February 27, 2007
Dear Friends,
Last year I began the practice of mailing you my annual address prior to the Annual Meeting. Doing it two years in a row makes it a tradition!
Any reflection on the past year must start with one of the most memorable events in the parish's 165 year history, which just happened this month. Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, presided at Eucharist and preached in our chapel on the 30th anniversary of the first Eucharist of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. A number of different stories intertwined in that single, powerful event. For more articulation of those stories, I refer you to my sermon of February 18 (enclosed) and to the coverage in the March Cross Roads. What a gift for us is this ongoing chapter in our history and what a challenge to us to continue to live into the Church we are called to be.
Our identity and mission as a parish is strongly shaped by our history, by our location, and by the opportunities presented to us for ministry.
University ministry has been an integral part of what God calls us to be and do. Founded by a University professor in the midst of the campus, this parish has always been involved in student ministry. The present group of students has been outstanding in their maturity and leadership. Not only are they taking major responsibility for governing their own Tuesday night group, but many of them are involved significantly in Habitat for Humanity and in partnering with other student organizations to implement the Millennium Development Goals by sponsoring a village in Africa. Their goal is to raise $2 million dollars, and they are half way there! We continue to provide different points of parish connection for students with our music program, hospitality (hot cider and conversation around a fire outside) after Sunday evening Compline, and now monthly Sunday evening “Chili at the Chapel.”
Serving others is another constitutive element of our parish's ministry. Social ministry continues to grow as a dimension of all our ministries. It has become an important part of Church School (the Heifer Project and supporting refugees in Jerusalem through our Vacation Bible School), our Youth Ministry (mission trips and taking winter clothing to the homeless in our nation's capitol), Jr. Choir (sponsoring a parent in our Habitat Partnership's fundraising golf tournament), our University Ministry (just mentioned), etc. Many parishioners participate in a wide diversity of projects sponsored by our Social Ministry Committee (ABC Sale, Inter-Faith Council, refugee resettlement, Thompson Child and Family Focus support, Project 500, etc.). The Global Mission Group made impressive strides this year in involving us with Honduras and South Africa, and the Micah Group is enlarging our vision to include advocacy for justice as a necessary part of our Christian faith.
Closely connected with this thirsting for what is right, the Environmental Stewardship Committee continues to provide significant leadership to us and to the wider community. Linda Rimer, our dedicated chair, has written a Lenten curriculum entitled, “Fasting from Carbon.” Many of you have embarked on this discipline in the last few weeks. The North Carolina Council of Churches has adopted this program and circulated it to congregations throughout the state!
That kind of leadership has characteristically been an important of the ministry of the Chapel of the Cross. In our diocese, for example, members and staff are serving as the Secretary, the Treasurer (as well the immediate past Treasurer), the Archdeacon, a Trustee, two members of Diocesan Council, the Chair of the Penick Village Board of Trustees, and other significant roles. (See page 36 of the 2006 Annual Report.) Our Johnson Intern Program has risen to being considered one of the top young adult formation programs in the Episcopal Church. We hosted all the other programs here earlier this year, and next month our director, Susan Gladin, has been invited by Trinity Church, Wall Street, to a consultation on the Spirituality of Young Adults — all expenses paid! Such is the respect for the experience and the wisdom developed by the Johnson Intern Program in a relatively short time. One more leadership example — around our diocese, which is moving to a strong emphasis on regional ministry (local congregations working together in common ministry), the cooperation of the three Orange County Episcopal congregations (including Holy Family and St. Matthew's, Hillsborough) in initiating and supporting the Church of the Advocate is regarded as a prime example of fruitful regional ministry. Leadership in the community, in the diocese, and in the state is a vital dimension of the ministry of the Chapel of the Cross.
Along with growth in mission and outreach have been increasing opportunities for spiritual growth and nourishing our faith. Wide-ranging worship, under gird by a strong music program and by the gifts and talents of many parishioners, continues to respond and give voice to our deepest yearnings and hopes. Lenten prayer groups, centering prayer, quiet days, and other opportunities feed our souls. “Man cannot live on” activity alone, and I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to strengthen your faith and so nourish the faith of others around you.
Finally, I hold up to you the strides we have been making in financial stewardship. Annual giving increased significantly for 2007 for the third year in a row. Response to special outreach needs has been very generous. (See page 35 of the Annual Report.) The Special Giving Committee has led the Vestry in reorganizing endowment funds and has been putting together a comprehensive and much needed Planned Giving program. The Capital Giving Committee has engaged Whitney Jones, Inc. of Winston-Salem to conduct a financial feasibility study with regard to the vision of the Master Plan. This study has included many individual interviews and a number of parish dialogue sessions throughout the parish. They will be reporting back to the Vestry next month.
I have been very encouraged by all these developments and particularly the engaging conversations parishioners have been having with each other about the identity and ministry of the parish, now and in the future. For a common sense of mission and of moving forward together, these dialogues are so very important. The vision for the parish's dynamic ministry and the facilities needed to support it, developed out of nearly five years of hard work and creative energy, is very exciting. It is not finished; it is still being shaped as we move forward into the future. While the scope and cost of these present and future needs can be very daunting, we can only be encouraged by two groups of our predecessors who courageously faced the challenge of conceiving and building our chapel and of moving beyond that familiar paradigm to construct the church. (I enclose also my letter to you of last fall for your reconsideration and reflection.) We have that same opportunity, as they did, to affect significantly the ministry of the parish for generations to come.
Thank you for this chance to reflect with you upon the work of the parish for this last year as well as on the exciting possibilities which lie before us. To continue to serve as your rector remains one of the greatest privileges of my life. I hope to see you at the Annual Meeting at 10:00 am this Sunday, and I look forward to the coming year and to serving God with you by doing all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in.
Faithfully,
Stephen Elkins-Williams