Commentary: St. James is growing beyond closed church doors

The time is mid-January 2014. I look out the west window from our eighth-floor condo on the Balboa Peninsula. The window overlooks St. James the Great Church.

I see the church gates open and the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees’ Honda SUV at the curb. It’s a very uplifting and reassuring view. I’ve finally found the church that can fuel my interest in religion, the church I’ve been looking for the last 79 years.

While the reverend attends to our spiritual needs, her husband, Bob, makes sure that everyone is welcomed and that everything runs smoothly.

I look at this church and thank Bishop J. Jon Bruno, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, for giving Voorhees the assignment to start a mission parish at St. James the Great in Newport Beach.

Less than 20 months later, I look out the same window. The church gates are closed.

If I walked across the street and tried to open them, I would find them locked. Voorhees’ SUV is nowhere in sight. The view is very bleak and depressing.

The reason for the locked gates is even more depressing. Something terrible, unbelievable, has gone wrong. At a time when Christian churches all over the world have been losing membership, St. James the Great has increased to over 200 parishioners in just 20 months. Now, those 200-plus people have no church to go to.

But wait. If I go to our balcony on the north side of our condo, I can see the Lido Park. The small park is attractively landscaped, almost picturesque.

If I were to go there on Sunday morning at 10 a.m., I would see the same service that for the last 20 months has been performed inside the church across the street. Voorhee’s SUV would be parked at the curb adjacent to the park.

I do just that. I have gone there every Sunday morning since the gates of the church were locked. I sing with the choir. Yes, our choir is at the park every Sunday. Our musicians have an electric piano keyboard and an electric organ keyboard. There is always at least one other instrument, a flute, a trumpet, a violin, maybe a guitar.

The worship service goes on, with or without the church building. The participants are the same. The purpose is the same.

Did I mention that the membership is still growing?

CONRAD T. TIMPE lives in Newport Beach.