Dear People of the Chapel of the Cross,

The pre-natal care and development of the Orange County Mission is well under way. Thanks be to God.

As gathering priest for the new congregation, I have continued with the three-month rotations among the three Episcopal parishes in the County—serving at St. Matthew’s in January, the Chapel of the Cross in February, and returning to Holy Family in March. Each parish, in its own way, is providing good and generous support. And people who will be a part of the new congregation are beginning to come forward and get involved. Word is getting out into the wider Episcopal community as well, and the prayers and enthusiasm are heartening. Financial support is growing, too. In addition to the funds pledged from each of the three congregations, memorial gifts, special offerings and individual pledges and donations are being given and gratefully received.

The original Orange County Mission Committee, made up of the three rectors and a vestry member from each parish, continues to meet. But a new leadership group, made up of folks who are committed to being a part of the new congregation and to providing the leadership needed to make it happen, has also begun to come together. That launching group will be spinning off several working groups in the months ahead, each consisting of those who are going to be a part of the new church as well as those who plan to continue with their existing parish but who have particular gifts to share with the work of the new congregation.

The first of these groups is dedicated to prayer—praying for the life of the new congregation and of the three sponsoring parishes. The group is also praying for discernment, as those involved with the mission make decisions about the how, when, and where of its early life. This prayer is essential to the mission’s life and witness.

Other working groups will be: Liturgy and Music, Program and Christian Formation, and Administration and Finance. While each group will have its particular focus, all will have the mission of the new church on their agenda, striving to discern how this new congregation will take its place in the Church’s great restoration project, restoring “all people to union with God and one another in Christ.”

In the meanwhile, our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, continues to urge us all to take to heart the call to be the people of God who share in God’s transformation of the world. It is exciting to be working among what is now becoming four congregations who are taking that call to heart. The Episcopal Church in Orange County will now have four diverse yet faithful (we pray) churches through which people can be invited to the table and receive the sacraments, learn the Biblical Story, come to know the reconciling love of God, and be sent forth to take that reconciling love out into the world. ... This is glorious.

- Lisa

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