A Parish That Lives Inside the Questions
Christ Episcopal Church sits along Border Road on a hill above the town of Los Altos, in the heart of Silicon Valley. The building rises above its orchard-grew-up neighborhood, a long low sanctuary crowned with walls of stained glass, surrounded by classrooms, a parish hall, and the spaces of the on-campus Ventana School. For more than a century it has been a place where the Anglican tradition is taken seriously, where music is treated as a form of prayer, and where the whole range of human life - weddings, baptisms, grief, doubt, gratitude, protest - is welcomed into the liturgy.
The parish describes itself as a community committed to the flourishing of the whole person. Its mission statement is short and direct: "Nurturing the minds and hearts of Silicon Valley." Around that sentence gathers a church that values scripture, reason, and tradition as the classic sources of trustworthy wisdom, that opens its doors on a Sunday morning with two distinct Eucharists, and that, on Wednesdays, fills the parish hall with neighbors who have come for a shared meal. Here you are expected to bring your questions. You do not need to bring your answers, and you do not need to believe the same things as anyone else in the room to be welcomed at the table.
Sunday Mornings at 8:00 and 10:15
Sunday is built around two services of Holy Eucharist, both held in the sanctuary.
At 8:00 a.m. the liturgy is a spoken service using Rite I, the more traditional language of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Without music or choir, the gathering has a quiet, contemplative feel and runs a little shorter than its later counterpart.
At 10:15 a.m. the parish gathers for a Choral Eucharist using the contemporary language of Rite II, with the parish choir leading hymnody and offering anthems that range from Renaissance settings to modern gospel-influenced pieces. The 10:15 service is also available on Zoom. Anyone joining remotely needs to register in advance by emailing sundays@ccla.us; once registered, the same link works week after week. The Sunday bulletin and the day's readings are published online ahead of each service.
Children are welcome at both services. A dedicated Prayground - a carpeted corner with quiet toys and art supplies, created in 2019 - lets the youngest members worship alongside their families. Childcare is offered in the Chapel during the morning program: between about 9:00 and 11:45 a.m. on Sundays, with sign-in by 10:30 a.m. The 9:00 to 10:00 hour also serves as the parish's Adult Formation time, when adults gather in the Parish Hall for conversation and study while the children settle in.
After the 10:15 service, the congregation spills over into the Fireside Room just to the right of the Parish Hall for coffee hour - a relaxed social hour of pastries, conversation, and friendly faces. Visitors are openly welcomed and gently folded in.
An Episcopal Way of Worship
"As members of the Episcopal Church, our worship is liturgical, meaning it is ancient and reverent, linking our community of practice to the historic church through time," the parish explains. The shape of every Sunday is recognizably Anglican: readings, a sermon, prayers of the people, confession, the exchange of the peace, communion. Theologian C.S. Lewis once said that liturgy is a kind of "old glove" stretched to fit every hand, and Christ Church is comfortable with that stretching.
The parish acknowledges that liturgical worship can be unfamiliar to newcomers. "In an age of rock bands and cafe church, this style of worship is new to many," the parish notes, adding that clergy and lay leaders are always glad to help people find their way in. Communion is open to all baptized Christians; those who are not baptized, or who prefer not to receive, are welcome to come forward for a blessing or simply remain in the pew.
The full sacramental life of the parish is offered: baptism for infants, children, and adults; confirmation and reaffirmation of baptismal vows in the presence of the bishop; and wedding and funeral rites, often with the reception held in the parish hall. Families preparing for a baptism are invited to contact the rector, the Rev. Claire Dietrich Ranna, who also leads the instruction for adults preparing for confirmation.
The Music at Christ Church
Music is at the very center of parish life. The Music program at Christ Church is rooted in the wonderfully diverse Anglican tradition of choir, congregation, and organ, while also drawing freely from other wisdom traditions for moments when the occasion calls for it.
The Parish Choir is a group of roughly twelve to sixteen voices that leads congregational singing and offers a carefully chosen anthem each Sunday at the 10:15 Choral Eucharist, in addition to a yearly Requiem in the fall, a Service of Lessons and Carols in December, and the special liturgies of Christmas and Holy Week. Repertoire ranges from classic Anglican anthems to extroverted gospel settings to commissioned works by living composers. Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings from 7:15 to 9:00 p.m. in the sanctuary and again at 9:20 a.m. on Sunday mornings before the service. No previous choral experience is necessary; Choral Scholars and experienced singers help new members find their footing. The director of music for the current season is David Marsh, and inquiries can be sent to david@ccla.us.
The church's 31-rank Wicks pipe organ was originally built in 1975 and has been enlarged three times since (in 1981, 1987, and 2005) to a current specification of 26 stops and 1,837 pipes. It carries much of the weight of congregational hymnody and is one of the quieter glories of Sunday morning.
The parish is also deeply connected to choral life beyond its own walls. Since 2012, the innovative vocal ensemble Convivium has served as artists-in-residence, presenting quarterly concerts on themes that have included LGBTQ+ identity, war, refugee experience, and the #MeToo movement. Christ Church also partners with St. Bede's Menlo Park, St. Mark's Palo Alto, and Christ Church Portola Valley & Woodside for an annual series of Evensong services that rotate among the four parishes and culminate at Stanford Memorial Church on the Feast of the Ascension.
Children, Families, and the Prayground
Children's ministry is taken seriously here. The parish insists that worship belongs to children of every age and that the room is theirs as much as anyone else's. "Christ Church strives to be a safe and loving community for all kinds of families, whether formed through adoption, foster care, birth, choice, or circumstance," the Kids and Families page explains, and the language matters: families who are hoping to have children, families whose life together does not include children, and the long seasons in between are all named and welcomed.
For the youngest, a Prayground was created in 2019 inside the sanctuary - a carpeted area with quiet toys, books, and art supplies. Above all, children are encouraged to stay through the service. When parents need a hand, childcare runs from roughly 10:00 to 11:45 a.m. in the Chapel on Sunday mornings, with safety protocols including background checks for every volunteer.
A dedicated Children's Minister - Peter Sammel, who joined the staff in the fall of 2026 after thirty years as Director of Music at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Mountain View - leads a mixed-age Sunday-morning Children's Church program. The ministry team also plans outings, young-family dinners held in members' homes, and a wider set of family retreats. Older youth gather through the Peninsula Youth Group, which draws together Episcopal young people from across the southern side of the peninsula.
Wednesdays on the Calendar
If Sundays shape the parish's liturgical heart, Wednesdays shape its communal one. Three of the parish's most loved habits gather under one roof.
At 6:00 p.m. the doors of the Parish Hall open for the weekly Community Dinner, a family-friendly meal that draws church and school families together with neighbors from across Los Altos and Silicon Valley. Catering rotates between local restaurants, with menus like Mediterranean food one week and pizza the next, alongside desserts and drinks. The meal is genuinely open to all and deliberately intergenerational; older members and toddlers sit at the same table. RSVPs are taken through a Google Form so the right amount of food can be ordered.
The dinners are an outgrowth of the parish's Vital+Thriving work and an early experiment of the Missional Innovation Team that was launched in 2023. They are explicitly framed as a response to a particular hunger the parish has named in its neighborhood: many people in Silicon Valley live far from family, work long hours, and long for unhurried connection.
At 7:15 p.m., once the dinner dishes are being put away, the Parish Choir gathers in the sanctuary for rehearsal. Those who sing at the dinner and those who rehearse the music often overlap, and the building takes on a pleasant, evening-music feel.
Earlier in the day, at 12:00 noon, the Meditation Group meets online via Zoom, drawing on the Christian contemplative tradition, Buddhism, and contemporary psychology. It is led by Alice Kochunov, the parish's Minister for Adult Formation.
Adult Formation and the Practice of Meditation
The Adult Formation program at Christ Church takes seriously the parish's commitment to caring for the whole person - mind as well as heart. On Sunday mornings between services an Adult Forum gathers adults for topical study, often hosted around a guest speaker or a pressing issue. Past forums have addressed end-of-life care, artificial intelligence and ethics, the legal history of Chinese American civil disobedience, and the biblical texts that are most often misread.
Two shorter series of weekly formation happen on weekdays. The Tuesday Book Club meets on Zoom at 1:00 p.m.; the Women's Read-What-You-Want Book Club meets monthly in the Fireside Room and focuses on whatever everyone is reading at the time. A separate Men's Group and Women's Group take a monthly lunch outing together on the first Thursday of each month.
Alice Kochunov, the Minister for Adult Formation, was trained as a teacher at the Greater Good Science Center in mindfulness meditation, holds an end-of-life doula certificate from the University of Vermont, and brings a dual Christian and Buddhist contemplative practice to the role. She leads the Wednesday meditation and offers an online meditation library of short audio practices that can be used in the morning or at bedtime, hosted on the parish's YouTube channel and accessible from the Meditation page on the website. Subjects have included "Mindfulness of Breath," "Lord's Prayer," and "Opening to Hope."
Quarterly mini-retreats, sometimes held on Zoom and sometimes in the parish chapel, give a quieter space to breathe. Each one gathers together scripture, silence, reflection, and what Alice Kochunov calls "sacred sound."
Music Beyond the Choir Loft
Music at Christ Church is not only about listening. The parish believes that singing together is one of the deepest ways human beings form community. Hymns and service music are drawn principally from The Hymnal 1982, and printed bulletins include the words so worshipers can follow even on a first visit. The full hymnal is also available online through 1982 Hymnal and the YouTube channel of the same name, so newcomers can preview the music before they arrive.
Music is equally woven into the daily life of Ventana School. Twice weekly a practice the school calls "Wondering Time" gathers students for inclusive, mindfulness-based community circles that include chant, breath, silence, and song. That same spirit of curiosity underwrites the school year.
A Campus Shaped Around Education
Christ Church and Ventana School share a single campus, and that arrangement is one of the defining features of parish life. Ventana - Spanish for "windows," a name that honors the sanctuary's stained glass - was founded in 2005 with an anonymous gift, opening with a single preschool class and growing into a school that now serves children from age two through fifth grade.
It is an explicitly Episcopal school, drawing on the church's commitment to wonder, hospitality, and the formation of the whole child. Its pedagogy is shaped by the Reggio Emilia approach that originated in the schools of northern Italy after the Second World War: an inquiry-based, project-driven model in which children are treated as competent researchers into their own questions. The school frames its commitments in six values - Wonder Constantly; Work Together; Bring Your Whole Self; Appreciate Each Other; Choose Kindness; Respect Nature - and those commitments show up in small ways (a class meeting outside) and large ones (the architecture and materials of the learning spaces).
The Rev. Claire Dietrich Ranna, the rector, also serves as the school's chaplain. Two elementary classrooms have been added in recent years, alongside a remodeled kitchen and new solar panels on the rectory - infrastructure improvements that have kept the campus growing alongside the parish.
Reaching Outward
Service is taken to be a natural fruit of belonging, and the parish supports a wide range of local, regional, and international causes.
The longest-running partnership is with the Community Services Agency (CSA), a nonprofit in Mountain View serving the hungry, homeless, youth, elderly, and families in the Los Altos area since 1957. On the second Sunday of every month, parishioners bring nonperishable food to the church, where it is blessed during the service and delivered to CSA. Donations to CSA can also be made online year-round.
The parish's Outreach Committee distributes grants each year to a short list of carefully chosen organizations working both near and far. Recent recipients include Episcopal Relief and Development, the humanitarian arm of the Episcopal Church; Cristosal, a human-rights organization with programs in Central America; Mentor Tutor Connection, a local tutoring nonprofit; and The Nambale Magnet School in Kenya.
Smaller drives and seasonal projects fill in the rest of the year: a One Warm Coat drive each November, a Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St. Francis held jointly with Los Altos United Methodist Church in Cuesta Park, and periodic blood drives. The parish also partners with local interfaith organizations for shared service projects and participated in joint screening events for films like "Gazelle," a story of exile from Turkey.
The parish is, in its own way, an openly affirming community of faith. The Rev. Cal Payne-Taylor, who served as curate and then as associate rector from June 2024 through August 2026, wrote publicly in a parish reflection about his time at Christ Church: the booth the parish ran at Silicon Valley Pride in 2025, the march with the Interfaith contingent that same weekend, and the many conversations over coffee in between. "Nothing can keep us from God's unconditional love," he wrote. "A love that affirms the unique identity, inherent dignity, and sacred belovedness of every person." Coffee with the parish's LGBTQ+-affirming clergy is offered on request, and the community regularly gathers at Mountain View Pride and Silicon Valley Pride.
The Vital+Thriving Work
Since 2022 Christ Church has been one of the pilot congregations in Vital+Thriving Congregations, a three-year Diocese of California initiative designed to help parishes listen, experiment, and respond to the realities of the post-pandemic church.
The work began with a year of Discernment. A Steering Team of six parishioners and the rector led listening interviews with 24 people connected to the parish and the wider community, hosted a parish-wide Timeline event, surveyed the congregation, and held several "Corporate Spiritual Discernment" conversations around the question: "What is God's promised and preferred future for Christ Church, Los Altos?" The clarity that emerged was specific: many people in Silicon Valley are disconnected, exhausted, and hungry for meaningful relationships, and an open-minded, intellectually curious community has something real to offer.
From that listening came a Missional Innovation Team and four experimental ministries: interfaith collaboration (including a long-standing relationship with The Pacifica Institute and joint viewing nights), Wednesday community dinners, sacred hiking in the local hills, and gatherings for those who have been harmed by religion. A "neighborhood gathering" held on the Lower Lawn in the fall of 2026 drew more than 250 neighbors from across Los Altos for food trucks, a bouncy house, and face painting.
The work continues. The rector is co-host of the Vital+Thriving podcast, and the Master Planning Committee has a five-, ten-, and twenty-five-year plan for the campus's buildings and grounds.
How to Get Involved
There is no single right door into the life of this parish. Sunday worship is its backbone, and visitors who simply arrive at 8:00 or 10:15 on a Sunday are genuinely expected. The Communion rail is open to all baptized Christians. If you would like to be greeted by name, emailing office@ccla.us in advance is enough.
Beyond Sunday, the parish's wider rhythm is rich. Volunteer roles include reading and serving as an intercessor on Sunday mornings (contact Keith Ellis), running the AV console during the hybrid 10:15 service, joining the choir, helping with the Community Dinner, or simply bringing a tray of pastries for coffee hour. Lay Eucharistic Ministers assist with the distribution of communion at the altar; Lay Eucharistic Visitors bring the sacrament to members who are unable to attend. The Outreach Committee welcomes new members who want to help shape service projects in the wider community.
Pastoral care is taken seriously. Anyone who would like a birthday or anniversary prayer on a particular Sunday is asked to email Rev. Claire by noon on the preceding Wednesday. Anyone preparing for a baptism, a wedding, a confirmation, or a funeral can contact the rector or an assisting priest. Members unable to make church on a Sunday but wishing to receive communion at home can request a visit through the parish office.
Online, the parish publishes a weekly newsletter, a regular podcast episode, and the Sunday bulletin and reflections. Giving is accepted online by credit card, debit card, or direct bank transfer and can be made recurring. Annual pledges provide the operating budget of the church; designated gifts to specific ministries are also possible.
A Century on This Hill
Christ Episcopal Church traces its origins to Palm Sunday 1913, when a small group of Episcopalians gathered in the upper room of a building in downtown Los Altos. They received mission status from the Diocese of California, bought two lots on Orange Avenue a block from downtown, laid the cornerstone of a small English-style church in April 1914, and dedicated the building that August.
For the next fifty years the parish grew with the surrounding orchards as they gave way to ranch-style houses. By the 1950s, Sunday School had outgrown the Orange Avenue property. In 1954 members purchased an orchard plot on Border Road. Two additional parcels followed; the original property was sold to Foothills Congregational Church. Two parishioners took the 1913 bell down and stored it until they could hang it outside the new sanctuary.
The first buildings erected on the new site were the parish hall and three wings of classrooms capable of housing a school; Sunday services were held in the parish hall until the sanctuary was completed in 1968. In 1984 a windows committee commissioned the French artist Gabriel Loire to create four walls of chunky dalles-de-verre glass for the sanctuary - panels that turn the morning light into a shifting, jewel-like interior. The campaign that funded those windows also raised an equal sum to endow an outreach fund that continues to this day.
The 2005 founding of Ventana School on the campus is the most recent chapter in a long tradition of shared use. Today, that school and that sanctuary are joined by a parish hall, classrooms, a columbarium, a remodeled kitchen, a parish choir, a community dinner on Wednesdays, and a parish that, like its stained glass, lets the light in from many directions.
The People of the Parish
The life of any parish is set by its people. The Rev. Claire Dietrich Ranna, a graduate of Duke University and Yale Divinity School, has served as rector since before 2022 and also acts as chaplain to Ventana School. A former co-writer and co-producer of the documentary film "Miss Representation," she is a writer, runner, yoga practitioner, and mother of two young children who also co-hosted the Vital+Thriving podcast from 2022 to 2024. She preaches, teaches, and tends to the pastoral life of the parish.
Two assisting priests round out the clergy team. The Rev. Julie Nelson, a former technical writer who was ordained in 2009 after attending The General Theological Seminary, preaches at least monthly, leads family activities during the Community Dinners, and helps design programs for the wider parish. The Rev. Sheldon Hutchison, Ph.D., an engineer and former NSA analyst with a doctorate in physical electronics, brings a scientifically trained mind to the pulpit and the curriculum. The Rev. Cal Payne-Taylor, who served as the parish's curate and then associate rector from June 2024, completed his ministry at Christ Church in August 2026 and has begun a chaplaincy residency at UCSF; the parish continues to count him among its spiritual kindred.
Among the staff, David Marsh serves as Interim Director of Music; Alice Kochunov as Minister for Adult Formation; Peter Sammel as Children's Minister; Jenny Bishop as Community Art Coordinator; Sara Tang as Director of Finance; and Pedro Hernandez as Facilities & Maintenance Specialist.
The congregation itself is a long one. Members of the choir gather on Wednesday evenings, kids climb on the bouncy house during neighborhood gatherings, and the choir of Christ Church joins with three other parish choirs at Evensong across the peninsula. Visitors should expect warm welcomes, a small plate of cookies at coffee hour, and the slightly disorienting - in the best way - feeling of stepping into a community that has been practicing welcome here for over a hundred years.