President's Blog

As 2009 draws to a close, one can almost hear the sighs of relief.   The financial crisis has affected millions here in the U.S. But even in the midst of it, I’m reminded of the vital support we get from the men, women and children of the Episcopal Church.  For without that faithful support, the things left undone would be even more sobering than they already are. 

As bad as things were here, it is always those living in the poorest parts of the world who are hit hardest. We are seeing firsthand how the crisis is affecting them—and we are also experiencing the impact on our work. Looking at some of the year-end reports from our program partners, I pray that things will get better soon.

Just to give you a sense of what has happened in our Latin America programs:

• In 2008, our program with an ecumenical partnership in Haiti planted almost 1,000,000 trees.  However, for 2009, we are expecting to plant half that amount: around 500,000.

• In 2008, as part of the Haitian church’s social safety net, our school canteen feeding program for young children in primary schools fed approximately 1,500 children.  However, for 2009 we will feed about 1,000 children, and we expect to have to decrease the amount further in 2010.  That is 500 children who will not receive a hot meal in school.

• The number of latrines built by communities in Nicaragua is half what it was for 2008 due to both a decrease in budget and a concurrent increase in the cost of building materials.  We had seen over the past two years a steady decrease in the number of people with diarrhea in areas where our program is implemented.  However, we are afraid that with fewer sanitation facilities such as latrines, wells, and washing stations built by the communities, we may see diarrhea rates increase. This is particularly worrisome and dangerous, as dehydration and diarrhea are among the top killers of children under five in developing countries.

Poverty is an immediate and critical problem for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Lower or delayed donations in 2009 for Episcopal Relief & Development and other humanitarian organizations meant that the poor of the world measured the economic crisis not in dollars, but in meals foregone, increases in preventable disease and—almost certainly—lives lost.

Those of you who support our work have given sacrificially to Episcopal Relief & Development and I am deeply grateful.  Had you not supported us, the things left undone would have been even more catastrophic.

As the final darkest days of the year draw around us and Advent comes to a close with Jesus’ birth, I found myself lingering over this wonderful prayer by Mary C. Earle in San Antonio, Texas from Lifting Women’s Voices:

O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come Emmanuel
Come now to us, in your many disguises
Come now to us, in every language
Come now to us, in every culture

Come now to us, in every color
Come now to us, that every moment may be pregnant with your advent
Come now to us, that we may breathe and labor and deliver you
Here, now, in our midst and in our souls
And let us say:  Amen.

May the baby Jesus live in your soul this Christmastide and for ever-more.

Not long after my wife and I joined our church here in New York City (now nearly 18 years ago), I remember being stunned during the annual stewardship campaign when fellow members came to the lectern to give personal, and many times emotional, testimonials about how giving transformed their lives.

My wife, who was raised as a Baptist, reacted along the lines of “It’s about time!”  My own upbringing as a cradle Episcopalian—and I mean this literally, as I was baptized at Episcopal Divinity School where my father was a seminarian—had not prepared me for the open conversation about money.  I just looked at my shoes.

One Sunday, a tall and beautiful member of our parish stepped to the lectern to speak.  I didn’t know the woman well, but I’d certainly noticed her (who wouldn’t have?).  I decided this time I wouldn’t look at my shoes.

She told a very affecting story of how giving to our church had transformed her life and ended with this line: “Don’t just give until it hurts, give until it doesn’t hurt anymore.” 

That sentence has stayed with me ever since, because it gets at a fundamental truth about giving.  The more you give (and I don’t mean necessarily money), the better you will feel.

It turns out that science backs this up.  An article in the Health section of the New York Times on Tuesday describes how helping others actually leads to biological changes that increase emotional and physical well being:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/01well.html?emc=eta1

It ends with a wonderful quote from Dr. Stephen Post:  “To rid yourself of negative emotional states you need to push them aside with positive emotional states.  And the simplest way to do that is to just go out and lend a helping hand to somebody.”

In what ways are you sharing your gifts with others during this season of giving? How is it making a difference in your life?