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Stephanie Porter-Nichols/The Rev. Chris Mason, who is the minister of Christ Episcopal Church in Marion and St. Paul Episcopal Church in Saltville, is the author of “Crossing Into Manhood A Men’s Study Curriculum.” The book won the American Library Association’s 2007 Choice Award for outstanding academic titles.

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A message of healing

By STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS/Staff

Waverly Moss sings in the choir at Christ Episcopal Church in Marion. As church membership dwindled, Moss recalled, she once compared the experience to that of the musicians who sang as the Titanic sank. The comparison is no longer valid, and the 40-year member expresses great hope for the 139-year-old church’s future.
Moss, a retired teacher with more than 30 years of experience, is once again taking up the education mantle, this time for the church. She’s heading the new church school program.
This month, Christ Episcopal Church will introduce Sunday school to its ministry, a program that’s been missing for about 20 years.
That’s not all. The church will begin a children’s choir, Tuesday night adult Bible study and regular healing services.
In this time when many traditional churches are losing membership, the Main Street, Marion, church is growing.
Moss credits the church’s rector, Dr. Chris Mason, who served Christ Episcopal for two years as a supply pastor and is now its full-time pastor. While describing the priest as someone with his feet on the ground, she also said he’s a dynamic people- and community-minded leader. “He saw a lot of potential in our church,” she said.
When Mason came to Christ Episcopal, he was also the principal of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson and only provided Sunday services.
He began full-time service July 1.
Mason, who was ordained 35 years ago and has served churches in California, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, does believe in the small church. “I felt like it was a real match made in heaven,” he declared in a recent interview.
When he and his wife, Jeanne, moved to the region, they dreamed of a church where they could work together as a team. Today, they’re living that reality. Jeanne, a musician, will lead the children’s choir, assist with musical services and serve as a lay reader.
While Mason said he’s under no illusions about congregation numbers, he’s obviously excited about the church’s recent growth. When the rector began as the church’s supply priest, he said, 15 or 16 people would often be scattered through the church’s wooden pews on a Sunday morning. On a recent Sunday, he reported, 78 people gathered for a worship service.
While the Episcopal Church, a protestant denomination known for its liturgy-driven worship, isn’t mainstream in this area, Mason believes there’s a viable niche for the spiritual needs it can meet.
He’s energized to spread the word. “This is big for a small church such as ours.”
“We’ve made a commitment. We want to jumpstart, to move forward. The congregation wants it,” the priest declared. “Size is not the issue as much as doing God’s will and advancing the kingdom. We want to be a doorway, a space where people can join us.”
The church plans to kick off its new programs with a special 11 a.m. guitar mass and picnic lunch at Hungry Mother State Park this Sunday, Sept. 7.
Opening day for the church school programs will be Sunday, Sept. 14, at 10 a.m.
Adult Bible Study, focusing on the gospel of John, will take place on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
Taize services, which focus on music, will be held on the second and fourth Wednesdays.
A Holy Eucharist and Healing Service followed by teaching/meeting on the Order of St. Luke will occur on Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Mason is likely to bring his personal experience and passion to the healing service.
Last December, Mason was diagnosed with a heart problem, atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heartbeat that increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. He spent two weeks undergoing treatment at a Charlotte hospital.
While a patient, Mason also saw the potential to serve God. “I saw all these really sick people. I was probably the healthiest one there,” he said. He recalled the Order of St. Luke the Physician, a national healing ministry made up of health-care professionals, clergy and lay people who want to include healing as a regular part of their work.
Believing the need to be striking, Mason doesn’t want this effort restricted to Christ Episcopal. He’s hoping it will become an interfaith ministry for the community.
While the Episcopal Church’s prayer-book service for the laying on of hands for the sick is more subdued than popular dramatizations of healing, Mason said, “I do believe strongly that the Lord heals. He works on us from the inside out.”
That’s not to say that Mason doesn’t believe in health care and personal responsibility. He exercises daily at the Lifetime Wellness Center and is working to lose weight and decrease his stress.
He and Moss share enthusiasm for the new Sunday-school programs, especially one known as Godly Play, which allows children to inject themselves into sacred Bible stories. Moss described it as a developmental program with a basis in storytelling.
Mason knows that spiritual growth can begin at a young age. He first felt the call to be a priest in the sixth grade when he was cast as a minister in a school Christmas play.
Talking about all the new programs, including an effort to do poverty outreach one family at a time, Mason said, “We’re joyously sharing what’s happening here.”
For his small church, the rector believes building relationships with people is most important. He prays for the congregation members regularly and calls and visits them. “It’s the personal touch in a small congregation. People want to know they’re loved,” he said. Mason strives to do what he believes the Lord would do if he were here. “I take comfort in the fact Jesus’ church was small. He only had 12 members, and even one of them fell away,” the priest said with a gentle smile.
Mason knows that church membership requires a commitment on many different levels, including finances and time. Yet, he said, “the living relationship with Jesus Christ that we have to offer pays off in dividends.”