stewardship 2011 trinity newsletter

8/3/2019 Stewardship 2011 Trinity Newsletter

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Stewardship Newsletter - October 2011

From the Vicar

Te leaves changing color and alling brings thoughtso thankulness. Growing up in Kentucky, those colorsand smells were closer to Tanksgiving or me thanColumbus Day. Tis time o the changing o the sea-sons brings too the time or our annual pledge cam-paign. Tis time is a time o thankulness because ac-knowledging all o the good gis God has given us and

expressing gratitude or those gis is what we are aboutas Christians. Te sacrament that orms us as church--the coming together every Sunday and celebrating theEucharist--is an act o thanksgiving. Indeed, the wordEucharist comes rom the Greek, eucharstia, mean-ing thanksgiving.

I oer you another poem that speaks o this eelingo gratitude. Tis is a portion o a poem rom MaryOliver called Six Recognitions o the Lord.

6.

Every summer the lilies rise and open their whitehands until they almost cover the black waters o thepond. And I give thanks but it does not seem likeadequate thanks, it doesnt seem estive enough orconstant enough, nor does the name o the Lord orthe words o thanksgiving come into it ofen enough.Everywhere I go I am treated like royalty, which Iam not. I thirst and am given water. My eyes thirstand I am given the white lilies on the black water.

My heart sings but the apparatus o singing doesntconvey hal what it eels and means. In spring thereshope, in all the exquisite, necessary diminishing, inwinter I am as sleepy as any beast in its leay cave,but in summer there is everywhere the luminoussprawl o gifs, the hospitality o the Lord and my in-adequate answers as I row my beautiul, temporarybody through this water-lily world.

I include this poem because I think it is easy, with theeconomy still struggling to right itsel, or us to become mired in ear and worry or our utures. Whenwe are eeling insecure or earul about money (oranything else or that matter), it is easy or us to takeor granted or even orget the gis that God has givenus. We become more ocused on what we dont havethan on what we do have. Sometimes it is importantor us to reocus, and the seasons o thanksgiving and

stewardship oer us some time to do that.

Last Sunday, the gospel was about the kingdom oheaven being like a man who gave a wedding banquetor his son but the people who were invited were toobusy to show up. So people were brought in rom thestreet, and there was one who was so ungrateul thathe didnt even bother to wear a wedding robe. Teslaves perspective on the banquet is instructive to us,I think. Stewardship is, undamentally, about wherewe place our priorities. It means that we can be both-

ered to change our ocus and attend to the east Godhas set beore us and that we can be bothered to dressappropriately once we get there. God invites us to thisspectacular east. We have the choice to attend.

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We have the choice to notice what enlivens us andbrings us joy. We have the choice to grasp thosethings, that beauty, so that there we may nd Godsreign. Gods reign will not be ound in the striving orand accumulation o monetary wealth, or that journeyis a journey which takes us away rom our loved onesand ellows. My riend and colleague, Lauran Pie,wrote, Te treasure in the eld, the banquet that

represents true wealth, is ound in giving and receivinglove a journey that brings us together and in doingso, brings us to God. Tere are so many things in ourlives that compete or our time and our attention andso ew o them have anything to do with loving eachother. Te Church is the one place in our lives wherewe will be reminded over and again that we are loved,that we are needed, and that there is Good News; Godis having a party, and we are all invited. We need onlyaccept that invitation and put on the right clothes.

What does it mean to put on the right clothes or Godsbanquet? Paul tells us, in Philippians something ohow we should dress. ...whatever is true, whatever ishonorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whateveris pleasing, whatever is commendable, i there is anyexcellence and i there is anything worthy o praise,think about these things. He might just as well havesaid put on these things, just as he said elsewhere, puton Christ. Wearing the right clothes to the kingsbanquet means putting on the image in which we were

made. Te clearest picture we have o that image isJesus Christ. Putting on Christ means putting on loveand generosity and being willing to give ourselvesaway. It means opening our hearts and our hands toour neighbors.

Sally and I just sent you a letter asking or your pledgeor 2012. You may ear or our economic uture, orhave other priorities, but I urge you to overcome yourear and pledge. When we make a pledge in theseuncertain times, we make a clear statement, we acceptthat invitation to Gods banquet. We make clear ourpriorities; we express the gratitude or the great gisweve been given. Where we spend our money, wherewe save or give away, tells the story o who we are. Letus remind ourselves to whom we really belong and towhom we owe our lives.

Yours in Christ,Johnnette+

Pledge Sunday

Be sure to bring your pledge cards on PledgeSunday, October 30, and drop them in the oeringplate. Ten join us or a estive brunch aer church

to celebrate.

You may also mail your pledge directly to thechurch at 124 North Mulanix Street, Kirksville, MO

63501

Some additional pledge envelopes and orms will beavailable that Sunday i you orget to bring a copy.

Ofering Envelopes

Beginning October 30, rinity will make envelopes

available to those wishing to make their oerings incash while still indicating their name.

Sometimes we orget to bring a check and we want togive cash that we have on hand. Sometimes people justdont like to write checks. Tese envelopes are de-signed to enable those who wish to count cash contri-butions toward their pledge to do so.

Additionally, these envelopes will come with check-boxes to indicate cash contributions directed toward

special collections, rst Sunday collections, the Build-ing Fund, etc. You can choose to add your name orleave it o. Anonymous cash contributions are stillalways welcome. We hope you will nd this new alter-native a convenient way to participate in the steward-ship process.


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Blessings in Hard imesLook or Abundance Amidst Scarcity

(Toughts About Stewardship o the Earth)

Katharine Jeferts Schori, April 28, 2009

[Episcopal Lie] How do we cope in tough economictimes? How do we nurture an enduring sense o hopein ourselves and in those around us?

Start with gratitude or what you are and have. Beginwith the simple (!) task o listing the blessings in your

lie shelter, amily, riends, skills and your breath.Include your hungers: or relationship, greater depthin those relationships, the desire to be o service and togive to others out o your blessings.

Look at the opportunities in your lie that are the resulto what others call a downturn. Te society mavens inNew York City have discovered that they dont have

Interested in Contributing to the

rinity Newsletter?Send your articles, reections, news, or ministry

updates to:

Kevin [email protected]

1 Grim DriveKirksville, MO 63501

to go shopping every day in order to be real, and thatthere is reedom in that discovery. Tey and othershave begun to discover that it is at least unashion-able to be conspicuously consuming and that there areother joys to be ound in recycling old ashions andlooking or bargains. It is a start! What are the deeperjoys in disconnecting your sel-worth rom consum-ing?

Unemployment can be an unexpected sabbatical, evenin the midst o job hunting, and an opportunity toreect on how to put your gis to work in new ways.Find others who will help you reect on your skills andvocational assets. Te current economic situation is anexcellent opportunity or congregations o all sizes todo some gis-discernment work.

Te teaching o Jean and Bernard Haldane and/or the

classic What Color is your Parachute? would be a greatstarting place. Schedule a weekly opportunity or jobseekers to reect together on their journeys, learn romand support each other and discover something newabout Gods abundant gis to each.

Vocational and gis discernment should be a regularpart o congregational lie not just or those discern-ing a vocation to ordained ministry!

Each baptized person is challenged to put his or her

gis to work in the world in service to Gods mission.Daily lie is where most o the baptized exercise theirvocations as parents, teachers, reghters, proessorsstudents and lawyers. Unemployment or partial em-ployment can be a remarkable opportunity to do thatwork o discernment in a deeper way.

Economic restriction o household budgets can be anopportunity to reect on the dierence between wantsand needs. Living more simply involves a series ochoices that can bless us as well as others around theglobe, or our own patterns o consumption have directimpacts on greenhouse gases, the availability o cleanwater and the price o ood, both nearby and ar away.

Tink about eating lower on the ood chain and romsources closer to home. Eating plants costs less both ineconomic terms and in environmental impact. It alsomakes more ood available or others. Eating morelocally produced ood also usually costs less, as well asreduces the environmental burden o transporting


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that ood. It also helps to build a sustainable commu-nity support your ood-producing neighbors!

Our choices about the source o ood can have impactson more distant neighbors as well we will grow lesscorn or ethanol i we need less uel or transportation.Less need or corn-based ethanol will have a salutaryeect on the price o maize in Arica and make more

ood available locally there as well.

Cooking a meal at home rather than eating ast ood ora restaurant meal also can oer more opportunity ordeepening relationships with amily or riends.

How might a pinched entertainment budget be reo-cused on relationships? Rather than go out to a movie,invite riends in to play games, read a play together orsimply gather or creative conversation. Consider how

your leisure time might bless a child your own or aneighbors. ake a walk in the park, read a book to-gether or sign up to help in an aerschool program.

Counting your blessings can be an opportunity todevelop a greater sense o compassion. Knowing theabundance in your own lie can encourage liberalitytoward others, born out o the undamental reason orall acts o stewardship gratitude or the abundancewe have been given.

Naming a sense o scarcity or shortall also can be amotivation toward gratitude, or knowing our owndependence on God and on others is the root othe spiritual journey.

Rerame your perspective look or abundance wherethe world sees scarcity and discover a renewed senseo connection to, and love or, God and neighbor.

For as in one body we have many members,and not all the members have the same unc-tion, so we, who are many, are one body inChrist, and individually we are members one oanother. We have gis that dier according tothe grace given to us. -- Romans 12:4-6

Te Most Rev. Katharine Jeerts Schori is presidingbishop o the Episcopal Church.

A Pastoral eaching rom the House o Bishops oTe Episcopal Church

Quito, Ecuador - September 2011

We, your bishops, believe these words o Jeremiah de-scribe these times and call us to repentance as we acethe unolding environmental crisis o the earth:

How long will the land mourn, and the grasso every eld wither? For the wickedness othose who live in it the animals and the birdsare swept away, and because people said, He isblind to our ways. (Jeremiah 12:4)

Te mounting urgency o our environmental crisischallenges us at this time to coness our sel-indulgentappetites and ways, our waste and pollution o Gods

creation, and our lack o concern or those who comeaer us (Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Book o CommonPrayer, p. 268). It also challenges us to amend our livesand to work or environmental justice and or moreenvironmentally sustainable practices.

Christians cannot be indierent to global warming,pollution, natural resource depletion, species extinc-tions, and habitat destruction, all o which threatenlie on our planet. Because so many o these threats aredriven by greed, we must also actively seek to create

more compassionate and sustainable economies thatsupport the well-being o all Gods creation.

We are especially called to pay heed to the suering othe earth. Te Anglican Communion EnvironmentalNetwork calls to mind the dire consequences our envi-ronment aces:


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We know that . . . we are now demandingmore than [the earth] is able to provide. Sci-ence conrms what we already know: ourhuman ootprint is changing the ace o theearth and because we come rom the earth, it ischanging us too. We are engaged in the processo destroying our very being. I we cannot livein harmony with the earth, we will not live in

harmony with one another. (i)

Tis is the appointed time or all Gods children towork or the common goal o renewing the earth as ahospitable abode or the ourishing o all lie. We arecalled to speak and act on behal o Gods good cre-ation.

Looking back to the creation accounts in Genesis, wesee Gods creation was very good, providing all that

humans would need or abundant, peaceul lie. Increating the world Gods loving concern extended tothe whole o it, not just to humans. And the scope oGods redemptive love in Christ is equally broad: theWord became incarnate in Christ not just or our sake,but or the salvation o the whole world. In the Book oRevelation we read that God will restore the goodnessand completeness o creation in the new Jerusalem.Within this new city, God renews and redeems thenatural world rather than obliterating it. We now livein that time between Gods creation o this good world

and its nal redemption: Te whole creation has beengroaning in labor pains until now; and not only thecreation, but we ourselves, who have the rst ruitso the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait or . . . theredemption o our bodies (Romans 8:22-3).

Afrming the biblical witness to Gods abiding andall-encompassing love or creation, we recognize thatwe cannot separate ourselves as humans rom the resto the created order. Te creation story itsel presentsthe interdependence o all Gods creatures in theirwonderul diversity and ragility, and in their need oprotection rom dangers o many kinds. Tis is whythe Church prays regularly or the peace o the wholeworld, or seasonable weather and an abundance o theruits o the earth, or a just sharing o resources, andor the saety o all who suer. Tis includes our part-ner creatures: animals, birds, and sh who are beingkilled or made sick by the long-term eects o deores-tation, oil spills, and a host o other ways in which

we intentionally and unintentionally destroy or poisontheir habitat.

One o the most dangerous and daunting challengeswe ace is global climate change. Tis is, at least inpart, a direct result o our burning o ossil uels. Suchhuman activities could raise worldwide average tem-peratures by three to eleven degrees Fahrenheit in

this century. Rising average temperatures are alreadywreaking environmental havoc, and, i unchecked,portend devastating consequences or every aspect olie on earth.

Te Church has always had as one o its priorities aconcern or the poor and the suering. Tereore, weneed not agree on the undamental causes o humandevastation o the environment, or on what standardo living will allow sustainable development, or on the

roots o poverty in any particular culture, in order towork to minimize the impact o climate change. It isthe poor and the disadvantaged who suer most romcallous environmental irresponsibility. Poverty is botha local and a global reality. A healthy economy de-pends absolutely on a healthy environment.

Te wealthier nations whose industries have exploitedthe environment, and who are now calling or devel-oping nations to reduce their impact on the environ-ment, seem to have orgotten that those who consume

most o the worlds resources also have contributed themost pollution to the worlds rivers and oceans, havestripped the worlds orests o healing trees, have de-stroyed both numerous species and their habitats, andhave added the most poison to the earths atmosphere.We cannot avoid the conclusion that our irresponsibleindustrial production and consumption-driven econo-my lie at the heart o the current environmental crisis.

Privileged Christians in our present global contextneed to move rom a culture o consumerism to aculture o conservation and sharing. Te challengeis to examine ones own participation in ecologicallydestructive habits. Our churches must become placeswhere we have honest debates about, and are encour-aged to live into, more sustainable ways o living. Godcalls us to die to old ways o thinking and living and beraised to new lie with renewed hearts and minds.

Although many issues divide us as people o aith, un-precedented ecumenical and interaith cooperation


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is engaging the concern to protect our planet. And yet,eorts to stop environmental degradation must not besimply imposed rom above. Tose most aected musthave a hand in shaping decisions. For example, wewelcome eorts in the United States to involve NativeAmerican tribal leaders and to empower local com-munity organizations to address environmental issues.Similar strategies need to be employed in myriad com-

munities in various locales.

Our current environmental challenges call us toongoing orms o repentance: we must turn ourselvesaround, and come to think, eel, and act in new ways.Ancient wisdom and spiritual disciplines rom ouraith oer deep resources to help address this envi-ronmental crisis. ime-honored practices o asting,Sabbath-keeping, and Christ-centered mindulnessbear particular promise or our time.

Fasting disciplines and heals our wayward desires andappetites, calling us to balance our individual needswith Gods will or the whole world. In asting we rec-ognize that human hungers require more than llingthe belly. In God alone are our desires nally ullled.Commended in the Book o Common Prayer, asting isgrounded in the practices o Israel, taught by Jesus, andsustained in Christian tradition. Te ecological crisisextends and deepens the signicance o such asting asa orm o sel-denial: those who consume more than

their air share must learn to exercise sel-restraint sothat the whole community o creation might be sus-tained.

Sabbath-keeping is rooted in the Book o Genesis,where the seventh day is the day in which God, hu-mans, and the rest o creation are in right relationship.In our broken world, keeping the Sabbath is a way oremembering and anticipating that world or whichGod created us. Sabbath requires rest, that we mightremember our rightul place as Gods creatures in re-lationship with every other creature o God. Such restimplicitly requires humans to live lightly on the ace othe earth, neither to expend energy nor to consume it,not to work or gain alone, but to savor the grace andgivenness o creation.

Te practice o Christ-centered mindulness, that is,the habitual recollection o Christ, calls believers to adeepened awareness o the presence o God in theirown lives, in other people, and in every aspect o the

world around us. Such spiritual perception shouldmake aithul people alert to the harmul eects o ourliestyles, attentive to our carbon ootprint (ii) and tothe dangers o overconsumption. It should make usprooundly aware o the gi o lie and less prone tobe ecologically irresponsible in our consumption andacquisition. In assuming with new vigor our teachingofce, we, your bishops, commit ourselves to a renewal

o these spiritual practices in our own lives, and inviteyou to join us in this commitment or the good o oursouls and the lie o the world. Moreover, in order tohonor the goodness and sacredness o Gods creation,we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, commit ourselvesand urge every Episcopalian:

o acknowledge the urgency o the planetary crisis inwhich we nd ourselves, and to repent o any and allacts o greed, overconsumption, and waste that have

contributed to it; o li up prayers in personal and public worship orenvironmental justice, or sustainable development,and or help in restoring right relations both amonghumankind and between humankind and the rest ocreation; o take steps in our individual lives, and in com-munity, public policy, business, and other orms ocorporate decision-making, to practice environmentalstewardship and justice, including (1) a commitmentto energy conservation and the use o clean, renewable

sources o energy; and (2) eorts to reduce, reuse, andrecycle, and whenever possible to buy products maderom recycled materials; o seek to understand and uproot the political,social, and economic causes o environmental destruc-tion and abuse; (iii) o advocate or a air, ambitious, and bindingclimate treaty, and to work toward climate justicethrough reducing our own carbon ootprint and ad-vocating or those most negatively aected by climatechange.

May God give us the grace to heed the warnings oJeremiah and to accept the gracious invitation o theincarnate Word to live, in, with, and through him, a lieo grace or the whole world, that thereby all the earthmay be restored and humanity lled with hope. Rejoic-ing in your works, O Lord, send us orth with yourSpirit to renew the ace o the earth, that the world mayonce again be lled with your good things: the treeswatered abundantly, springs rushing between


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the hills in verdant valleys, all the earth made ruitul,your maniold creatures, birds, beasts, and humans, allquenching their thirst and receiving their nourishmentrom you once again in due season (Psalm 104)._________________________

(i) From Te Hope We Share: A Vision or Copen-hagen, a statement rom the Anglican Communion

Environmental Network in preparation or the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCC), December 2009.

(ii) Carbon ootprint is a measurement o all green-house gases we individually produce in our day-to-daylives through burning ossil uels or electricity, heat-ing, transportation, etc.

(iii) We are indebted to the Episcopal Bishops o New

England or their earlier 2003 Pastoral Letter, oServe Christ in All Creation. Several o these com-mitments and other phrases herein are quotations oradaptations o their work.

-- For more ino contact:

Neva Rae FoxPublic Aairs OfcerTe Episcopal [email protected]

212-716-6080 Mobile: 917-478-5659


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