From the Rector

Dear Friends,

A few Sundays ago at the time of welcoming, I mentioned to you the admonition of a Yale Divinity School preaching professor to his charges, "Never forget that the majority of people you face on Sunday morning almost decided not to come!"  That is good advice, not only for the preacher, but also for each of us who participate each Sunday, because part of our opportunity and responsibility as parishioners is to exercise hospitality.  We are to welcome others, especially newcomers, who almost decided not to come.

At the Chapel of the Cross, I think it is especially important that each one of us go out of our way to greet and welcome those who have taken that critical step to join us for worship.  We operate under several significant handicaps!  Consider that our average newcomers have first had to search diligently for a parking place and then perhaps walk a significant distance to get to the service.  At the point of entering the church or the chapel, there is no roomy narthex in which to have friendly conversations or for welcoming and informative signs or banners.  The liturgy itself may be confusing, and they may have trouble finding the place in the bulletin, the Prayer Book, and the hymnal and knowing what to respond, when to stand or kneel, and how to participate in communion.  After the service, we have only a small dining room in which to offer hospitality and limited and difficult-to-find classroom space for education offerings.  It is amazing that many of you made it past all those barriers!

Not that we do not have much to offer those who come seeking.  Our worship spaces and grounds are inspiring and beautiful.  Our liturgies are engaging and planned with great care.  The reverent participation of our congregations is striking and strengthening.  Those charged with preparing the altar, preaching, proclaiming the scripture, leading the music, and assisting with the service in other significant roles do so conscientiously, faithfully, and skillfully.  People do find a sense of the divine transcendence (God beyond us) in our worship.

Our challenge is to help people also find the immanence of God (God within and among us).  Our welcoming smiles, our attentiveness to others' needs, our friendly initiative, can make all the difference in helping people find the presence of God among us.  If you sense bewilderment in your pew mates, be attentive to their needs.  If, before or after the service, you are near people whom you are not sure whether or not you are supposed to know(!), introduce yourself anyway.  You do not have to say, "You must be new!"  Just tell them your name.  You would want them to do the same for you.

All of us have many things on our minds and hearts when we come to church.  We have prayers to pray, sermons to digest, people to see, even duties to fulfill.  But let us also exercise the important ministry of hospitality.  We may be just the messengers those who come to us need to hear God's love for them.