Today, we gathered in our opening Eucharist to liturgically open the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Indianapolis. In the room were thousands of Episcopalians, perhaps the largest such gathering since the last Convention three years ago. In this Eucharist we celebrated the lives and ministry of Walter Rauschenbusch, who came to believe that Jesus died “to substitute love for selfishness as the basis of human society” and boldly pointed out our “social sins” which Jesus bore on the cross, which included greed and political power;, and Washington Gladden, who was dedicated to the realization of the Kingdom of God in this world; and Jacob Riis, who did much to awaken the nation to the plight of the urban poor. With those great prophets on our minds and hearts, we celebrated Eucharist. However, this Eucharist was less to me, because in this liturgical expression we once again incarnated the reality of one of, if not our most pressing, spiritual issue for us as Western Christians, and Episcopalians: we failed to take any monetary offering.
I knew there would be many excuses for this, perhaps logistics, there were just so many present that it could not be done, or one I hear often, we are being “nickeled and dimed to death.” In fact, when asked, a few of the worship team stated that they had to “cut time” and this would have added four minutes. Four minutes.
There are certainly many excuses but none of them hold water. Here we were, literally thousands of us gathered, with full stomachs, most on 10+ dollar breakfasts, Starbucks coffee, and money to spread over the next few weeks. Even 1 dollar per person, some symbol of our monetary wealth and giving, from each person, would have collected a huge amount, collectively, that this Convention, which will haggle and divide about nothing more than money in the days to come, could have given to something outside itself. Instead, it quietly went undone. In fact, as we calculated later, if every person, gave one dollar every time we came together for Eucharist during our time here, we would have over $30,000 by the end of this convention to give to someone, or something Rauschenbusch would have smiled at. With Rauschenbusch, Gladden, and Riis’s names still hovering in the room, and with them looking on in the great cloud of witnesses we, in our worship, exemplified our continued pathology and denial around the issue of money.
Ironically my next task as Chair of the Stewardship and Development legislative committee was to move to our hearings on resolution AO87 entitled “Resolution on Wealth” calling on the church to truly take up the issue. We did in fact take this up, and afterward discussed what had just happened in our worship before. And, we created a resolution calling on this convention, and all future conventions, to never again neglect the chance to gift God’s children with a way to give back, even if it requires that we take four minutes of our precious time to do so.
dkosar1061 said:
Very well said Bishop Greg. What an opportunity missed. May all those who convene take the opportunity to give back what is on loan to us each time they meet during tis convention. Blessing for a good meeting.
JoAnn Winesdorfer said:
Thanks for your passion!! You are so right in calling this out!! Hang in there and stay strong!!
REBECCA D. OWSLEY said:
AMEN! And, thanks. I have often been puzzled and bothered by the omission of this element in our offertory when we gather.
Nancy Steele said:
Thanks, Rebecca of the DEM.
C Eric Funston said:
Amen, Bishop! My Methodist Sunday-School-teacher grandfather taught me to never come to God’s altar without a gift of sacrifice; that may often be (and should always be) our hearts and our lives, but a monetary offering is symbolic and sacramental of that. An opportunity and a testimony missed!
Sharon said:
Indeed, Greg. Thanks.
Rick Callaway said:
Thank you for this, and I will add my Amen, and this: A few GC’s back one of the Deputies (I believe from Virginia) made the observation – and urged us to do this – that if every one at Convention left a $2.00 tip for the housekeeper at the hotel each of the ten days of GC, we would add about $250,000 directly into the local economy, right into the hands of the working poor. There’s a way to make an offering !
Anne Ferguson said:
I do like this! And the Bishop’s remarks also . . .
Patricia McGuire said:
Hmmmmm…..$1 a day!!! What a thought….Thank you for your passion and attention to the “time constraints” for collecting $$$$ for the mission & ministry of the Church in the World. Please do keep pointing out the silly things …..Pat & Joe
Trish Ross said:
I’m a Deacon, called to work with one of the most marginalized groups on earth: rural, Mende women in Sierra Leone. I’ve come to see a group of people sitting in Starbucks, drinking $8 glasses of soy macchiolatte with no whip, as so many boxes of exam gloves for traditional birth attendants to use when delivering babies. When some of these say they’re too broke to give, I feel sad. When I see similar behavior on the church grounds, I feel angry. In the reign of God are there hungry people? Sick? Homeless? Ragged? In the context of the reign of God, can you imagine hungry women giving birth while shaking with malaria – and the babies unable to breathe? Thank you, Bishop, for taking action.
Chuck Runge said:
As Stanley Hauerwas put to paper, “No society can be just or good that is built on falsehood. The first task of Christian social ethics, therefore, in not to make the ‘world’ better or more just, but to help Christian people form their community consistent with their conviction that the story of Christ is a truthful account of our existence. For as H.R. Niebuhr argued, only when we know ‘what is going on,’ do we know ‘what we should do,’ and Christians believe rthat we learn most decisively ‘what is going on’ in the cross and resurrection of Christ.”
Keep up the good work brother.
Suzi Robertson said:
Amen, +Greg. Enough said.
Torey Lightcap said:
Well said as always, Bishop Greg!
Greg said:
Amen.
The Rev. said:
As a deacon in your diocese, Greg, I am shameless about asking St. Lukes for money for those with none. It is so sad that the greater church doesn’t “get” this. Keep preaching!!!
Rev Canon Janet Campbell said:
Amen, Greg. Thank you!
Earl said:
I am not convinced I should add an Amen here though it is politically correct to do so. Is offering = money is the equation we want to draw? Yes, collecting money for worthy causes is a good thing but is that what the offering during a Eucharist is really about? The good Bishop’s argument of all the good that could be done with the money seems to me a red herring. All that good can still be done with the money collected elsewhere. (I really like the idea of leaving good tips to the hotel staff.) The real issue is what is happing at the offering. The question should be what are we offering and why. Are we offering all of ourselves so that we can be renewed as participants in the breaking Kingdom or do we hold a something back like Cain? What does that dollar represent? All of yourself or your need for personal piety? Why just a dollar? Why not five, ten, all of your worldly assets? When I cut the four minutes from the liturgy so that I can go to a committee meeting to struggle with the budget, find a few moments of solitude to recharge, or laugh with friends, am I holding something back from the offering to God?
To be honest, if I were planning the liturgies, I would omit the collection of money as well. I would be more interested in a gathering such as this the participants offering their agendas and biases. There are plenty of opportunities to collect money.
Chuck Runge said:
The assumption of contemporary Christian social ethics that there is a special relatiinship between Christianity and some form of liberal democratic social system is incorrect.
marylouiselyons said:
The “either/or” false chice of your argument is the red herring. We have enough time to do both. Give our God-given gifts back to God as we’re worshipping God (NOT our interests) in that setting. Gifts are for giving. We have enough. We are invited by the transformational sacrifice of Jesus Christ to own that faith and visibly celebrate it. Give up the buck and see what happens!
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marylouiselyons said:
Being comfortable about money should not be a requisite to discussing it or inviting it. We’ve got a long way to go and I LIKE that resolution of yours!