a special blog from our Council President, Doug Odell
In an email to the bishop last December I described how the Holy Spirit has worked through Holy Cross to connect us with our neighbors:
We took an empty building and made La Casita, a place for the neighborhood to meet, to check out children’s books, and to learn in our garden. We built a relationship with Washington Elementary, providing school supplies, volunteers, and food for 30 homeless kids on the weekends. The neighborhood comes to our gym for movie nights, coat giveaways, and clothing exchanges. Our building is used for basketball, wedding receptions and zumba. Roughly 150 people attended our last Thanksgiving Eve potluck, with 90 staying for the service. They weren’t all church members, from either Holy Cross or Manantial de Aguas Vivas. Many were our neighbors, who heard good things were going on at our church.
Very little of this was in place just 12 years ago. Step by step God has lead us to connect ourselves to the people just outside our doors.
Last fall we spent a good deal of time focused on the Great Cloud of Witnesses. We surrounded ourselves with the people who came before us, the saints of Holy Cross and those who sacrificed themselves that we might live in freedom. We touched again their memory and grounded ourselves in who we are and where we came from. Now let us look at the passage from Hebrews in its full context:
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
For a month we camped on the first phrase of the passage, and I believe it did us good. Yet it is not the focus of the message. Yes, our saints are there to cheer us on, but we are urged –not just to take the next step–but to run, to run the full race, running to Christ Jesus along the course He Himself marked out for us.
So, in good economic times and in bad, in times of sorrow and joy, in times when we have been many or few, God has been there, taking us step by step along-side Him, guiding us according to His perfect purpose.
So what is our next step? I believe that we are purposed to offer “La Misa,” a Lutheran Spanish Language worship service here in this space. We have learned that our Lutheran liturgy has a special affinity to the Latino culture. We already address the physical and emotional needs of our neighbors, how can we deny them the message of grace?
I do not know what the service should look like, nor the timetable to get there, but the steps we have taken together point in this direction. I also know that there are members of the larger community of believers willing to collaborate with us, just as we had friends who helped us create La Casita, the Thanksgiving potluck, and a host of other projects. I am asking you, my fellow disciples of Christ, to join me in discussing this next step. We will have a series of congregational meetings, the first one after service on February 10, where you may share your wisdom and insight as we walk alongside Christ and alongside each other, so that one day we can truly say that in every respect we also walk alongside our neighbors.
Doug Odell
Holy Cross Council President