Between-the-Bayous Musings

The first week of Advent brought the celebration of 6 years of St. Mark's Between-the-Bayous, and a farewell to the weekly worship life of that community. As I wrote on their Facebook event for that celebration, the life of that church shaped me and my ministry, it taught me to be out in the community. I couldn't be at that particular celebration because Trinity by the Sea was doing a labyrinth on the beach.

I probably should have written and posted this blog last week, before the big celebration, but this week will have to do.

After meeting for about 6 months for conversation, planning, searching for a place to meet, St. Mark's Between the Bayous had it's first night of Eucharistic worship at Block 7, a wine bar and restaurant near the intersection of Washington Ave and Shepherd St in Houston, TX. Pittman McGehee, Sr. was a big part of those early conversations, and his book the Invisible Church remains an important text in my learning about spirituality. We imagined what a local, organic, and sustainable Episcopal community would look like. How could local artists and musicians help us to bring new life and deeper understanding of the story and mystery of the church as we received them? We sought to be a community that invited people into conversation, and shared Christ's love, rather than one that sought to enforce right doctrine and dogma of the church. We hoped to move toward the experience and trust side of belief, rather than thinking of belief as agreeing with a set of statements.

With a chalice and locally made bread, the Bible, and handful of songs we'd learned or written, we launched. We had the perfect location in a growing and changing neighborhood in Houston. We bought a glass of port, and had our first worship service wiht about 45 people who wanted to be there to support the launch. Then we got kicked out. There was a miscommunication between the owners, so we were even more nomadic than we even thought we would be. We sought to use borrowed or rented space, and when we lost our perfect spot, we received the grace of hospitality from Roni McMurtrey. She invited us to use her gallery as a temporary location. There we got to interact with new art each month. There my son Eli was baptized with his Bayou buddy Samuel (immersed in a 5 gallon tub that sometimes held beer, but that night held the waters of baptism.) At McMurtrey gallery,

we developed our worship style learning from other communities like St Gregory's, San Francisco, and St. Lydia's, New York City. We used paperless music, gathered and developed by All Saints' Company, and even hosted a couple of their Music that Makes Community events. It fit well with our simple style, focused on conversation between people, rather than focus on a text. We used the ordering of worship from the Book of Common prayer, rather than reading directly from it. From the Order for Celebrating Eucharist, we developed seven phases of our worship: Gather, Center, Reflect, Offer, Feast, Respond, Send-out. While McMurtrey gallery was not in the neighborhood we were targeting, it was a great incubator for us.

We found a more permanent residence at MECA, Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts. We rented an old classroom there, and started to find ways to connect with our neighborhood. Through this time, the BtB was completely funded through St. Mark's. While at MECA, I started exploring fundraising outside the church to help support the community. Our first Good Friday at MECA, we did a tree planting in collaboration with Trees for Houston, and in the process of planting new life, discovered an old root-base that was left-over from Hurricane Ike. We asked if we could make something out of it, and with Murray Powell's and Marvin --- 's expertise in woodworking, cut out a beautiful altar with a simple glass top. Our altar was a new living symbol for the community. It was the tree of life. It rooted us in the Ground of Being. The first week of having a glass top, I noticed condensation gathering. Though it looked dead, it was still living, breathing out moisture.

Liberty Station was a pub near MECA, and that became a place we met for a monthly movie night,

and occasionally had worship there. The owner Charles Bishop was welcoming, and it was another step in getting connected with our neighborhood. During this time, we also collaborated with Houston Baptist University to do a film series at MECA. We also collaborated wiht a Comedy Improv group. Our schedules didn't overlap, and they helped with the rent. A win-win. With that relatively new partnership, we started looking for a more visible location--MECA was tucked back in the neighborhood, and we wanted to be in more prominent location. In 2012, I moved to Port Aransas to be the vicar of Trinity by the Sea, and Eric Hungerford became the priest missioner of St. Mark's to work with BtB.

My time there taught me about inviting people to share their gifts as part of worship and otherwise. It taught me about welcoming people into a community, and blessing them on their way. It taught me about being out in the community, and to think creatively about how and where church meets. It was also, I realize now, a time of discernment for me. Eli was born not long after we started worshipping, and he certainly changed my perspective. Some deep stirring in my soul began to shake me loose, and led me to Port Aransas. It led me to move out and try fundraising; it led me to commit to leave St. Mark's. It even led me to turn down some great opportunities for next ministries that came from the Diocese of Texas. All of those decisions are somewhat illogical, and the moves away from Between the Bayous, St. Mark's, and the Diocese of

Texas weren't easy decisions to make. It was because of those communities, and my mentors, that I was able to start listening to the voice of God speaking in my soul. I found my way to a geography, a community, and a church that fits so well, it seems we were made for each other--that we had been prepared for to join in ministry back in 2012. When I could not attend the 6th Anniversary Celebration, it led me not only to reflect on my time there, and my journey with them, it also led me to reflect on how BtB is still alive in me and my ministry, how it shaped me to be who I am as priest. As Between the Bayous evolves, I am grateful for all the support I was given, and the community has been given; a missional community seeking to be church in new and creative ways. A missional community that helped "keep the story alive and the mystery present," as Pittman taught us. A community that the rest of the church is learning from, and will continue to learn from as we grow and evolve to bear the love of Christ to the world, and follow the whispers of the Holy Spirit, guiding us onward.