MISSION CONGREGATION

The Mission Congregation of Grace Episcopal Church. 'What's that?' people ask. There have been Sunday announcements. There have been articles in the last three monthly newsletters. When I try to encourage people to try it out, they say to me 'what is it?' and in return I ask if they have read about it in the newsletter. 'Oh I don't read the newsletter."

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

SO... here it is again -- in MY own words this time.

A group of 'seeking' people come together about once a month on a Saturday morning to support and encourage one another in our questions and our search for more. More than Sunday worship. More than Bible study. More than just talk. MORE!! And it has become more because we share in the search. We share our stories. We listen. We pray together. We learn.

It is interesting that this group first came together in an effort to determine what was holding up progress in the parish. We called ourselves the Visioning Committee and our purpose was to talk about why were we not drawing in new people; where the families with children were . Why were people so complacent? Why was there no interest in educational offerings? And on and on and on some more. We realized after meeting two or three times that we were going over and over the same old stuff. Questions we have been asking ourselves for the past fifteen, twenty, thirty years. Dreams we have all shared for the past fifteen, twenty, thirty years. And still no answers. And still no progress.

Toward the end of our last 'fixit' session we began to express our own personal needs and hungers for more. As the wheels were spinning some of our sorrows and hurts spilled onto the table. We were hungering and thirsting for something we did not have. The 'same ol' just wasn't cutting it any longer. We wanted more. More intimate worship, more meaningful Bible Study, more opportunity to ask questions and hear the questions and longing of others. We were not UNhappy with the same ol' Sunday Worship, but we felt that there could be more.

And so we began to meet to try to fulfill some of our needs. We schedule three hours and are reluctant to depart when the time is up. We are learning to share our deepest doubts, and share how, we personally, have been trying to find answers. We involve ourselves in scripture and seek how it is meaningful to our current lives. Our prayers are open and from our hearts -- shared, heard, and held sincerely one for the other.

We all continue Sunday worship with the parish. It is part of who we are. We still long for more people to join us with our Mission Congregation. When there is more, it needs to be shared.