Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, NC

There is always some concern expressed, when our young people or adults go on a mission trip, that the effort and money could be better spent closer to home, that there are enough areas for ministry in Chapel Hill and Orange County, that going some place more exotic like Costa Rica or Barbados or even western North Carolina is wasteful. But there is a danger that looking only locally limits our vision of what the Church is and what our place is in it, and in what the "needs, concerns, and hopes of the world" really are, to borrow a phrase from the ordination of deacons. I will not argue that going far away is an efficient use of resources, but I will suggest that the benefits of mission trips (a) exceed any monetary yardstick, (b) are part of our calling as the Chapel of the Cross, and (c) accrue not only to those who participate and to those with whom they work in faraway locations, but to other parishioners as well.

It can be trite to say that we receive more benefit from going on a mission trip than do those we go to "help," but it is true! To see the face of the same God we worship in other places and other lands helps us live into the baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our parish mission statement calls us to bear faithful witness to the presence of the living God, not just here, but throughout all the world. And the whole parish participates in global mission in this way, sending groups out with their resources and their prayers, and sharing with them the joy of their service when they return.

In 1999 we learned the song below with our new friends among the Anglicans of eastern Costa Rica. It reminds us that our mission is not to others we see as in need of our help, but with our partners in carrying out the work of the church in the world.

There is only one God.

There is only one King.

There is only one family.

That is why we sing.

Bind us together, Lord.

Bind us together

With cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord.

Bind us together in love.

Because of our recent high school and college group trips, we may think that these trips are only for the young! But our history of building churches in Costa Rica together with our friends from Saint Paul needs to be built on and added to. I invite any who are interested in a mission trip in 2005 to contact me!

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