"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?"
"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people,
and respect the dignity of every human being?"
(Baptismal Covenant, BCP p. 305)
We all have a sense that following Jesus and being the church involves service (particularly with the poor) and working for justice. Christ Church Cathedral has a long history of embracing this. Lately, many people have come to me saying it feels there is no coherent vision for outreach here, that we're sputtering without a clear sense of what we're supposed to be doing.
As our congregation, the diocese and representatives from the neighborhood and region go through the process of discerning the shared, core values that will guide this Cathedral, much of that vision will emerge. But after hearing so many of these voices, Amy Cortright, Mark Sluss and I decided that even as that process was happening, it would be good for us to convene a diverse group of Cathedral parishioners to wrestle with some foundational and structural questions about outreach that will enable us to be ready to move once our values are discerned. Questions like:
*Why we as Christians are called to outreach with the poor and to work for justice (i.e. what makes us different from the United Way?)
*What are the opportunities and challenges for outreach and social justice based on location/population/etc.?
*What process can we propose for Chapter to consider that will help the Cathedral identify outreach ministries for the congregation to engage in and also for helping figure out whether a ministry proposed by a parishioner is something the Cathedral as a body should support or whether this is something the person should be encouraged to support individually as part of their baptized life in Christ?
