Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, NC

It has now been a year since the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved the Diocese of New Hampshire's election as their bishop a priest living in a committed gay relationship. The Convention also passed a resolution acknowledging that "in our understanding of homosexual persons, differences exist among us about how best to care pastorally for those who intend to live in monogamous, non-celibate unions." The resolution went on to reaffirm moral and spiritual teachings of the Gospel which should characterize such relationships: "fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see, in each other, the image of God." Finally, the resolution "recognized that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same sex unions." The intent of that last statement has been the subject of much disagreement. Some have construed it as tantamount to approval or permission for clergy to bless same sex unions. Others have understood it as merely protecting any clergy who have done or do such blessings from ecclesiastical discipline.

In July, Bishop Michael Curry issued a pastoral statement to the clergy of this diocese offering guidance on this matter. He began by "placing this ministry in the context of the mission of the Church, especially our pastoral calling to be a community of God's reconciling love and compassion," and grounding that in scripture and in the catechism of the Book of Common Prayer. Then after laying out the various parts of the resolution quoted above, Bishop Curry emphasized that providing pastoral care and spiritual support for all who are part of the Church does not mean that such care will be done in the same way in every context. "For some," he emphasized, "that may be a pastoral ministry which includes the blessing of the unions of persons of the same gender. For some, it will not include such a ministry. I am not suggesting that all congregations will be called to exercise this particular ministry of pastoral care." For those who do have a sense of that call, however, he then set forth specific guidelines, which include consulting with the Bishop, responding to "clear and specific pastoral needs within the parish community," the rector's arriving at such a decision "after wide and extended prayer, conversation and education in the parish and in consultation with the vestry," "agreed-upon guidelines outlining spiritual expectations in relationships, process of preparation and means of liturgical expression," and reaffirming the moral and spiritual teachings articulated by the past two General Conventions (above).

As your Rector, I want to share several thoughts with you. The first is that theologically and morally, I am in agreement with the directions of General Convention and Bishop Curry. That position was arrived at slowly over my first two decades of ordained ministry, and I first articulated it publicly about 10 years ago at our diocese's Annual Convention. My years of pastoral experience convinced me that, for those with a true homosexual orientation, being gay is not a choice. The frequently painful choice is whether or not to face that reality and how to live loving, faithful, fruitful lives in that context. Many men and women I have known have been or are on that courageous journey. Some have embraced a call to celibacy; others have felt the Holy Spirit calling them to a lifelong, monogamous relationship, such as that characterized by General Convention. The real underlying question the Church has been struggling with for some time now is not so much "Should we bless same sex unions?" or "Who should be ordained?" but "Can the Holy Spirit be at work in such a relationship?" That is a question on which the Episcopal Church and certainly the worldwide Church has not yet come to a wide agreement. We are making some progress in talking and praying with each other about it, but we still have a very long way to go.

And so the second thought I want to share with you is that, despite my own theological and moral convictions, ecclesiastically I do not believe that now is the time for individual parishes to begin to engage in blessing same sex unions. I believe that the Church should strive to move together as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has urged us to do. While each national Church in the Anglican Communion is free and indeed responsible to respond to Divine grace as it is manifest in its specific culture, two important and historic Anglican charisms which should characterize our decision-making and actions are love and order. As a parish and a diocese and the Church, we should be open to the Holy Spirit as God works through many instruments, including the Archbishop's special commission (due to report this fall), future actions of our Annual and General Conventions, and our
respectful and searching conversations with each other. None of us has a corner on the Holy Spirit ("Now we see in a mirror dimly..."), and I am confident that through all our faithful struggle, God's grace will be fruitfully and, no doubt, surprisingly manifest.

I urge patience on us all, whatever our theological, moral, and ecclesiastical convictions. Another particular charism of our Anglican heritage is making room for the convictions of others. Together as a parish we are called to continue to carry on the ministry God has given us (in the words of our Mission Statement) "on the campus, in the community, in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and throughout all the world."

Like many people at the Chapel of the Cross, Stephen Elkins-Williams did not begin his spiritual life as an Episcopalian. Born in California to Roman Catholic parents, his family moved to Missoula, Montana, when he was 13. His father worked for the U.S. Forest Service, and Stephen first attended Catholic school there. During those formative years he began his journey to the priesthood, culminating in 14 years in the Jesuit Order, the last three as a priest.

In 1978 after doing campus ministry at Seattle University, Stephen found himself called to marriage. He and his wife Betsy found work together as youth ministers, by chance, at an Episcopal parish in Seattle. Stephen also worked as Director of Lay Ministry and began to preach monthly. There they became members of the Episcopal Church and after four years Stephen was received as a priest.

Betsy's home was Durham and by 1982 Stephen says, "she was ready to come back to the South." The first of their two sons had been born and now, as an Episcopal priest, Stephen found he had job mobility. An ad appeared for a position at the Chapel of the Cross and Stephen asked Betsy if Chapel Hill was near Durham. Stephen laughs as he remembers her response, "Call that man up, right now!"

The Rev. Peter Lee was rector. He hired into Stephen into the parish ministry position. A year and a half after Stephen's arrival in Chapel Hill, Peter Lee was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Virginia. Lee warned him, "after a year you'll need to move on, although there is an outside chance they might call you to be rector." A year later, after a full national search, and 150 applicants, it was announced in July of 1985 that Stephen Elkins-Williams would indeed be the new rector of the Chapel of the Cross.

Since then, according to Elkins-Williams, it's been a learning experience. From handling a major embezzlement to leading a capital campaign and major building renovations to dealing with personnel problems, it's the job of the rector to handle it all, he says. Add to that the normal liturgical and pastoral duties, managing staff, serving on diocesan committees, and the mentoring of younger priests, and he continues to be challenged. Recently he added teaching a preaching course at Duke University's Divinity School to the demands of one spring semester.

After 22 years at the Chapel of the Cross Stephen reflects that he is still trying to work on individual priestly skills. Stephen turned 60 years old this year. And while the thought of retirement exists in the back of his mind he assures all, it is not imminent. He says he has too much yet to do, and work as the rector of the Chapel of the Cross remains challenging.

The Rev. Tammy Lee is the new Associate for Campus Ministry, replacing the Rev. Stephen Stanley, who moved to a parish in Roanoke, Virgina.

She is finishing her 11th year at the Chapel of the Cross, having begun work here the year prior to her ordination to the priesthood. Until taking her new position she had been Associate for Parish Ministry.

During that time there has been one constant, she says, "people in need, seeking assistance in the midst of crisis."

Of her new job she says she will be a priest working in campus ministry, not the campus minister. "The truth is", she says, "I will still be preaching, I'll still be teaching, and I'll still be doing pastoral care. The constituency for which I am responsible becomes anybody involved with the university. I am the pastor to the university."

Tammy Lee did not always want to be a priest. But she did have an interest in God. She, along with her family, had become Episcopalians while she was in 6th grade in north Florida.

In college, as an undergraduate at Florida State, she studied religion and English. Afterward, she went on to Yale and got a Master's degree in Divinity. From there she went to Hagerstown, Maryland, where she took a job as an Associate for Lay Ministry in a parish. She says it allowed her to do most things, except "I wasn't baptizing babies or consecrating elements, but I literally did everything, including marrying and burying people." It was there she felt called to become a priest and entered the ordination process. Eventually she completed her seminary work at Seabury-Western in
Chicago.

Tammy was ordained deacon and began looking for a job. She says, "I picked up a copy of The Living Church the only time the Chapel of the Cross had ever advertised in it, and I saw the position of Associate for Parish Ministry and called Steve and applied." She accepted a job offer in August of 1993 and was ordained to the priesthood a few months later.

Tammy is perhaps most noted for preaching outstanding sermons. She prepares intensively.

"If I preach all three services," she says, "the average time it takes me to prepare is anywhere from 8 to 16 hours. I always have two people who hear it first because, while preaching is about what I have to say and the Spirit working through that, it's something that's going to be heard by about 600 people. So I have one person read it for content and another for style and grammar."

Tammy says it's one of the most important things she does, "If I don't do a good job preaching, it's a problem."

Tammy has also benefited from her 11 years at the Chapel of the Cross. Originally she says, "I was only going to stay three years in parish ministry, then go on and study psychology. I've done a tremendous amount of growing up since I've been here. I like it here."

Vicky Jamieson-Drake hails from Toledo, Ohio, one of four kids from a close knit family. She was raised Presbyterian.

Her father's death when she was 16 had a profound effect on her. It set her on a lifelong quest for God and the meaning of life.

She started college early at Wellesley. She began studying comparative religion. "I have no idea what exactly set me off in that direction," she says, " but I was really intrigued." It led to a trip around the world in a foreign studies program to study world religions firsthand. Vicky traveled to Morocco, Israel, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and Japan. She lived with families where she studied the religious cultures close-up. Her experiences in India would eventually lead her to the Episcopal priesthood.

Vicky became friends with a Roman Catholic priest who was also a member of the study group. While in India he was asked to say Mass for the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order headed by Mother Teresa. Vicky went with him. She was intensely moved by what she saw. She began to spend time with the missionary sisters. She was inspired by the sisters' work with the sick and dying of all faiths, so much so, she asked if she too, could work with them. "There was so much genuine love there it was palpable," she says.

She was granted a leave of absence from the educational group to do independent study and went to Calcutta. She says, "I stayed at the YWCA at night then would go to the Missionaries of Charity every morning for prayers and work. While there I inquired about becoming a sister and even spoke to Mother Teresa about it." She says she prayed about it. "I had been really inspired by the experience and that's what I wanted to do with my life, but it became clear I was not to become a Roman Catholic nun."

She completed her study program and returned to Wellesley where she graduated with a degree in religion. Afterward in Ohio again she tried out different churches, including the U.S. Roman Catholic Church still looking for the right one. She eventually decided on the Episcopal Church, finding it both, "sacramental and Protestant."

She told her bishop she desired to become a priest. Few women had yet become Episcopal priests. He was enthusiastic but cautioned her, "I can send you to seminary and make you a postulant, but I can't guarantee you a job."

She went on to Yale Divinity School, where she met her future husband, David, who was also at seminary. They married and were then off to Duke University, where David was to complete his doctorate.

Vicky moved her ordination process to North Carolina, transferring to Duke and completing her courses there.

She worked several years at St. Philips Episcopal Church in Durham, then served as vicar for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Greensboro. In 1994, Vicky decided to look for a church closer to her home in Durham. The new position of Assistant for Pastoral Ministry came open at the Chapel of the Cross. Vicky says, "It seemed as if the job description were written for me." She joined the staff in 1995, becoming full time Associate for Pastoral Ministry last year.

Vicky and her husband David have three children. David serves as the Director of Institutional Research at Duke. They live in
Durham.

"Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." It's not exactly a 'thou shalt,' but a lower case commandment nonetheless. Who are these people who give us marching orders to serve and then fall in step beside us? The deacons of Chapel of the Cross: Martha Hart and Bill Joyner.

Like many of us, Martha and Bill are baptized, committed to a covenant that asks, "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?" Unlike most of us, they are ordained by the bishop, charged by the Book of Common Prayer to "serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely". Because their ministry is to take the church beyond its walls, Martha and Bill have no office space at the Chapel of the Cross. They draw no salary and they are not 'priests in training,' like David Frazelle. David is a transitional deacon who will join our staff in December of this year prior to being ordained priest in 2005. Martha and Bill reached the pinnacle of their ecclesiastical careers by each becoming what the North American Association for the Diaconate calls a "servant leader, witness, intercessor, facilitator, visionary, nurturer, and interpreter among diverse people" - many hats frequently worn all at once.

In the liturgy, Martha and Bill enact the deacon's role as servant and intercessor by reading the gospel, preparing the altar, receiving the offering, administering the bread or chalice, and giving the dismissal, among other tasks. With parishioners, they may become facilitator, visionary, and nurturer as they encourage us to respond to the needs of others: Martha Hart is an integral part of the Social Ministry Committee, for example. Out in the world, our deacons are the face of the Chapel of the Cross, interpreting our parish to those around us. In the special service with people with developmental disabilities held on the third Monday of each month, Bill Joyner is affectionately referred to as "Deacon Bill." The cuff of his pin-striped shirt from his day job at IBM peeks out from the sleeve of his alb as he dances to "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," sung to the tune of "Louie, Louie."

The call to the diaconate began for Martha and Bill as their professional lives aligned more closely with their faiths. A registered nurse, Martha worked with home care and hospice patients. "Walking the journey with dying patients triggered something within me because it is a sacred and holy time," she said. Bill worked in government and politics. "It seemed that the church needed . . . more people who could work in the world to put the teachings of the gospel into actual practice," he said.

To do so much for so many, how do Martha and Bill renew their own spiritual resources?

I found out firsthand. When my family and I attended the "Special Service," it was the end of a long day. We grabbed dinner on the run, arrived in the sanctuary about 10 minutes late, and slid into a pew with a sigh of relief. By the time we left, we had not only caught our breath, we were exhilarated to have been part of such an enriching experience.

For all Martha and Bill give to Chapel of the Cross, we say, "Thanks be to God."

St. Paul didn't know the half of it. In I Corinthians, Chapter 12, he rations out gifts of the Spirit merely one to a customer: "In each of us, the Spirit is manifested in one particular way, for some useful purpose." As single-minded as he was, St. Paul seems not to have grasped that one person can have more than one gift. Like many of us, he tends to think in neat categories of activity; but the Spirit distributes more generously.

The Chapel of the Cross is fortunate in having not only our priests and deacons with well-defined pastoral and liturgical roles, but also a squad of what could, perhaps, be considered pinch-hitters. You will have noticed in our list of clergy and staff the category "Priests Associate," a group subject to frequent changes. These are non-stipendiary priests whose lives have brought them to our parish for one or another reason, who volunteer their priestly talents for use as needed. At the moment there are two, the Rev. Dr. Richard Pfaff and the Rev. Dr. William Morley. Along with their clergy activities, both Dick and Bill pursue full-time professions, whereas many previous Priests Associate were in Chapel Hill primarily for educational opportunities or retirement.

Most of us have never known the parish without Dick Pfaff, who arrived at Chapel Hill as an assistant professor of History at UNC in 1967 and at the Chapel of the Cross in 1968 and has graced both institutions ever since. There has never been a question of primary or secondary interest; Dick's academic and theological careers have been seamlessly united since his days as a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. Brought up as a Lutheran, Dick became an Episcopalian as a Harvard undergraduate. His Oxford studies led to degrees both in medieval history and in theology, followed by a year at General Seminary in New York and ordination.

Dick's imperturbable and calmly inquiring mind-set helped steer a course through the pervasive social and ideological uproar of the late 60s and early 70s. He was responsible for the services at various times in the interval before Peter Lee was called as Rector, and was Interim Priest-in-Charge during the year-long search that led to the selection of Stephen Elkin-Williams. At UNC, Dick's courses center around the history of medieval England and the medieval church, topics you might consider dry-as-dust if you hadn't heard the witty and penetrating manner in which he weaves these elements into his Sunday sermons. As well as preaching occasionally, he brings a fine baritone to the sung services. Dick maintains trans-Atlantic ties with frequent returns for study in England, where his combined achievements in faith and scholarship were recognized in the award, in 1995, of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford.

Dick and his wife Margie have one son, David, who grew up in our parish, followed his father into the priesthood, and now serves a church in Milwaukee. David and his wife Emily have provided Dick and Margie with three grandchildren, the youngest born this past July.

The Rev. Dr. William H. Morley will mark two years of formal affiliation in December, but his ties to Chapel of the Cross go back a bit farther. His daughter, Lauren, was active in the Episcopal Campus Ministry as an undergraduate at UNC, so Bill knew good things about the parish even before professional and personal commitments brought him to live in the area.Bill's two professions are not as disparate as might initially appear. He is President of ExCL Group, which provides executive coaching and leadership development for organizations; in this context he has graduate degrees and is a management consultant and leadership planner.As a priest, he was ordained after seminary at Nashotah House in Wisconsin and has special interests in pastoral counseling and familial dysfunction. True leadership, he feels, is grounded in values, and since spirituality has an impact on every aspect of work, he finds that his ministry occurs not just on Sundays, but every day. His work days involve helping management personnel to develop individual and team talents, improve organizational relations and learn from clear-sighted scrutiny of their actions and attitudes. These are skills that readily transfer to pastoral concerns, and Bill has been a valuable resource in long-range parish planning and work with our campus ministry.

Unlike Dick, whose scholarly and priestly careers were intimately entwined from the beginning, Bill came to the combination of management and priestly functions rather late. Having graduated with a political science degree from the University of Kansas, he spent some years as a banker in Chicago before entering seminary and being ordained in the Diocese of Chicago. Thereafter, he spent 12 years in the full-time priesthood, first in a mission church and later in a large parish in Des Moines, Iowa. After graduate training in pastoral counseling and in business, he worked in corporate human relations for several years and then embarked on the kinds of consulting and coaching that he now does.

Bill was a cradle Episcopalian, growing up in suburban Chicago and serving as acolyte in his home parish of Kenilworth; so performing liturgical duties comes naturally. Parishioners most often see Bill assisting at Sunday services, as scheduling demands require, but he also provides advice and planning assistance to the rector and parish committees, as well as to the diocese as needed.

Bill has lived in Durham for two years, and was in Greensboro before that. His wife, Arlene Diosegy, is an attorney. Bill has a son who is a banker, a daughter who is a social worker, and a stepdaughter who is a student at the University of Arizona.

The role of Priest Associate has no canonical definition or job description. The key concepts are flexibility, generosity of time and talent, and cooperation with the rector and other clergy and staff. Our current roster of two is well below previous historic highs of four or five, but the two we have give us no reason to worry about clergy shortfall. The parish is truly grateful to these two multi-talented priests who have chosen this voluntary form of pastoral service.

By now, David Frazelle is probably halfway down the Appalachian Trail. The new Associate for Parish Ministry will join the staff of the Chapel of the Cross on December 1 after spending the better part of the summer and fall hiking the 2,160-mile footpath from Maine to Georgia.

This adventure has been a dream of David's since age 14, when his counselor at a wilderness camp in western North Carolina talked about hiking the Appalachian Trail. An avid backpacker, David decided that someday he wanted to do the same.

"Last summer, I worked at a continuing care nursing community," he says. "Being with people at the end of their lives made me realize how the dying process differed among people, depending how much they were able to be in touch with their dreams."

With six months between completing his master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and assuming his new position in Chapel Hill, the timing seemed perfect to fulfill this dream. David's wife, Emily, will join him for portions of the trip, and David says he looks forward to meeting people along the way. "I like solitude, but not that much solitude," he says. "Also, I understand that it's pretty easy to meet other people through a kind of trail community."

The path that led David to the Chapel of the Cross wasn't as physically demanding as a 2,000-mile hike, but it was every bit as challenging spiritually.

Growing up, David says his family was only minimally affiliated with the Methodist Church, and it wasn't until he was a student at the University of the South, popularly known as Sewanee, that he became involved in the school's vibrant Christian community. "Before then, you could probably describe me as about as un-churched as one can be growing up in the South," he says.

A member of the Sacristan's Guild at All Saints Chapel at Sewanee, David says the Church and the liturgy fascinated him, yet he wasn't ready to embrace Christianity fully. The courses he took as a French and English major raised some serious questions about his faith. "Without a sound understanding of the Christian faith, I didn't have the resources to deal with the writings of people like Nietzsche and Freud," he says, "and I became uncomfortable in my role as sacristan and its prominence in carrying and wearing the symbols of the faith."

During his senior year, David enrolled in a catechumenate course - an in-depth program designed by the chaplain to explore the essence of Christian faith and life. At the same time, he says, he was forced to think about the future. In applying for post-graduate scholarships and grants, he had to explain not only his proposed plan of study and its relevance to his vocational interests, but also his underlying passion in what he proposed to do.

"One application asked me to articulate my deepest motivation, and I found, to my great dismay, that I didn't have the answer to that question," he says. "I had a kind of quarter-life crisis in which I couldn't answer the most fundamental question: what I wanted to do and why."

That, David says, was the beginning of his conversion from skeptic to believer. "The catechumenate course answered my first line of questioning about my relationship to God and the Church, and it also began to answer my questions about who I was and how my relationship with God affected my relationships with others. At that point, I began to look at the priesthood."

After two years of study in theology and Biblical studiesin France at the Catholic Institute of Paris, David decided he wanted to attend seminary. Working with the Rev. Winston Charles, rector of Christ Church in Raleigh, and that parish's discernment committee, David gained support from the Diocese of North Carolina to pursue a master of divinity degree, which he earned this past spring. He was ordained a deacon in June and will be ordained a priest next summer.

At the Chapel of the Cross, David wants to help parishioners find various ways to satisfy their spiritual hunger. "I think that the ways the Christian tradition offers to cultivate a relationship with God are much more accessible than most Christians think," he says. "There are some simple, fruitful prayer practices that are extraordinarily transformative and sustaining, and I have a passion for sharing them."

Young people in particular are very receptive to exploring new ways to develop their spiritual lives, David says, and he hopes to portray the richness of the Christian tradition to parishioners of all ages.

David and Emily, who works as legal counsel to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., have bought a house in Durham.

The Episcopal Church of the Advocate
First Anniversary Celebration
Festival Eucharist and Reception
Sunday, September 26
5:00 p.m.

Now meeting at Purefoy Road and Mason Farm Road
The Chapel Hill Kehillah (as of August 29)

This year the Adult Education Committee is trying something new for the fall season. The Episcopal denomination in recent years has begun using the term 'formation' to talk about its mission to each person within the Church. It is the work of the Church to help form persons into the likeness of Christ. This year, the Adult Education Committee committed to selecting programs that aim at formation, for our key focus, as well.

We admit that it is a tougher goal than simply providing information and education. However, we humbly acknowledge that we adults are not fully formed by the age 18 or 21, nor 41 or 71, for that matter. A healthy dose of intentionality is warranted. And scholars attest that the best way to shape our children (and our grandchildren) is to stay in shape ourselves.

Our challenge was: What to select as our standards for formation? The answer became obvious quickly. We've decided that supporting each other to live up to and into our Baptismal promises should ground our programs. Indeed, our Baptismal promises are already the backdrop for our church's mission statement. Therefore, our desire is to equip ourselves with engaging guest speakers, practical and useful classes, and relevant small group programs.

Each offering aims to help us implement the closing command of our weekly worship service, "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." It is our hope that you will become more comfortable and confident witnessing God's love to your families, friendships, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities. In addition, however, each offering is intended to strengthen us as members of the Chapel of the Cross so each of us becomes a better asset for our church community. That is why we've clustered our programs under our mission statement components to reinforce our obligations to one another and our world about us as members of the Body of Christ.

Please take time to reflect thoughtfully on your personal success in fulfilling your Baptismal promises. Where are you strong? Where do you need to grow? What do you want to develop? Can you identify a gap or weakness, in an area or two?

Look over these opportunities from us (and other groups in our parish). Like other courses, classes, and seminars, some of the programs fit more than one mission statement component, but we've tried to give each a particular focus. Please pause and reflect, and then seriously consider committing to one or more of these faith formation activities this fall.

Setting Limits: the fabulous foursome: positive, specific, objective, few (words)

East and West: Understanding and
Learning from Each Other
Monday evening, October 18 (7:30 - 9:00 p.m.)

"...on the campus, in the community, in the
Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and
throughout all the world."

The Johnson Intern Program at the Chapel of the Cross is one of seven similar programs in the Episcopal Church in the U.S. These programs have evolved to provide young adults a post-baccalaureate opportunity for vocational discernment and spiritual formation. The program was established in 1999, at which time, the vestry approved three years of financial support from a portion of the bequest of the late Margaret Johnson, for whom the program is named.

The program combines spiritual study, social ministry, and living in Christian community. Spiritual study involves courses in the religion departments at University of North Carolina and Duke University and participation in several structured retreats throughout the year. Social ministry is achieved in each intern's employment by one of several community-based social service agencies. Finally, the interns live together in a residential home in the community, in which they come together for meals, prayer, and theological reflection. Also they are involved in the life of the parish in several ways: teaching in the church school, serving in the choir and as lay readers, assisting in a number of ad hoc parish projects, speaking to various groups in the parish about their social ministry, and participating in parish foyer dinner groups. Importantly, the program has effectively expanded the commitment of the Chapel of the Cross to Christian social ministry in our community through its support of the work of the young adults in the program.

During the current year, leadership training for the interns was added to enhance skills in professional public and community service.This was accomplished by collaboration with Public Allies of Durham, an AmeriCorps program that involves young adults from various ethnic, racial, cultural, and social backgrounds. Public Allies and Johnson Interns met together each Friday for leadership training provided by leaders from the Public Allies and Johnson Intern programs.

Eighteen young adults have completed the Johnson Intern Program. Several are pursuing calls to religious vocations, some have continued working in community service agencies, and others are in graduate study programs.

The annual cost of the Johnson Intern Program is approximately $125,000. The program is supported by funds from several sources: payments from the social service agencies that employ the interns, foundation grants, and individual contributions. To reach its goal of becoming financially independent, the Johnson Intern Program is in the process of establishing tax-exempt status as a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that will function under the supervision of an independent board of directors while maintaining an association with the Chapel of the Cross.

Throughout 2003-2004, extensive efforts were made to secure funding for all or portions of the program from various foundations, agencies, and institutions. By mid-May, these efforts had not been successful; therefore, the vestry, at its meeting on May 13, concurred with the recommendation of the Johnson Intern Board to suspend the program for the year 2004-2005 and to reevaluate the parish's ministry to young adults in the planning process. After this decision was made by the vestry, additional funding became available from several foundations to continue the program for 2004-2005. However, applicants to the program, who had been notified about the decision to suspend the program, accepted positions elsewhere. Applications for positions in the program for 2004-2005 were reopened in June with the stipulation that, if at least three suitable applicants had not been recruited by August 1, the program would be suspended for 2004-2005 in accordance with the decision of the vestry at its meeting on May 13. Unfortunately it was not possible to recruit the minimum number of interns in the allotted time. Therefore, the program will be suspended for the upcoming academic year, with a view to reopening it for the 2005-2006 academic year.

The Environmental Stewardship article in the August Cross Roads described the results of three recent reports on the state of our ocean, marine, and coastal resources. All three reports conclude that these resources are becoming increasingly polluted by human activities. We have not been the good stewards that God calls us to be.

This article focuses on actions that each of us can take to improve the coastal environment, whether we are coastal tourists, coastal property owners, or even if we never go east of I-95.

If you read this list of actions and find yourself wondering "does it matter?" or "why?" the answer to the first question is YES!Individual actions have cumulative consequences . . . for good or for bad. Your actions do make a difference. For the "why" question, read Genesis 1:31 and then Genesis 2:15. God expects us to care for His creation, every day, 24/7.

Our fellowship will meet once in the fall, in preparation for Advent, and once in the spring, during Lent. For both sessions, we will be reflecting upon the selections in Devotional Classics, edited by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith.

Our meetings are held at 12:30 p.m. in the parish library. Books may be ordered at a discount from Education/Liturgy Resources, 919-693-5547. All are invited to attend. Bring your book and your lunch. For more information, call Raquel Goldberg, 919-929-3332. Join us on

The following note arrived after the Royal School of Church Music held a week-long program in Raleigh during July. Dr. Quinn was one of five 'House Masters' for the group of 60 girls and adults who participated in the program.

I would like to thank you and the good people of the Chapel of the Cross for the overwhelmingly hospitable welcome you gave the RSCM last week. Thank you, also, for lending us Dr. Quinn for the week. Your efforts were certainly not in vain, and the participants and staff would all concur! Thank you for this warm reception of the RSCM.

"Trail Notes" from the Rev. David Frazelle as he hikes the Appalachian Trail. David will join the Chapel of the Cross staff in December as Associate for Parish Ministry.

Greetings from Maine! As some of you know, I am in the midst of a journey from Maine to Georgia along the Appalachian Trail. At this point, I have hiked over 200 miles and am near the New Hampshire border. The trail in Maine has been wild. Severe and erratic elevation changes and difficult rock and root footing have been its chief characteristics. Moose, bear, deer, snakes, frogs, toads, colorful mushrooms, loons, insectivorous plants, wildflowers, moss, waterfalls, lakes, mosquitoes, black flies, and no-see-ums abound, the latter three presenting the vast majority of wildlife difficulties.

New Hampshire, with its famous boulder scrambles and vast ridges above tree-line, is reportedly the second most physically taxing state, next to Maine. My body is looking forward to friendlier terrain in Vermont. As I write to you, I am icing a mildly sprained ankle and taking antibiotics for a not-so-mildly infected toe. The doctor in Rangely instructed me to ice and elevate the ankle and to soak the toe in warm water, which presents some logistical challenges given that both are attached to the same foot.

Walking and living amidst immense natural beauty and power has increased my awareness of my own finitude and of the magnitude of God's mercy. Unexpected encounters of the human, animal and cumulo-nimbific kind have forced me to relinquish control over my environment and to rely on God for a sense of safety. The scarcity of people on the trail has forced me to rely on God for my sense of identity. The injuries have forced me to slow down and stop pushing myself so hard all the time. Pushing myself is too often my standard operating mode in daily life, and I am learning how much I love life when I return to a human tempo.

The most difficult feature of this journey has been the combination of missing my wife terribly (which I expected) and the dearth of hikers in Maine (which I did not expect for the month of June). As I mentioned before, however, God seems to be using even these difficulties to achieve his purposes. As St. Paul said, all things work together for good for those who love God. Nonetheless, I look forward to a close friend from Chapel Hill and Sewanee joining me in a few days for the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and to Emily, my wife, visiting in Vermont.

I also look forward with joyous anticipation to serving you beginning this December.

At the Chapel of the Cross, as in many parishes throughout the country, dinner groups have become a popular way of getting acquainted. This fall we will launch our eighth year of foyer dinners. Groups usually meet in their homes, once a month, during the academic year. These gatherings are an excellent way to get well enough acquainted with other parishioners to truly appreciate the unique qualities that make the individuals who they are. Some of our groups have jelled so well that they've held reunions later on. Each year the groups are reorganized to maximize their purpose.

Organizing the gatherings is a simple process. Each member brings a contribution to the meal, while the host family provides the main dish and indicates what additional foods are needed.

Sign-up sheets are available for the fall, and because schedules and commitments sometimes make signing up in the fall impractical, a second opportunity will be available early in the new year.

Offerings of flowers for the altars of the Church and Chapel are provided by people who wish to remember loved ones or to give thanks for anniversaries, for the birth of a child, or for other occasions. The names of the persons being remembered are listed in Crossings.

This form is to give the Altar Guild an idea of the remembrances we have during the coming year. The regular cost of flowers for the Church is $70.00 and for the Chapel is $35.00.

If you would like to give flowers during the coming year, please complete this form and return it to the parish office by Monday, October 4, 2004.

St. Hilda's Altar Guild

The Chapel of the Cross

304 East Franklin Street

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Enclosed is my check for $_______ payable to the Chapel of the Cross marked for Altar Flowers.