Forming community in small groups is for me a high priority at The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek. This is a way to live out the value of "Relationships and Hospitality." Right away I would like us to begin forming "Foyer Groups" to meet once a month either at a restaurant or in each others' homes for a light meal and a time of conversation and prayer. We cannot work together effectively unless we know each other. Getting to know each other is the best way to learn to respect each other. When we respect each other we learn to celebrate the ways in which we are alike and the ways in which we are different. If there are major differences, reconciliation is in order. In thinking about the need for reconciliation in our world, I know that it really has to begin in churches. This reminded me of an organization called "Community of the Cross of Nails" which was founded in 1967 by the Very Reverend H.C.N. Williams at Saint Michael's Cathedral in Coventry, England. Here's an excerpt from this entry in An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church by Don Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2000) p. 113:
"Provost Williams had been inspired to create a ministry of reconciliation after the medieval Saint Michael's Cathedral in Coventry was destroyed by German Bombers in 1940. A priest going through the ruins put together three nails in the form of a cross; this cross was to become the unifying symbol of the Community of the Cross of Nails. CCN centers have been established in cathedrals, churches, hospitals, and religious communities throughout the world. They display a silver cross of nails, work on projects of reconciliation, meet in foyer groups, and pray according to a Common Discipline . . ."
You get the picture -- "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
Pastor Linda
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Founding Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
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