Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
This week, we celebrate Thanksgiving, a semi-secular holiday that has origins in harvest festivals and also time of great national suffering. But for many of us, this day is a gift, because it invites and offers us opportunities to slow down and actually focus on the blessedness of our lives.
How blessed is it that we experience relative peace, prosperity, security and freedom, when so many around the world have so little of these blessings. And then, we also have the space to develop and grow in spiritual life, connection with God and a fellowship with other believers, as well as neighborliness of those of other faiths and religions.
Each Sunday, we celebrate the Great Thanksgiving (“Eucharist” in Greek). It may seem to be a ritual that we hope will end soon, but this is a sacred event in which we trust that Christ’s promises to be present in and with us in the simple food of bread and wine. That trust leads us or can lead us to discover a presence of God that fills every deep longing, opens every sealed off place, and releases life where we sense loss. That trust opens us to relationship with Christ who gently works with us to give us the deeper life that we need so very much.
I hope that this Thanksgiving you are filled with a sense of thanks, of blessedness and a desire to come deeper in relationship with God. Come and worship, offering yourself as a table for Christ to come a join you. Come and Give Thanks that God loves you more than you can possibly imagine.
A couple of reminders:
- December 1st is the First Sunday of Advent. From 12 - 4 pm, there is a special African celebration at St Marks Church to which we are invited.
- December 8th, we have common worship at 10 am.
- December 14th, Men’s Breakfast at 9 am
- December 15th, Worship at 10 and 11:20 am, as well as Vespers at 4 pm, with a pot luck dinner to follow.
- December 22nd, worship at 10 and 11:20 am.
- December 24th, Christmas Eve worship and songs at 5 pm.
How about making a special gift to God this December, by making out a special check or envelop for Mission Shares, the funds we send around the world to help others.
I hope your Advent is a time of great joy!
Rev. Ralph W Howe, Pastor
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Dear Clergy and Laity of the CTWMA District,
I am sending this email to ask if you would please join me in the special Christmas Giving Challenge. From now until December 31st, I will be forgoing the purchase of my favorite coffee items and I will be donating three dollars a day to contribute to the special Christmas Giving Challenge. My goal, is to send the conference a check for $180.00 at the end of this time, and I am asking you to join me in doing the same. The success of this challenge simply can’t happen without you on board, which is why I need you to join me and the extended cabinet in supporting this special giving. We need your continued and increased financial support for the work of this conference. Please consider joining this important challenge and be generous in your financial support.
Please see the attached information and do what your faith leads you to do.
Blessings to you all!
David
Rev. David V. Calhoun D.Min. APC
Christmas Giving Challenge
Siblings in Christ —
As we have just heard from our Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CCFA) in their letter published yesterday, our giving to mission shares is down by more than $270,000 from the same point last year. This means we may not be able to fulfill the missional obligations we have covenanted to support this year. There is no doubt this will have the largest adverse impact on those who are the least among us.
Even as we grieve the harm done to members of our body by the legislative actions (and inaction) taken by our denomination in 2019, our hearts are broken by this decrease in support for one another through our missional giving. We encourage laity and clergy alike to check on your congregation's progress toward paying 100% of Mission Shares. This is an expectation that all of us in the connection should aspire to meet.
Our connectional giving is the lifeblood of support to our mission and ministry. We cannot cut off one part of the body and not starve the rest. We have all been supported by the grace and power of our connection, and we all have a responsibility to each other.
When we do not give our fair share, we are asking other churches to take on that burden.
We know $270,000 is a big number. It can seem daunting — especially to our churches that are struggling. But if we all give a little, or each bring our dish to the potluck, as CCFA has said, we can ensure there will be enough for us and all who come to be fed.
Christmas Giving Challenge
Our Conference Treasurer ran some numbers:
If 10 members from each church contributed just $3 per day from now through Dec. 31, 2019 ($180 each), we would meet our responsibilities to the World Service Fund.
If another 8 members joined them, we would fulfill our conference apportionment obligations entirely.
We are inviting each of you to join Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar's Christmas Giving Challenge: Submit your check for $180 (or more!) through your local church and designate it for Mission Shares.
Of course, some churches have fewer members and others more who can take up the challenge. We gratefully encourage everyone to participate as they are able; that's how we work together in the connection!
We, the Extended Cabinet — the bishop, district superintendents, conference executive staff, conference lay leader, and president of the Foundation — have all accepted the challenge and have sent our checks to the Conference Treasurer. We hope that you will join us.
Bishop Devadhar was the first among us to meet the challenge, and offered these words on the powerful impact of our connectional generosity.
"I am a product of the missionary movement, and today continue to be grateful for the legacy of faithful leaders in the church who recognized the importance of reaching out beyond their own needs to care for our global community," the bishop said. "As your temporal and spiritual leader, I encourage us all to remain faithful in our commitment to the mission outreach that transforms lives and builds communities of justice and joy."
May each one of us, called by God, following in the footsteps of Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, do all that we can to meet the needs of our world and church through our generosity.
In Christ,
Members of the New England Conference Extended Cabinet
Related links
Listen to an audio recording of Bishop Devadhar's testimony to the mission of our church, recorded at the 2019 Connectional Table Leadership Retreat.
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