Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Kerrville Plane Crash

With many others around the world, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas mourns the deaths of those six persons killed in the plane crash outside of Kerrville yesterday.
We pray for Jeffrey Weiss, Stuart and Angie Kensinger, Mark Damien Scioneaux, Reagan Miller and Marc Tellepsen.
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our friends Jeff, Stuart, Angie, Mark, Reagan, and Marc and we commit them to you. The Lord bless them and keep them, and the Lord make his face to shine upon them and be gracious to them, the Lord lift up his countenance upon them and give them peace. Amen.
The Church bears witness to the lives of people at birth and death and everything in between. After completing Easter services where people across our church and diocese celebrated newly baptized Christians, we find ourselves grieving the loss of four dear friends: Jeff Weiss, Marc Tellepsen, Stuart and Angie Kensinger. These families remembered Holy Week and celebrated Easter in our church communities and are known to have had a lovely weekend with close friends. I can imagine it was with joy and hope that they gathered together to make their tragic flight Monday morning. Laughter and joy were so much a part of their mutual friendships just as it was with all those they knew so well.
Jeff Weiss was known by many friends at St. Martin's Episcopal Church. By now, many know how he volunteered his time for charities by providing flights for medical and humanitarian missions and for special needs kids. Angie was known as a beloved mentor and coach, Stuart as a mentor and visionary for peace. Marc was known as a beloved member of his family and talented garden designer. I knew Marc and both Angie and Stuart personally, and they loved and cherished their family and their church communities. I was shocked and truly grieved by the news of their loss. My heart and prayers go out to all of their families. I will miss them, the church will miss them, their wide circle of friends will miss them. The lives of these individuals affect many across our diocese and church who knew them personally. For instance, Stuart’s ministry with Jerusalem Peacebuilders and work with the The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem meant that prayers were sent early this morning from Jerusalem by Archbishop Suheil Dewani as they join us who mourn the loss of a gifted and generous friend.
Even in the midst of our sadness at these sudden and tragic deaths, we hold onto the promise of hope given in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We remember that Easter is upon us and upon them. Taken too early from us all we proclaim their life is not ended. And we go down to the grave with all our sadness and grief remembering our Lord’s resurrection. We grieve, we pray, and we remember that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, NRSV)

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Quotes

  • "Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • "Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
  • "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
  • "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
  • "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
  • "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
  • "Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
  • "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball