2010 Annual Letter

February 23, 2010

Dear Friends,

For the past several years, I have been mailing you my annual address, which I used to deliver at the Annual Meeting. This saved precious meeting time for other presentations and discussion and circulated my thoughts to all of you, whether you were able to be present that Sunday morning or not. This year I have written a longer address in the Annual Report, which will be handed out at the meeting this Sunday (10:00 a.m. in the church) and available from then on. I commend it to you. Look for the booklet with the color cover of the horse and other animals in the church on St. Francis day!

I would like to use this letter this year to tell you about our parish’s new mission statement. It has been time to replace the old one, which served us very well, and to articulate in a new way what God calls us to be and to do. As proposed by the Rector in consultation with many others and approved by the Vestry, here it is, followed by some commentary.

The Chapel of the Cross welcomes you with an open door. We are:

• Called by tradition and mission to minister in the heart of the University and local community
• Committed to the sacramental worship of God, engaging the richness and beauty of Anglican liturgy and music
• Growing as disciples of Jesus through preaching, teaching, service, and fellowship
• Bringing Gospel witness to the world.

The Chapel of the Cross welcomes you with an open door. We are to be a House of Prayer for all people. No one is excluded. Young and old, female and male, black and white, conservative and liberal, poor and rich, gay and straight, all are invited not only into our buildings, but into the embrace of our various ministries. We are, in the words of our baptismal covenant, to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

Called by tradition and mission to minister in the heart of the University and local community – Our geographic location in the midst of the campus and of the town, communities that have continued to grow around us for the last 160+ years, calls us to thrive in that long, close relationship through faithful presence and active service. “Minister in the heart of” means not only in its spatial center, but also at the very core of its identity. To help both the University and the town, i.e. the individuals within them and the corporate bodies themselves, become what at their deepest level they aspire to be (and God calls them to be) continues to be part of our DNA and our common mission.

Committed to the sacramental worship of God, engaging the richness and beauty of Anglican liturgy and music – We are all called to worship God, to “kneel before the Lord, our Maker.” At the Chapel of the Cross, we are privileged to do so in beautiful and cherished worship spaces, with the support of the Book of Common Prayer and drawing on the variety and depth of Anglican spirituality and music. With Baptism and Holy Eucharist at the heart of our sacramental practice, we provide a wide range of liturgical opportunities. Corporately and individually we offer the very best we have to God in worship: in music, in preaching, in reverent prayer, in visual arts, and in gracious hospitality.

Growing as disciples of Jesus through preaching, teaching, service, and fellowship – We never “graduate” in this life as Christians. From our baptism until our physical death, we are “grow[ing] into the full stature of Christ.” The articulation of the Christian faith in this parish for all ages, whether in church services, classes or newsletters is based on this premise. Our opportunities for community with one another and for serving the needs of others are significant experiences of growth for all of us on the path to becoming genuine followers of Jesus.

Bringing Gospel witness to the world – We are urged by Jesus to be a light on a hill; in our case we are to be literally that. From the visibility of a cherished town on a hill encompassing a highly influential University, we are to let the light of the Gospel shine on the world’s darkness, those places most in need of transformation. Whether it be working for the hungry and the homeless and the prisoner, speaking up for the voiceless, or bringing reconciliation where there is hostility and brokenness, our ministry is not to ourselves, but to others. As we promise in our Baptismal Covenant, we are to “strive for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

There is much more that can be said, of course, about these elements of our identity and mission. I look forward to further conversation together as we continue to discern what God calls us to be and to do. One such place to engage in that discernment and to assess how we are responding as a parish is at the Annual Meeting this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in the church. I urge you to make a special effort to be there, to celebrate together what God is doing in the midst of us, and to look ahead to future directions. None of us can do it alone. We are all in it together.

Faithfully,


Stephen Elkins-Williams