Rector's Corner

Annual Report 2012

2011 began with much anxiety and fear. Some people who had taken on a great deal of leadership decided to move on to try to find another faith community where they would be more comfortable. I am glad to say that, on the whole, those who made a painful move have found what they were looking for and that we, Church of the Advent of Christ the King, have moved on to reach out to a wider community and have begun the slow process of growth and regeneration. While we all formally acknowledge that death and resurrection is at the heart of our faith, it is hard to go through that process without allowing death to be the end of it. We need now to live into a new risen life.

Through the efforts of many people we have begun to make significant connections with the Arts Community that surrounds us as well as beginning to become more connected to the other faith communities that border us. We made significant moves toward a joint project with FAIS and, although we ultimately found we could not agree we found that a joint project was not something beyond our reach. We are well placed to build on all that and make a difference by bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into the lives of people who have not heard it. We have new neighbors across the street in the form of the $60 million dollar home of SF Jazz and we have fostered a strong relationship with the Conservatory of Music and San Francisco Ballet. These efforts will continue and will, inevitably, bring change as they bring renewal.

We will all notice some important changes as this year moves forward. Starting in Lent we will be instituting a new schedule for weekday liturgies. Mass will be said every day, as it has been for over a hundred years, but now at a variety of times to make this precious gift more widely available. Evening Prayer will be move a little later to 6:30 p.m. to make it more accessible to working people and will be preempted when there is an evening Mass. As we settle into the new ceremonial at the 11 a.m. Mass we will work on how to make this both simple and reverend, something that we can do well with the reduced personnel available to us. This will also involve some changes but none of them are intended to be capricious or arbitrary, simply ways to improve and develop what has been a difficult transition for some.

2012 promises to be an exciting if unsettling year in which we will experience the birth pangs of a new mission and ministry that has the potential to revitalize us as a church. I hope and pray that, together, we can rise to this challenge and embrace and encourage new life through change.

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