A Letter From The Rector
A photo taken in 1967 at the beginning, when the Joint Venture churches (ECA and CCAV-UCC) came together as a community!
Dear Friends,
As we move through November, the Season After Pentecost will give way to the First Sunday of Advent. This time includes Thanksgiving Day and is traditionally a season of gratitude. This month we celebrated the 55th anniversary of the founding of
ECA, even as we look forward to the next 55 years. We have much to be grateful for, individually and as a congregation!
Personally, I am grateful for the blessing of being your Rector for these past seven and half years. We have changed one another as we have grown together. We have learned to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to discern where God is calling us to build the Reign of God in this place. We have weathered the storm of pandemic and lockdown and learned deep down that the Church is not the building. Together, we have touched the lives of neighbors, folks in need, and one another – and they have touched us. And we have done it all in our peculiarly Episcopal way, worshiping, singing, studying, and engaging in fellowship with the knowledge that Christ’s resurrected presence is indeed incarnate among us in the dailiness of our lives together.
As we pause this month to look back to our founders and their vision, we are grateful for their dedication, hard work, and faithfulness that passed the blessing of this community on to us. We are also sensible that we live in a very different world and society and feel the duty and opportunity to look ahead to the next 55 years. We must continue to plan for how to adapt and remain faithful to God’s call in this unique Joint Venture Partnership that the founders began, so that we too may pass it on. This requires the vision, work, and support of all of us and we are grateful for all the energy and love that is being poured into this project. It is underway and I am confident of its successful conclusion, with God’s help.
Finally, I believe that we are all grateful for the gift of ECA. This community offers love, support, compassion, practical help, fellowship, laughter, and the blessing of worshipping together in our Episcopal tradition, which is both ancient and new. ECA is a place that has welcomed each of us in when we were new – including me. It has accepted and enfolded us, while keeping its arms open to those who are just arriving. This is a great blessing indeed! In this season of giving thanks to God, as we contemplate our many blessings – including the blessing of ECA – please consider prayerfully the return God is calling you to make for the support of the continuation of the mission and ministry of ECA.
-Shelley