Dear Friends, Neighbors, and Members of St. Cyprian's,
On Sunday, members will gather for our Annual Meeting. In preparation for that important event in our community's life, I've spent a little time looking at some significant moments in our history.
Early 1870s - initial exploration of the development of a congregation
April 8th 1923 - St. Cyprian's Guild founded in Grace Cathedral Chapel
February, 1953 - Recognized as a Parish by the Diocese of California
December 18th, 1960 - first service in new building at Turk & Lyon Street
February 13th, 1977 - burned the mortgage
October 19th, 1996 - Requested change from parish to mission status
December 18th, 2010 - Celebrated 50 years on Turk & Lyon Street
For most of this community's journey, we would be described by most observers as a small church and in many ways, we still are. However, as of today for the year 2012, we have 15 more pledging members than we did in 1992. In less than three years, we have tripled the number of pledging members. Regular Sunday service attendance has held steady, with some occasional upticks. More people have regularly gathered in this sacred space for music, fellowship, and community over the course of 2011 than any time in our history. For an old church, St. Cyprian's has more than 200 friends on Facebook, about the same number as our large urban Episcopal parish friends at St. Aidan's and St. Gregory's of Nyssa. On many levels, St. Cyprian's is growing.
We have work to do. St. Cyprian's congregation leadership, our Bishop's Committee, last June developed an ambitious plan which includes a return to Parish Status. To those unfamiliar with the particulars of Episcopal polity, the distinction between parish and mission is significant. A parish ultimately means we are self-sustaining, with the capacity to pay for a full time priest without Diocesan financial support. The Diocese of California Canons describes the reasons a parish becomes a mission as follows:
(i) cannot support a rector full time,
(ii) fails to provide the financial support necessary for the spiritual maintenance of and an adequate program for the parish,
(iii) fails adequately to insure and maintain its parish property, or
(iv) fails to observe the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church and of the Diocese
On all the above matters, St. Cyprian's is making progress. But the mission/parish distinction is also about confidence and trust in the future. In the Episcopal Church, a mission is often fragile and struggling. While all churches are called to be vulnerable and to struggle against injustice, there's also a need for stability and calm in the midst of life's storms. St. Cyprian's return to parish status is about commitment to a future of confidence and stability: communicating to all that we intend to live for years to come as a place of faith, action and community. You can explore the Canons of the Episcopal Diocese of California by clicking here.
Tension, disagreement, anxiety, stress, and even arguments can be healthy or unhealthy parts of any community's life. It's all about how we choose to respond, engage and abide. When I was digging through our congregation's records today, trying to find the date on which St. Cyprian's leadership requested a return to mission status, I found a hand-written Memorandum in the same folder as the letter to the Standing Committee. The Memorandum from the Outreach Committee to the Vestry, dated September 22, 1996, proposed the purchase of property next door to the church for the building of "a Children's Center to serve the needs of children and young families in the community surrounding the church." The plan included possibilities for how to pay for the property, raising funds through grants and events including a prayer breakfast with the proposal of Former President Jimmy Carter as a keynote speaker.
I don't believe that the proposed event ever happened - but the close proximity of the date of the memorandum (Sept 1996) and the decision to request mission status (Oct. 1996) doesn't seem coincidental. My hunch is that this community at that time was experiencing a great deal of tension, anxiety and stress, there were many disagreements about what to do and how to move forward. I imagine that the subsequent 16 years would have been different had we bought the building next door and founded a Children's Center. A few years later there was another plan on the table which involved sharing our space with the Episcopal School for Deacons.
Hindsight is 20/20. It's easy for any of us to think, "oh if only we had done such and such or hadn't done such and such." But there's wisdom in the recognition that St. Cyprian's is no stranger to big ideas. The question for us in 2012 is whether we are willing to come together (in ways we may not have before with our neighbors and institutional partners) to pursue a shared vision, work hard, give generously (until it hurts, as one famous preacher said) and take a risk of pursuing a big dream. The big dreams before us today are the eventual return to parish status, development of a shared neighborhood kitchen space, and the launching of a Center for Arts, Sustainability/Resiliency & Community. Your voice, participation, and actions matter to whether we reach them.
If you are able, I hope you will come to our Annual Meeting and participate in the celebration our 2011 accomplishments--and help us prepare for the exciting adventures to come in 2012.
Peace,
Will Scott
St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church
415-987-3029
turkandlyon@gmail.com
