from that list or others, that they would like to cultivate; their way of making a difference in their worlds. We lit individual candles from the Paschal candle as an act of prayer and commitment. As they held their own light in silence, the glow in the room grew. The Spirit was palpable.

Tomorrow, Houston will host the national convention of the National Rifle Association. It will feature key leaders of our country and state, including former President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Governor Greg Abbott. They will appear in the aftermath of the tragedy earlier this week in Uvalde. A similar coincidence took place after the shooting in Columbine, CO. Over these years collectively, we and our leaders have acted as if such events are natural. We have even cloaked the status quo in religious language and imagery; some of us aligning with white supremacists inadvertently.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus preached about the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God, the action of God to stir people to love and repentance, to fullness of life and healing. From his baptism to his ascension (which we marked this Thursday), Jesus was adamant about the reality of the Kingdom and its power fueled by love; in contrast to the power of Empire which was defined by greed and violence. The Holy Spirit is God’s life at work in and among us, enabling us to do more than we can ask or imagine.

As followers of Jesus, the Church points to the inbreaking of the Kingdom. We are commanded to seek the movement of the Holy Spirit and to look for God’s freeing action and to share in that ministry.

Gun violence is now the leading cause of death of children and youth in the United States. While we are keening from the events in Uvalde, the vast majority of gun deaths for children and youth occur at home from suicide, domestic violence, and accidents. This is not what freedom looks like.

Many members of the parish have reached out to express a desire to demonstrate together for peace and freedom from violence. There is a rally scheduled for tomorrow to be held at Discovery Green from noon until 3 p.m. Because there is a threat of a counter-demonstration from gun advocates, there is a potential for violence. I, along with the leaders of our Vestry, want to support parishioners who are called by the Spirit and their conscience to participate safely.

I recognize that many of us in our congregation own guns. We may not agree on policies or politics. However, I think that as Christians we can agree that the Kingdom of God is not governed by the Second Amendment. A witness for peace and non-violence is a testament to the power of love to create true freedom. May God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Suggestions for Rally Participation:
Meet at Palmer Memorial Church at 11:15 to ride the train to Discovery Green. Park in the lot at Cambridge and Fannin. A security guard is on duty.
Wear comfortable shoes.
Wear a hat and sunscreen.
Bring water.
Write a contact number on your arm in Sharpie.
Bring your cell phone. We will create a group text to keep track of each other so that we don’t get lost.
Feel free to bring a sign; a suggested slogan is “Peace in Our Communities,” but please feel free to create your own.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

I think it is no accident that when Jesus is saying goodbye to his friends before his death, he offers them the gift of peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:7, NKJV). Peace, can feel so elusive, ephemeral, especially in times of radical change.

When I heard the news about the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Mississippi abortion case, I felt a tightening in my gut. I realized that it was familiar and that I had not experienced it for a long time. It was the stress I carried in my body during the onslaught of outrage that was the political landscape for me, pre-pandemic. Stress was transformed into fear and anxiety. The pandemic oddly had re-ordered my inner equilibrium. Perhaps it was because I was focusing more on essentials.

The spiritual work of the pandemic for me was finding peace in the midst of uncertainty and drawing deeply on inner resources, the place where the still small voice of God reverberates in the human heart. I needed to know peace and foundationally, I did.

Now the engines of mayhem, fear, and hate are revving again….a seeming “back to normal.” But unlike before times, I do not want to succumb to the roar. Peace is left with me…and us.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

After a nationwide search for an associate rector, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church has extended a call to Ashley Dellagiacoma, and she has accepted. Ashley will join the St. Stephen’s community on Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Ashley, a native Houstonian, is currently pastor of Kindred in Montrose. She studied Business at Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and received an M. Div. from Luther Seminary in Minneapolis. After seminary, she served as Vicar of Christ Lutheran Church of Brenham, Texas, and as Youth and Education Minister of the Abiding Love Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. Ashley has also worked in development and fundraising at TLU and at Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services in Austin, Texas. She enjoys camping, poetry, gardening, art, and backyard chickens.

Upon accepting her new role at St. Stephen’s, Ashley said, “I am inspired by what I have seen of St.Stephen’s dedication to justice, the authenticity of heart, and thoughtful reflection in faith. I believe that we are together poised to grow in breadth and depth through curiosity and community. I look forward to what we will create alongside one another.”

Ashley brings a unique array of skills and qualities to St. Stephen’s, including expertise in community outreach, commitment to serving the marginalized, and deep knowledge of Montrose. For the past seven years, she has led and grown Kindred with innovation and creativity, introducing the “dinner church” experience and utilizing technology to reach current and potential parishioners.

Dave Morrell, who served on the search committee, said, “It was wonderful to be part of a truly spirit-filled process that attracted candidates from across the country, only to find the ideal match from our own neighborhood. Being raised in the ELCA before being received into membership at St. Stephen’s, it’s exciting to see another example of the strength of the full communion between our Lutheran and Episcopalian traditions. Ashley will bring great energy and passion to St. Stephen’s, strengthening our ministries in this new chapter of our congregational life.”

Lisa Hunt reflected on the qualities she was looking for in an associate rector, saying “In this search process, I was seeking a colleague who could assume the full functions of a rector to assist me as we begin to build our facilities. The Holy Spirit moved to bring us the gifts we need for this new season in our common life beyond our imagining.”
To learn more about Ashley, please see interviews in Canvas Houston and OutSmart magazine.

There are few times in our lives when we enter so fully into an experience that time seems to stand still; we are transfixed in the moment (or days). Childbirth, falling in love, attending to a dying loved one, recovering from a critical illness are examples of occasions when we are so enthralled that we lose ourselves in the moment. We are subsumed in mystery.

In many ways, experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic has been a collective experience of mystery. What caused the virus? How do we survive it? How do we prevent it? What to make of our friends and family who chose not to avail themselves of the vaccine? How do make room for folks with different risk tolerances very different from our own? And probably the most profound mystery, what do we do/who are we in the face of deep solitude? One of the participants in our Monday Bible Study referred to the pandemic as a great reset. I think that is the way of mystery.

Happily, this year Christians around the world can mark the Triduum, (the three days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday which brings the Great Vigil of Easter), in person. Many of us did not realize the power of mystery as we habitually gathered to remember the birth of the Eucharist, the vulnerability of foot washing, the collective silence of Good Friday, and the smell of the Vigil. They had become rote. Except now.

Now we know the power of being together to touch each other. The mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ experienced in time that merges days. We feel and know the presence of the Holy Mystery in our collective heart which is the heart of the world.

Come out of time and experience the mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

One of the signs of wisdom is that a person can know or recognize a truth, without having to say it to a person or group who cannot, or will not listen. They simply know it.

My middle sister, Helen, exhibits this kind of wisdom when we are together in the kitchen fixing a meal. She knows that I have a vision in mind of how a meal needs to come together and that I will get wound tight and snippy, if I am running behind. She gives me a wide berth, not leaving the kitchen, but not getting in my path. She knows that my anxiety is not necessary; she also knows that if she says anything to me about it, I will deny it or blow up at her (I am the big sister).

One can know and not say.

This Sunday we begin the walk through Holy Week, starting with Jesus as he enters Jerusalem triumphantly. The crowds who greet him are eager for liberation and spectacle. The politicians are leery of insurrection. The religious authorities are desparate to maintain the status quo and an uneasy peace with Rome.

Jesus knows that this is no triumph. It is his death march. He knows, but he does not say. From the entry, to the Temple, to the Cenacle (as a child, it is the upper room), to the garden of Gethsemane, to Caiaphus’ house, to Pilate’s palace, to Golgotha, Jesus knows and is mostly silent. The wisdom of the Passion is in the loving actions, not the words.

Let those with eyes see. Let those with ears hear.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

During April, the three Abrahamic faiths will be observing some of their holiest days. Easter, Passover, and Ramadan will be observed in the same two week period. These holidays call people to remember those who are oppressed, enslaved, victims of state violence, and the poor and to perform acts of mercy. In Chapel we are reflecting on what it means to be removed from your home and to seek freedom in a foreign land. Of course, many of our students are making the connection with the refugee crisis in Ukraine and at our own Texas border.
We are calling our St. Stephen’s community to a common practice of justice and mercy during the month of April as we collect items for Afghan refugees living here in Houston. While the four major non-profits who resettle refugees are doing an amazing job, they are stretched thin. We are collaborating to assist 27 families who are living in an apartment complex on Beechnut.

Beginning April 2, we will be collecting the following items for our neighbors who are refugees from Afghanistan:

• New kids’ underwear, all sizes, socks
• Gently used shoes, pants, knit shirts, jackets and sweaters
• There are nine pregnant women in this complex group. There is a dire need for:
• baby-cribs,
• pack and plays,
• diapers,
• diaper rash cream,
• wipes, strollers,
• car seats,
• bottles,
• clothes,
• bibs,
• baby eating utensils
• Board books.
• Old computers, laptops
• Metro cards
• Jobs.

There will be boxes to receive the donations in the Gathering Area in the Church. We will deliver the donations on April 22. I know you will be generous.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

From now on, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sometimes I get so stuck in my own head, opinions, and perceptions that I forget that I am one person, standing in one place, at one time. My perspective and opinion is limited—and can be prejudiced.

On Wednesday at the Lent series, Race and Land, I had an experience where my perception was changed because my point of view shifted. I was shocked to discover that a state senator whom I had completely written off as uncaring, had in fact, been a co-sponsor of the legislation which seeks to simplify the process for changing deeds to expunge racist restrictions. My point of view was dislodged and I could see this person anew.

In this Sunday’s Epistle lesson, Paul writes to the Corinthians about how followers of Christ should not regard other people from a human point of view. As Christians, we must allow others and ourselves to be seen from Christ’s perspective. Each of us is a new creation.

Wow.

That means I’ve got to dust off my stereotypes and the boxes I have placed on others. I’ve got to stop viewing myself as an old dog, unable to learn new tricks. I’ve got to set aside the comparisons I impose on myself and others. Seeing anew allows us to be open to creation and creativity, to the grace and redemption of God. Fitting work for Lent.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

One of the most vexing questions that human beings have about God is the relationship of the Divine to evil. If God is all powerful and all loving, why does God allow evil to happen, especially to good people? These questions are known in theology as questions of theodicy.

A spiritual response to this question is found in the prayer Jesus taught to his disciples, one that has been passed down to us. In the translations of the Lord’s Prayer, we see translators struggling as they render Jesus’ prayer into English. In the Book of Common Prayer in the traditional form we pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Using the contemporary form in the Prayer Book we pray, “save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.” Our sister Anglicans in New Zealand render the prayer as:

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.From trials too great to endure, spare us.From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

These translations grasp the ambiguity of evil which confronts us in our experience. Evil can feel like a power that is external to us which manipulates us into complicity—lead us not into temptation. In this concept, God can be seen as the great Tester or the opposite, standing by while Satan reigns. God is aloof in the testing, but present to deliver. Cold comfort for many.
“Save us from the time of trial” seems to recognize that life inherently brings struggle, by its nature. God doesn’t necessarily cause these trials–chance, other people’s choices and our own can lead to brokenness and suffering. In the midst of this tension, we recognize God’s presence to save, to make whole.

The Kiwis recognize and claim the tension, our experience can feel like both temptation and testing. In the face of evil too great to endure, God can be called upon to strengthen, spare, and free. We will not avoid evil, but God will be present to aid, allowing us to endure.

As we enter the third week of Lent and contemplate Scripture’s handling of oppression, vice, and random acts of destruction, along with this week’s horrors in Ukraine and along our Southern border, we are called to examine our experience of evil. Evil is present and we will encounter it. We will also commit it and be complicit with the evil of others. Whether we look to God as a Source of strength, companionship, and liberation to counter it will depend on our theology, our view of God. Jesus’ prayer invites us to see God as the deliverer.

The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector

This week Bishop Andy Doyle issued a statement to the heads of congregations in the Diocese of Texas:

As you well know, we have turned the decision-making regarding COVID protocols over to you as heads of congregations and institutions.

I want to let you know that the CDC has changed its guidelines, and I encourage you to take a look.

People are returning to communing at the rail. People are returning to a shared cup. There is no reason to prohibit the common cup as we now know COVID is not passed by touch or in food.

Be aware that the Medical Center in Houston believes another variant may arise later in the spring. We are ready, and we will know how to deal with this in the future, as it comes.

The Regathering Task Force and I have decided to change the protocols regarding masking and gathering for the St. Stephen’s community, while we are experiencing this lull in infection rates and hospitalizations from Omicron. Beginning Sunday, masks will be optional at the 8:30 a.m. Eucharist and we will once again offer the common cup at both services. The reason that we will still require masks at the 10:30 a.m. Eucharist is that children ages 1-5 still cannot receive the vaccine and we have many immunocompromised folks who attend this more crowded service. We will not limit the number of communicants at either service. The staff will continue to mask as will the choir, since social distancing is not possible in the choir loft.

The chalice will be offered at each service. You may choose to dip your wafer in the cup (intinction), drink from the chalice, or refrain from receiving the wine. Any of these choices is a valid form of receiving communion. If you choose to dip your wafer, please do not put your fingers in the cup.

There has been much thought, research, and prayer that have gone into our policies at St. Stephen’s. We have paid attention to the science, to our public health officials, and to the numbers of infections, deaths, and hospitalizations in our community. Now the numbers are in our favor; we have vaccines; we have created a culture of care.

Courtesy and care cannot be mandated. Science is not static and without the need for interpretation and so it is inherently subject to change as we learn more. We are all struggling to allow freedom within constraints while it is safe to do so. For now, we are constrained by love, not law.

If there is a new variant and our community in Houston is negatively impacted, St. Stephen’s policies will return to a more restrictive stance. These decisions announced today will not be enough for everyone in either direction. Some will see them as too lenient, others as ridiculously confining; it is the spring of our discontent. As good Episcopalians, we are seeking a middle way.

-The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector