A Theology of Gratitude

 Thanks to the Rev. Canon Heather Melton for her inspiring talk on Gratitude for our January 23 ANEW2 Zoom. 

She noted that 'gratitude has become transactional' (you give me a present, and I give you one) rather than a response to God's goodness. True Gratitude is a vulnerable process because when we are grateful, we recognize our dependence--on God and each other. Basically, everything is gift, even if it doesn't look that way at the time. Heather quoted Vincent Donovan, author of Christianity Rediscovered, as saying "Thank you means my love to your love." It is really knowing and responding to another person and to God. 

How do we start to be more grateful? We are invited to NOTICE things around us, even just a purring cat, seeing a bird, or having mittens. Heather shared some handouts, which can be downloaded from this Google Drive Folder. This includes a note from Heather, ways to Notice things to be grateful for, graphics about donating, and a list of UTO grants since the beginning. 

Heather gave a history of the United Thank Offering, which has been in service for 130 years. UTO gives over $1 Million in grants annually. Last year's gifts were given to ministries working to respond to COVID19. Mid-year grants of $400,000 were distributed. In 2021, the focus will be on ministries working for the care of creation. UTO empowers justice work when we, as individuals, cannot. Check out the UTO website for more information on grants, giving, and resources. You can also check the UTO page of this website for summaries of recent news. 

All comes from God and we really do have enough, are enough, and have enough to share. A simple way to share gratitude is to send a note to thank someone for who they are, or what they do (such as essential workers during COVID, or someone who may not know they are important to you). 

You can watch the entire presentation here:

Next month, Linda Rounds-Nichols will present All you need is Love on Feb. 27. 

More info is on the What's Happening page of this website. 

The rest of the year's schedule tentatively is: 

March 13: Lent Retreat via Zoom with Canon Lee Curtis (Embodied Spirituality…)

April 24: Borderlands Ministry with the Rev. Susan Hutchins

May 23: Loving our Mothers (the Rev. Jan Hosea)

June 26: Coming Together after COVID (the Rev. Pat Green)

July 24: Reconciliation (?)

August 28: Worship in Dance (the Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia) 

September 25: Humor in Religion (Camille Donoghue)

October 23: Spirituality of NM (?)

Nov. 13 or 20: Our Wise Women Heroes, our Annual Fall Weekend Retreat In person, pending COVID (led by Women's Ministry council members) 

December 11: Christmas Party

Opportunities for Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande

Vision for WDRG, as developed by the Women's Ministry Council:

Connect and support all women in their diverse ministries. Offering opportunity to gather for study, recreating, celebrating who we are as women of Faith, Hope, and Love.

Do you have an existing ECW (Episcopal Church Women) or other Women's group (including DOK) at your church? Cindy Davis is hoping to connect with all current women's groups throughout 2020, and needs your help. Please email her with the name of the president of your women's group!

Women’s Ministry: GATHER, LEARN, WORSHIP

(Feb. 8, 2020: Holy Faith Quiet Day on Hildegard of Bingen, Santa Fe)

Mar. 14, 2020: RE:Lent with Canon Lee Curtis (St. Luke’s, La Union)

Women’s Ministry Summer 2020: Creative Worship Workshop/Retreat (location TBD)

(Aug.: DOK Diocesan Assembly, Bosque Center)

Nov. 20-21: Wildernesses with the Rev. Carolyn Metzler (Bosque Center, ABQ)

March 4-5, 2021: Women of the Gospel Witness Jesus with Jane Ross at Bosque Center (Lent retreat)

Outreach at many events includes collections for women’s shelters, or Borderlands.

Women’s Ministry: CONNECT, SHARE, RE-CREATE

Participate and Follow via Website, Email, Facebook*

WDRG Liturgical Study: By Elaine Wilson, overview of Sunday Lessons and informational bits about history and BCP (sign up at WDRGStudy@gmail.com)  Posted on website and emailed to those signed up.

Also, in person class on Wednesday at Cathedral (10:30) 

Online presence: *VarietiesOfGifts.blogspot.com; Facebook.com/WomensMinistryOfDRG

E-Newsletter every other month, Website, and Together and In the Loop

UTO and Women's Ministry

Cindy Davis has been appointed the diocesan UTO chair by Bishop Michael. She hopes to coordinate with parishes to improve understanding of role and mission of UTO, locally, nationally, and internationally. 

If you would like to be part of a group coordinating this outreach of women and men in the Episcopal Church, contact Cindy. 

Women’s Ministry, UTO, and the Good Book Club

Join the Good Book Club in Epiphany, and be part of something big!

Women’s Ministry of the Diocese is joining with the United Thank Offering to participate in the Good Book Club during Epiphany. This year, we will focus on reading the Gospel of John. 

The reflections are from last year’s UTO Grant sites, so we hope you’ll follow along to hear the stories of those your blessings went on to bless while you work your way through John’s Gospel. https://episcopalchurch.org/library/document/go-gratitude-reflection-guide-gospel-john. The booklet is designed for weekly use by individuals or groups.  

Each week you will read a meditation, learn about a ministry, respond to thought-provoking questions, and think about what you are personally thankful for. You can join at any time throughout Epiphany.

If you are interested in learning more about UTO (United Thank Offering) check out their website (unitedthankoffering.com), or the new diocesan rep: Cindy Davis (utocindydrg@gmail.com).

United Thank Offering

According to the Episcopal Church website: the “United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through United Thank Offering, men, women, and children nurture the habit of giving daily thanks to God. These prayers of thanksgiving start when we recognize and name our many daily blessings. Those who participate in UTO discover that thankfulness leads to generosity. United Thank Offering is entrusted to promote thank offerings, to receive the offerings, and to distribute the UTO monies to support mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and in invited Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world.”

That sounds really good, but what does it mean in everyday language? Simply that the UTO gives us a chance regularly (daily) to remember that we have many blessings to be thankful for. We are ‘blessed to become a blessing.’ From Genesis forward, God has called on God’s people to become a blessing to others. God tells Abram (before he is renamed Abraham) “I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 3:2b) In the Beatitudes, Jesus also makes the point that we should “give and it will be given to you.” (Luke 6:28, Matthew 7:7)

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul spends two chapters talking about how generosity is a blessing to both giver and recipient. (2 Corinthians 8-9). Anyone who has volunteered in a thrift shop or food pantry, or any other ministry, knows the rewards of giving of self.

UTO gives us the opportunity to both say ‘thank you’ for our blessings and to reach out to the world in ways we couldn’t by ourselves. UTO funds projects ranging from kitchen equipment in a homeless shelter and playground equipment for a child-care center to a school in the Dominican Republic and a library for a seminary in Africa. Some recent gifts are listed here. Rickie Sherrill, UTO Chair in the DRG notes, in the last 7 years the DRG has received grants for Wings for Life, Roswell, A Peaceful Habitat in Albuquerque, and two for Gateway, El Paso!

Connie Osbourn who is the CPC representative says, “UTO builds the shelves and CPC puts books on them.” You can support both ministries without feeling that your gift to one is depriving the other.

UTO has been a ministry of the Episcopal Church since 1889 when the first offering was collected. It was initially a way for women to donate toward mission work in a time and culture where few women had much discretionary income. Now anyone and everyone can contribute. It is a great family activity and a good way to teach children to look for something positive in each day as they put a penny or more in the box.

Rickie Sherrill is the DRG UTO chair. Congregations are encouraged to take an in-gathering in spring and fall. At the Diocesan Convention, a representative from each congregation may bring their check forward to be put in the Diocesan UTO plate. This plate  (pictured below) was a gift from women of the Diocese in 1972 when, "a specially made alms basin, designed by Karl Larsson of Santa Fe, created ‘from jewelry given by women through the Episcopal diocese’ was blessed for use in collecting the annual UTO offering. In the center was the gold pectoral cross worn by Bishop Howden.” (From A Grain of Mustard Seed, by Cynthia Davis © 2008)

UTO Prayer

Gracious God, source of all creation, all love, all true joy: accept, we pray, these outward signs of our profound and continuing thankfulness for all of life. Bless those who will benefit from these gifts through the outreach of the United Thank Offering; and keep each of us ever thankful for all the blessings of joy and challenge that come our way; through Him who is the greatest gift and blessing of all, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen

Who are the Women of DRG? CPC

When some of the women's ministry leaders of the DRG met on April 14, we came up with the metaphor of a Prayer Shawl to illustrate our diversity. As I've considered this further, I think the image of a Quilt is more apt. We are multiple quilt squares that together make up a comforting cover. We are prayer warriors and students and diligent liturgical workers. We are young and not so young, single and married, professionals and stay at home moms-a diverse group to be sure! Like the little Sunbonnet Sue quilt girls, we are individually, and in our ministries, made up of many pieces that together become beautiful and useful.

The more we know about who we are, the ministries and stories we share, the better we'll come to understand each other.  To assist in learning about one another's ministries, today we'll start a series spotlighting various ministries Women in the Diocese of the Rio Grande are involved in. We may even learn about ministries opportunities we didn't know existed!

We start with a ministry that is not very well known: CPC or Church Periodical Club. I had read about the ways the Women's Auxiliary of the Cathedral supported CPC in the 1940's. At the time the Women's Auxiliary collected magazines that were “taken to the [7] hospitals, jails, Old Folk’s Homes, Salvation Army, Air Base, Community Center, USO, Traveler’s Aid, Indian Center, Carrie Tingley Hospital, Rural Teachers, and as far as Val Mora Sanitorium.” (From A Grain of Mustard Seed, by Cynthia Davis) To be candid, I didn't realize CPC was still in operation!

The CPC was founded in 1888 by Mary Ann Fargo at the Church of the Holy Communion, NYC. She and a small group of women began sending church periodicals, prayer books, and Bibles to missionaries in the Far West (the Dakotas!). CPC depends entirely on contributions to fund grants to hospitals, missionaries, Sunday schools, seminarians, prisons, libraries, and many other institutions. 

All ministries are more beneficial if we work together. Connie Osbourne, Province VII CPC board member, clergy wife, and member of St. Christopher's, Lovington, says this is clearly true with UTO and CPC. They are ministries that work hand-in-hand. "UTO builds the shelves, CPC fills them."

Grants are made through the National Book Fund to "meet religious and secular needs by providing printed and audio-visual materials to individuals, churches, and organizations affiliated with the Anglican Communion." According to Connie, a recent grant helped Sunday schools in Navajoland. Another grant she assisted with helped a seminarian obtain funds to purchase hymnals and other books for his church in Nigeria where "ten people were sharing one hymnal."

There are many ways you can become part of the CPC ministry.

• Collect used books and magazines for hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc.
• Purchase newspaper subscriptions for local institutions or college students and magazine subscriptions for clergy and other church workers. 
• Fund the purchase of devotional materials and/or for prayer groups and the home bound as well as adult education and Sunday school classes in churches or missions that cannot do so.  
• Suggest that your parish Sunday school participate in the Miles of Pennies drive which provides books and grants for children's needs from pre-school through grade 12.
• Participate in the annual CPC Sunday collection (May 1) and give throughout the year by collecting spare change. These funds provide monies for CPC grants. Information about recent grants is found on the CPC website.

Any of these should be reported to our Diocesan representative (Connie Osbourne), if you chose to undertake them as a project, so the CPC office can keep an accurate record. If you are interested in learning more about this interesting ministry, contact Connie Osbourne.  She would be delighted to talk to you in more detail about how you can share this information with your parish. She is also hoping to find a representative to help spread the word to churches around the state, esp. in the northern half.
If you have ever contributed to or been helped by CPC or know of someone who has, feel free to comment about it.
Next time we'll take a look at UTO, a ministry that is a little better known-at least by name, around the diocese. Meanwhile, add the important work of the CPC to your prayer intentions:

Bless 0 Lord, The Church Periodical Club, that it may be an instrument for the spread of your Word throughout the world. Grant to its officers wisdom and patience, to its members perseverance and the spirit of sharing that asks no return. Bring more to take part in its mission and ministry. Bless our gifts and those who receive them, to the enrichment of individual lives, that we all may be servants of the risen Lord. Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, We ask for your continuing guidance for The Church Periodical Club. Help us all to know your will in this ministry of the printed word. Help us all to see where there is need and to fill this need in the spirit of Christian People Caring, remembering always that our Lord Jesus Christ came not to be served but to serve. Make us aware: Help us to hear the voices of word-hungry people in your world, and to respond. This we ask in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.