Reading for Rogation
Sunday/Easter 5B: John 14:15-21
May 18, 2003
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
During the past five years, through the generous donation of time, talent, and treasure, the people of St. Jude's have been working hard to give the buildings and grounds a major "facelift". Twenty years of delayed maintenance is now being addressed which includes repairing broken pipes, roofs, toilets, electrical circuits, chipped paint, and dry rot. Upgrades to our fireside room and Sunday school building have been completed. A new organ has been installed and the area behind the altar has been renovated. In the past few years, the beauty of this campus has been enhanced under the leadership of Tom Dyer who oversees a dedicated cadre of volunteers who come from both inside and outside of our community. These volunteers toil and labor with the grounds to provide irrigation, roses, trees, and flowers that bloom throughout the year. This beauty gives us an opportunity to pause, to admire the wonder of creation, and to give thanks to our Creator for the gift of nature and for this community of faith. In fact, the beauty of our campus has attracted so many groups from the area who long to use our facilities for their mission, that we can no longer accommodate all of them.
But because of your generosity, we have been able to open up our campus to some of these community groups. These groups include: the Senior Day Care Center, the Teenage Restorative Justice Program, the Special Needs Organization for autistic children, the Boyscouts, 12-step programs, the Rotary Club, Full Gospel Korean Church, a voting headquarters, a test facility for the Cupertino Schools, and a banquet hall for many individual celebrations. We can be proud of our generous posture and for this spiritual oasis in the heart of Cupertino.
But now, we are at a crossroads in the life of St. Jude's and we need to do some thoughtful long term strategic planning. As a spiritual oasis where lives are transformed, what should be our special niche as the Episcopal Church in this community? Is that niche children, families, singles, older people, people on the margins, outreach, non-believers? Do our programs, rental agreements, and liturgies address the needs of this niche or are they piecemeal, reflecting a lack of a unifying focus? What does our particular Anglican Christian tradition have to offer the people of today and who should be our target audience? What strengths do we currently have for attracting people into our church? What are the concrete pipelines we need to lay out so that people will come into our church and experience the good news in Christ? These are the questions I want all of you to think about and share with your vestry for the future long range planning of St. Jude's. Feedback will be forwarded to the vestry.
More and more, we are becoming a "landlord" for local community organizations who are looking for a place to do their mission. While the number of requests to use our facilities is expanding, our own congregation is not. The number of St. Jude's parishioners, who once participated in keeping up the buildings and grounds and who personally volunteered their time for these outreach opportunities, has gotten smaller. For instance, the Senior Day Care Center, which was originally founded and governed by the people of St. Jude's, will now be absorbed by a professional conglomeration who oversees the operation of a number of other Senior Day Care Centers in the county. While this is a positive move for CSDS, it is a reflection of the changing nature of St. Jude's. In spite of our great liturgy, preaching, educational programs, and outreach, we are not growing. The changes in demographics, the downturn in the economy, the price of housing, the moving away of our retired folks, and the animosity or disinterest in Christianity by the general populace, have all affected the size of our congregation. No longer are we able to simply open up our doors and expect people to flock into our parish home as they once did in 1962. No longer are we able to use the excuse that Episcopalians do not evangelize. If we believe that St. Jude's Episcopal Church is an important religious institution that should continue to operate in this community; if we believe that this spiritual oasis can be a place of transformation and healing, then we need to intentionally lift our voices and become an inviting church who is excited about the Christian path towards wholeness. In plain English, we need to invite our neighbors to the wedding feast. We need to be intentional about the invitation.
Today is Rogation Sunday. The word rogation comes from the Latin word rogare which means to ask. In a few minutes, we will process around our campus and ask God's blessings on the beauty of our grounds and upon the people who labored to create these spaces. This is a great Anglican tradition. In the spirit of this tradition of “rogare”, I want us to continue to ask God, in prayer, for the direction of this community of faith. In particular, for the next two months, let us ask God for the following:
"Almighty God…Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life." BCP 225
| Updated 5/18/03 |
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