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Service Beyond the Parish
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From the Rector Dear Friends, The first part of our parish's mission statement, adopted by
the vestry seven years ago, reads: "The Chapel of the Cross,
historically linked to the University of North Carolina and the
Town of Chapel Hill, bears faithful witness to the presence of the
living God on the campus, in the community, in the Episcopal
Diocese of North Carolina, and throughout all the world." Much
is summed up in those words. They acknowledge our identity and
ministry, developed over 163 years as an Episcopal congregation in
this southern university community. They elaborate our various
fields of engagement: the campus, the community, the diocese, the
whole world. Perhaps most importantly of all, they articulate the
vision that our basic raison d'etre is relational. In other
words, we do not exist for ourselves. We do not serve ourselves; of
ourselves we are incomplete. We serve God and all God's
children. Our involvement then as a parish and individually in its
ministries is to engage us with God and with others. Our worship,
our fellowship, our education, our outreach, our use of our time
and energy and money, our utilization of our buildings and our
budget is not simply to create a safe and supportive environment
for us in the midst of a demanding and chaotic world. Rather all
these facets of our ministry are to call us into relationship with
the loving God who creates, saves, and sustains us and with all of
our sisters and brothers, whom God calls into that same
relationship. That vision informs our parish programming, our annual budget,
our building policies, our personnel priorities, our local and
global outreach. Individually too that vision is to guide our
worship habits, our volunteer commitments, our attitudes toward
those who differ from us, our generosity with all we have been
given. While this is so for all congregations, I think it holds
true particularly for us at the Chapel of the Cross. We are blessed
with so much communally and individually. Our history and legacy,
our location in this place, our beautiful worship spaces, our place
in this community and this diocese, our educational resources, our
opportunities to connect and to influence and to serve, all call us
to look
beyond ourselves individually and as a parish and to make ourselves
available to the world's hunger and need. In this issue you will read about some of the ways we try to
live out that calling at the Chapel of the Cross. But there is no
end to the possibilities for each of us and all of us together to
do so. It is easy to regard those opportunities as more burdensome
obligations.In truth they are the pathways to new life and to
fuller relationship with God and our neighbor. - Stephen Send
items for inclusion in future "Cross Roads." © 2005 The Chapel of the Cross |