Clergy

Welcome Directions Potluck Timeline The Book The School Retreat Events CowboyChurch Clergy

We are a rural Church. Both in location and attitude. The "city" is slowly encroaching our "Little Church in the Cotton Patch" and we may someday have to admit that our location is no longer rural, but never our attitude. We are descended from the missions established by "Preacher Lewis," who ministered out of St. James in Mesilla Park, New Mexico. St. Luke's has for 92 years been the Church in the Upper Rio Grande Valley for farmers, ranchers, and those not"citified" who want the Gospel, the Lord's Supper, and fellowship. We worship, love, share and go home. And depending on the season, some may not come to Church until the work is done, the horses put up, and the apple pie eaten. Attendance can be as many as 160 or as low as 40, but it doesn't matter -- the Spirit of God resides here at this little outpost in the fields.

The last line of the Old Irish Blessing sums up St. Luke's perfectly: "May God hold you in the palm of His hand." We believe that God is King and it is He who made us and He who saves us. We are to relax into His hand and let Him work on us. The more we strive for Him, the less we have Him. The more we surrender, the more of Him there is in us and the less of us, and that's how we like it.

We are Episcopal because this style of worship suits us. We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer because the language is just right to say who God is and who we are. He is Father and we are His children. We have stained glass windows and dark stained pews and we sing hymns to organ music and the clergy wear robes and the candles glow brightly and Jesus is King.

I am so humbled to serve God at St. Luke's. We have five glorious acres -- enough for the Church, a retreat center, a Christian School, a Resale Barn the size of an aircraft hanger and plenty of fields. You can shoot an arrow almost 100 yards and not hit anything (actually, I have hit the Barn a few times but don't tell anyone!). We wear jeans and boots (under our clerical robes, too!) and whatever else we have. God takes us as we are. This is definitely God's Place.

Come and visit, come and see, maybe you'll come back. Maybe we are not your style and that's OK, too. We will still be here, worshipping God, eating cupcakes and drinking coffee. Warning, we are a happy, joyful bunch. Beware!

The Rev. Jeff Lambert - Rector