My Introduction to the United Thank Offering

This will appear in my parish newsletter on June 1st, but I decided to share it here.

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My Introduction to the United Thank Offering

In late 1998, I packed up my worldly goods from my Atlanta home and drove a moving truck to Philadelphia.  Not because I had a great job opportunity, but because I had friends who had given me a safety net.  Financial ignorance had wrecked my world.  I was broke, and I would have been homeless if not for those friends who found me a place to live “free” in exchange for labor.

During that time, the Episcopal Church found me, as one of my friends was a parish priest there.  I – who hadn’t darkened the doors of a church in two decades – began attending church regularly. Before long, someone gave me one of the little coin boxes from the United Thank Offering [UTO].

I took it to my tiny room, and an odd thing started happening.  While deeply grieving my great fall, I started noticing little blessings in my life.  And I began to drop coins into that box every evening when I had coins, along with some little prayer for a blessing that the day had brought.  

I didn’t realize it at the time, but that little coin box was a powerful force in teaching me the habit of gratitude.  I had been spared the horror of homelessness.  The little UTO box became the way I could give thanks with a penny or dime or nickel or (occasionally) a quarter.  And every one of those coins was bathed in a prayer of thanksgiving.  I wasn’t homeless.  I wasn’t living in my car.  I had found a faith community to support me.  I had found a place that would accept me and my two cats.  I was safe, and I was warm in that cold winter.  I saw many other people in Philadelphia sleeping on subway grates; at least I had a warm room in a house. 

Over the next few months, the Grace Stewardship Team is going to write about UTO and its “Little Blue Boxes,” into which we are invited to drop coins and say prayers of thanksgiving. We will distribute those boxes in June and explain more about what the UTO supports.

The UTO is neither a fundraiser nor a stewardship campaign, and none of the coins received will remain at Grace.  The UTO and its “Blue Boxes” invite us to give thanks to God every day for the blessings we receive.  At its base, it is an invitation to a spiritual discipline of gratitude.  

Stewardship Statement Today

I’m a member of my parish’s Stewardship Team.  We are no longer just about the “annual pledge drive.”  We have a year-round mission of helping to educate, inform, and inspire the parish to contemplate and live out stewardship in all its manifestations.  We lead book and movie discussions.  We host special events.  We try to keep “stewardship” in the forefront of our parish awareness throughout the year.

But this is October – the month when most Episcopal parishes do their “pledge drive.”

In the past 3 or 4 years, we did a combined “pledge drive,” asking people to pledge their money, time, and talents.  This year, we decided to let October be about financial support of the parish.  (We’ll tackle time and talent in early 2014.)  After much discussion, we decided to talk about money this month.   You know how Christians – and Episcopalians – don’t want to talk about money.  It’s considered gauche.  Most of us were raised with the mantra that – in polite society – we do not discuss politics, sex, religion, or money.  But Jesus and the Gospel writers talked more about money than about almost any other topic. Our Stewardship Committee decided we’d dare to touch that “fourth rail”; we decided to talk quite explicitly about money this month.

Each October Sunday during the “announcements” period at the 8:00 and 10:30 services, one of us Stewardship Team members will stand up and talk about Church and money.  We are to share something from our personal experience.  Today was the first of those Sundays, and I was first up at the 10:30 service.   I went to the lectern with four small note cards with “bullet points” on them.  In case any of you want to know, I’m going to try here to write what I tried to say today from that lectern.

Hello, I’m Lisa Fox, and I’m a member of our Stewardship Team. 

As I was preparing to talk with you today, it struck me that this is a significant anniversary for me. Fifteen years ago this weekend, on Friday night, I drove my moving van to Jefferson City.  I spent Saturday unpacking as much as I could. Then Sunday, I walked into this church for the first time.  From that first Sunday, you made me feel at home. I wrote my first offering check that day. And I have never quit giving my money to this parish since then. 

There’s an old saw that “polite” people don’t talk about sex, politics, religion, or money.  But our Stewardship Team has made a very conscious decision to talk about money this year.  And so I shall.

A few moments ago, we heard the children’s choir introit.  They sang almost everything we need to hear as they sang, “I am the Church. You are the Church.  We are the Church together.” 

But I want to share a few thoughts with you anyway.

I want to tell you why I tithe to Grace.  By the way, I am a little nervous saying that I tithe.  I don’t want it to sound like I’m bragging.  But we hear others talk about their spiritual disciplines. For example, some people mention that they pray the Daily Office.  Why shouldn’t I also say that tithing is part of my spiritual discipline?

Here are three reasons why I tithe.

First, I tithe in gratitude for what God has done and is still doing in my life.  Our priest reminds us that the definition of “Eucharist” is “thanksgiving.” I tithe because God has blessed and redeemed me more than I ever deserved.

Second, I tithe in gratitude for what this parish is doing and has done for me, and in gratitude for what it’s doing for other parishioners. I expect most of you, too, have been blessed by the ministry of our members.

Third, I tithe in gratitude for and solidarity with Grace’s mission outreach to the wider community and for what that lets us share with the Diocese and the wider Episcopal Church. 

Last year, I was pleased that I finally pledged 10% of my income to this parish.  But then something happened.  As several of you know, my paid-off car was totaled while I safely at home in June. I had to buy a new-to-me car.  I had counted the cost and thought I knew what I could afford.  But the payments came up a bit higher than I expected.  When the first payment came due – God help me, I confess – I immediately thought, “I cannot afford this.  I have to make room in my budget.  I guess I’ll have to reduce my pledge to the Church.”

And then a big head-slap came out to me – maybe from the Holy Spirit, or maybe from within my own spirit. 

I was reminded of what I have so often heard: “A budget is a moral document.”  I believe that.  I have a budget.  And I thought of all the items I have in that budget, including my Internet connection, my cell phone charges, my eating-out budget, and my larger-than-it-should-be Starbucks budget.  What in the world made me think that I should look first to reduce my pledge to Grace Church and the mission of the Church?? 

Fortunately, that big ol’ head-slap quickly brought me to my senses.  I had made a promise to God and to this parish.  How dare I first think about reducing my parish pledge?  Why in the world would that strike me as the first possible cut? I realized I could cut back on other things to take up the slack. 

Everything I have – including this new-to-me 2007 car – is a gift from God.  And God has asked me to give the “first fruits” back to the church.  God “whopped me up-side o’ my head” about my priorities.  This parish is one of the things I treasure most in my life.  My treasure should be where my heart is.  And TEC and this parish matter more to me than my new-to-me car. 

I hope you will join me this month in discernment about what God has given you and what you value about this parish.  And please join me in discernment about what we should give back to God in gratitude for the gifts we have been given.

My Parish Steps into the Question of SSBs with Listening Sessions

Exterior view of my church

I'm pleased to provide a follow-up to my post from Sunday. Some more information has been published in the parish newsletter (which I received today) and is being printed as an insert in tomorrow's service leaflet.  You can read the full text here.  

There will be three "listening sessions," from June 8 to 16.

As I wrote in comments on my previous post, I had learned that these will not be "free-for-all" but structured conversations.  The parish leadership is asking all members to reflect on three questions in preparation for the sessions.  They are: 

1. What occasions in your life have prompted you to seek the formal blessing of the church?
2. Into what covenantal relationships have you entered?  And how did you mark those liturgically?
3. How has the authority of Scripture impacted your decision making on important matters? Does the church you were raised in (i.e., your formative experience) affect your approach to Scripture?

I'm pleased to see those questions.  I think they are good ones, which should lead to some probing among all who attend the listening sessions. They are already motivating me to begin organizing my own thoughts. And I am comforted to know those are the questions that will organize the listening sessions. 

They also remind me of the sort of questions that were posted in the big Episcopal Church conference held in Atlanta back in March 2011 (which I also attended) to reflect on TEC's development of rites for same-sex blessings. Both are using questions designed to encourage reflection and dialogue, not "position statements."  Kudos to our parish leaders for following that model. 

Also, notice this: The sessions are being held in the sanctuary, not the parish hall.  The same was true of the listening sessions a couple years ago, when we were considering whether/how to reorganize our worship space.  I think it's no accident that the parish leaders have chosen to hold the conversations in our "holy space" and not in the parish hall.  I think being in that space calls us to be in attitude of prayer, reverence, and respect, even if we may have difficult things to say and difficult stories to share.  

I thank all who have shared this walk with me, and I hope you will continue to keep me and my parish in your prayers.  

Post-GC Reporting Session, Part 1

Back in August, four General Convention Deputies presented a post-Convention program at Grace Episcopal Church in Jefferson City.  I was there, along with Deputies Lynette Ballard (St. Matthew's, Warson Woods), Mike Clark (Christ Church Cathedral), and the Rev. Jason Samuel (Transfiguration, Lake St. Louis).  We talked about the actions of Convention and the experience of being a Deputy.  Beth Felice videotaped the session, which runs to about an hour.  Part 1 is here, and runs nearly 40 minutes. 

There were fun comments about my long-standing engagement on the Bishops/Deputies listserv, and how I came to meet some of my "sparring partners" from that listserv and came to appreciate them.

The Rev. Jason Samuel speaks about building bridges with people who typically vote differently than our Deputies and about how we modelled Christian community that might be a gift to other churches.  He spoke of the sense of "joy and charity" that the Deputies experienced. 

I encourage you to listen to my "testimony" around the 14:00 mark, where I spoke about those who  are opposed to the direction of TEC, but who are faithfully participating.  Those were true words. 

The Deputies talk about the work of being a Deputy. 

And we get into some of the "meat" of General Convention resolutions. 

View the video if you wish.  As far as I know, this is the only post-GC session that was recorded.  I'll share Part 2 in a moment.