The passage discusses how the earliest Christians lived communally, sharing possessions and distributing resources to those in need. While this exact model may not be practical, it prompts reconsidering what we own individually versus what we hold in common. The author reflects that in reality, we do hold all things in common as interconnected neighbors, with a shared responsibility to care for resources that belong to all.

2. Dear Friend,
The season of Lent provides a unique opportunity for us to embark
on a journey toward an encounter with the risen Christ. As we turn
toward a more intentional spiritual focus in our lives this season,
we have a renewed opportunity to encounter Christ in all persons,
loving our neighbors as ourselves.
In this eleventh edition of Episcopal Relief & Development’s Lenten
Meditations, we invited a group of leaders from across the Anglican
Communion to reflect on their favorite scriptures and other sources
of spiritual wisdom as they consider their own work to strengthen
communities and provide economic opportunities. We asked these
leaders to focus particularly on the important roles of women
running small businesses or earning incomes to support their
families. This promotes self-sufficiency and encourages women to
become active and vocal members of their communities.
It is our hope that the 2014 Lenten Meditations will bring the risen
Christ into our awareness each day and help us to prayerfully fulfill
God’s call in our lives to heal a hurting world.
Sincerely in Christ,
Robert W. Radtke
President
Episcopal Relief & Development

3. 2
Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and
development agency of The Episcopal Church and an independent
501(c)(3) organization. The agency takes its mandate from Jesus’
words found in Matthew 25. Its programs work toward achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Episcopal Relief &
Development works closely with the worldwide church and
ecumenical partners to help rebuild after disasters and to empower
local communities to find lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger
and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Episcopal Relief & Development collaborates with Anglican churches
and local organizations in nearly forty countries around the world.
We support programs in the following areas:
• Alleviating Hunger and Improving Food Supply
• Creating Economic Opportunities and Strengthening
Communities
• Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
• Responding to Disasters and Rebuilding Communities
Episcopal Relief & Development uses the MDGs as a framework
to guide our efforts and help us measure our impact. All of our
programs work to achieve one or more of the eight MDG goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education for children
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development

4. 3
Authors
Dámaris Albuquerque is Executive Director of the Council of
Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD).
Chad Brinkman is the Associate for Engagement at Episcopal Relief
& Development.
The Very Rev. Sam Candler is Dean of The Cathedral of St. Philip
in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Rev. Rachel Carnegie is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s
Secretary for International Development.
The Rev. Laura Darling is the Managing Director of Confirm not
Conform. In 2008, she worked as a Kiva Fellow with microfinance
institutions in Kampala, Uganda.
Sara Delaney is an International Program Officer for Episcopal
Relief & Development.
The Rt. Rev. Moses Deng Bol is Bishop of the Diocese of Wau,
South Sudan.
Robin Denney served as an Episcopal missionary in Liberia and
South Sudan.
Miguel Angel Escobar is a Program Director for the Episcopal
Church Foundation whose primary responsibilities include Vital
Practices, Fellowship Partners Program, and other Leadership
Resources programs.
The Rev. Scott Gunn is Executive Director of Forward Movement.
The Rev. Canon Rosa Lee Harden is Canon for Money and
Meaning at the Cathedral of All Souls in Asheville, North Carolina,
and also produces conferences that bring together the ideas of
money and faith in traditional financial markets.

5. 4
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori is Presiding Bishop of
The Episcopal Church.
Sister Claire Joy is a member of the Community of the Holy Spirit
and Chaplain to the staff of Episcopal Relief & Development.
Sean McConnell is Director of Engagement for Episcopal Relief &
Development.
The Rev. Mary Moreno Richardson is the founder of The
Guadalupe Art Program and a priest in the Diocese of California.
Judith Morrison is a member of the Board of Directors of
Episcopal Relief & Development and has worked in international
development for almost twenty years.
Abagail Nelson is Senior Vice President for Programs at Episcopal
Relief & Development.
The Rev. Deacon Judy Quick is Episcopal Relief & Development’s
Diocesan Coordinator in the Diocese of Alabama.
Robert W. Radtke is President of Episcopal Relief & Development.
The Rev. Canon C. K. (Chuck) Robertson is Canon to the Presiding
Bishop of The Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Ema Rosero-Nordalm is Missioner for Latino/Hispanic
Ministries in the Diocese of Massachusetts and deacon at St.
Stephen’s, Boston.
Faith Rowold is Communications Officer for Episcopal Relief &
Development.
The Rev. Connie Sánchez is Director of the Anglican Development
Agency for the Diocese of Honduras.
Brian Sellers-Petersen is Senior Advisor to the President of
Episcopal Relief & Development.

6. 5
Mary Stuart Smart was selected as a fellow to join Episcopal
Relief & Development’s 2013 Ghana pilgrimage, and is a student at
Sewanee: The University of the South.
The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers is Canon for Missional Vitality
in the Diocese of Long Island.
Jenny Te Paa Daniel is a teacher, writer, speaker and public
theologian in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and
Polynesia.
Richelle Thompson is Managing Editor for Forward Movement.
Jackie VanderBrug is a Senior Vice President at U.S. Trust
and a leader in the movement to incorporate a gender lens in
investments.
José Zárate is the Coordinator for Indigenous Communities and
Latin America and Caribbean Development Program for The
Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican
Church of Canada.
Helen Zhao is Deputy Director of the Project Management Center
for The Amity Foundation, an independent Chinese voluntary
organization.
Sources
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version
Bible, copyrighted © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and used
by permission. Psalm passages are from the Psalter in The Book of
Common Prayer.

7. 6
Cover photo courtesy of Episcopal Relief & Development and
Harvey Wang for Episcopal Relief & Development.
©2014 Episcopal Relief & Development
All rights reserved.

8. 7
2014
Ash Wednesday, March 5
We have not loved you with our
whole heart, and mind, and strength.
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
—The Book of Common Prayer, p. 267
Loving our neighbor can look like ensuring her ability to feed
herself and her family. Jesus fed people, and that feeding is still
central to how we remember and become his body in the world
today. Poor women—in his day and our own—often depend
on male relatives for their livelihoods. Microfinance, growing
food more effectively and developing agricultural and market
cooperatives are important tools that help the poor increase
their ability to feed themselves and their children. That kind
of development also brings dignity, as women find agency and
become more effective partners in decision-making. Agency is an
image of God’s presence and action in the world.
Lent invites us to reflect on loving God and neighbor and to
examine our own actions and inactions. Prayer, study, fasting and
giving alms are traditional ways to observe this season—and all
are avenues to loving more fully—with heart, mind, strength and
substance. How will I live and love differently this Lent? How will I
become God’s agent and help others to do the same?
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
—Psalm 51:11
—The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

9. 8
2014
Thursday, March 6
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things
are mine, says the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will
look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at
my word.
—Isaiah 66:2
Over and over in the Bible, God calls to the outsiders, those whom
the community or the world has marginalized: Sarah, the barren
elder woman, has a child, Isaac; Ruth, the foreigner, mothers the
Davidic dynasty; Moses, the adopted Egyptian, encounters God
while fleeing as a murderer and returns a guide and a leader. Christ
Jesus walks with prostitutes, parties with tax collectors, and heals
the blind and the lame.
For those who have been consistently ignored, marginalized and
even forgotten by the world, the idea that God might choose the
lowly to be heard, to be noticed, to be preferred is something that
bursts into reality like a gift, a possibility for transformation. God
does not choose the poor in order for them to remain quiescent
in their secret preferred state. Scripture instead shows us that the
Samaritans, the prostitutes, the exiled are called to act out God’s
love in faith in the world, and in so doing, become the leaders we
all wait for.
In our programs at Episcopal Relief & Development, we seek to
emulate our Lord by listening to those who are often marginalized
in places around the world, and to honor the gifts they bring to
the table, to build their own savings banks, to carry their own
mosquito nets, to ensure that their own children are nurtured and
fed. Some call this asset-based community development. We call it
discipleship.
—Abagail Nelson

10. 9
2014
Friday, March 7
The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap
sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your
mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
—2 Corinthians 9:6-7
Norah chuckles as she watches the fingerlings jumping in her pond.
Smiling broadly, she gives a large plastic bag full of young fish to
her neighbor. “Now, go and grow fish!” she says.
Norah started with a tiny pond of fish, but her work flourished,
and now she has created three large ponds below her house. Her
fish business, in the hills of Kenya, has taken off. “We live far from
the sea, but we have learned to enjoy fish,” she says.
Norah is a born innovator. She absorbs new ideas and tries them
out on her small farm. Her three dairy cows now fuel a homemade
bio-gas plant, which generates enough for her cooking. And her
fruit trees grow abundantly on the waste.
Norah has done so well with her little farm. She loves sharing all
that she has learned with her neighbors, who come regularly to
marvel and learn from her innovations. “I give them fifty little fish,
and their lives can change,” she reflects cheerfully.
—Rachel Carnegie

11. 10
2014
Saturday, March 8
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward
for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but
woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another
to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep
warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will
withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
—Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Indigenous women face injustice from lack of basic services,
education, health care and general opportunities for advancement.
In 1998, a group of indigenous women from the Six Nations of the
Grand River community in Canada invited The Primate’s World
Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada
(PWRDF) to learn about their business ideas, including handcrafts
and First Nations art designs and clothes. They expressed their
challenges to initiate new businesses, because traditional banks felt
they were too high of a risk.
PWRDF partnered with the Two Rivers Community Development
Centre to create a microfinance initiative aimed at providing funds
for indigenous women to start small businesses. This initiative
contributed to the creation of ten new enterprises and eighteen new
jobs. This success is attributed to women who repaid their loans,
allowing new ones to benefit.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for
their toil…These entrepreneurs walk stronger side by side by
ensuring that the revolving funds are available for others. How
might we support more indigenous women to reach their goals of
self-sufficiency?
— José Zárate

12. 11
2014
Sunday, March 9
We know that all things work together for good for those
who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
—Romans 8:28
My favorite Bible passage has always been Micah 6:8. It is my
go-to reading especially when times are tough, and I am up against
those with both the propensity and the capacity for abusing power.
These are the times when I find myself praying out loud—and at
times in plaintive desperation for answers: what, dear God, am I
to do? Simple, so simple, is the response. “To do justice and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).
Unerringly Micah provides this beautifully unambiguous
prescriptive response to my “what” question. This is what you
are to do.
Like many Christians, I tend not to ask “why” questions as they
seem almost disrespectful. My faith, our shared faith, is of course
always the reason why.
Like many Christians, however, I tend also to stumble at times and
in those moments of doubt and uncertainty, yearn for reassurance
that why I do what I do matters to God.
Lent is that most precious of times for asking ourselves these very
important self-reflective questions. It is the time for recognizing
what causes us to stumble, what causes us to doubt, and what it is
we need reassuring about.
And so it is that as I consider anew the very short verse from
Romans, I find myself powerfully reassured that the answer to
the why I do what I do question has been so simply and yet so
lovingly crafted.

13. 12
We have indeed been called out through our baptism to serve
God’s purpose. Even in the toughest of times, we can be assured
that in so doing, ultimately all things will work together for good
because of our faith-filled love of God.
Loving God, in this precious Lenten time enables us to ponder
anew both the “what” and the “why” questions. Guide us, assure
us, strengthen us and inspire us as we undertake to always be
your faithful missional servants. Amen.
—Jenny Te Paa Daniel

14. 13
2014
Monday, March 10
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience.
—Colossians 3:12
In a Lenten devotional book focused on women’s empowerment,
it’s challenging to look at the third chapter of Colossians. Among
other things, the passage tells wives to be subject to their husbands
and instructs slaves to obey their masters. Passages such as these
require careful study, but, mostly, they invite a thoughtful reading
of the wider context of the gospel message. Jesus reminds us, his
followers, again and again that to find our lives, we have to lose
them. We have to take up our cross and follow him. We are all
servants.
The underlying theme—that which undergirds the gospels—is
that we must follow Jesus in all we do, that the cross alone is our
focus. Whatever earthly relationships we have are governed by
God’s more profound desire that we love God and our neighbors.
In our various ministries, outside and inside the church, we are
called to proclaim and to practice God’s love for every person.
That task both invites each of us to be a servant and empowers
us all.
—Scott Gunn

15. 14
2014
Tuesday, March 11
All who believed were together and had all things in
common; they would sell their possessions and goods and
distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
—Acts 2:44-45
One way we might live as followers of Jesus is to look to those who
were closest to him: How did the earliest Christians live? How did
those who knew Jesus live as his followers?
Acts tells us they sold all they had, held their money in common
and helped those in need. Whatever its appeal, this model has not
prevailed. Yet I think it’s time to engage again the question of what
we own and what we hold in common.
As I grapple with this, the refrain that echoes in my mind is not
that we should hold all in common, but that we do hold all things
in common.
Wendell Berry famously says: “Do unto those downstream as
you would have those upstream do unto you.” Our neighbors
downstream depend on us to care for our part of the river, so the
water is clean for them, too. Every person reading this is someone’s
upstream neighbor.
We care for the river in common. It belongs to all of us. In fact, it
all belongs to all of us. Property deeds and car titles try to convince
us differently, but they cannot hide the truth that we all must
care for one another, and those with resources have a particular
responsibility for those in need.
—Rosa Lee Harden

16. 15
2014
Wednesday, March 12
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the
world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need
and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love,
not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
—1 John 3:17-18
Nicaragua, like other countries, relies heavily on artisanal, small-
scale agriculture for its subsistence. This means that farmers
depend on the rain or lack of it to produce.
CEPAD, the Council of Protestant Churches in Nicaragua, has been
working since 1972 in several rural communities of the country,
teaching techniques in soil and water conservation, association
and diversification of crops, organic practices and, recently, water
harvest. The techniques are applied by farmers to prevent losses by
drought or flooding and for better nutrition for their families.
Episcopal Relief & Development is a partner of these efforts.
Together we are finding ways to improve the lives of 168 families
in two regions of the country. It may not seem like much, but to
those families, this effort means healthier futures for their children,
because they will be able to eat healthier food from their land and
will be able to sell the extra produce at local markets.
During this time of Lent, let us reflect on how mutual support and
encouragement can go a long way.
—Dámaris Albuquerque

17. 16
2014
Thursday, March 13
Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought,
thinking, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,”
and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and
give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you,
and you would incur guilt. Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so,
for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in
all that you undertake.
—Deuteronomy 15:9-10
There’s a phenomenon described by social psychologists as the
“bystander effect.” Basically, the more people around a situation
that requires action, the less likely anyone is to actually respond.
Research continues into the mechanisms for why this happens, but
a lot of it seems to come down to thinking “someone else will do
it.” Someone else will give the guy on the corner something to eat.
Someone else will organize the rummage sale for Rally Day. Someone
else will visit the older lady who usually sits in the second pew.
But scripture calls us out, asking: Why are you waiting to show
mercy? Why are you waiting to lend a hand?
Do we think help will come from some external source? Do
we forget that we are God’s hands on earth, called to love our
neighbors as ourselves?
The farmers in Binaba, Ghana, know this. When they pool their
labor so that no one has to weed their whole plot by themselves,
they give freely of their time and effort, knowing that help will
come their way when needed and that shared skills and knowledge
help everyone’s crops flourish.
—Faith Rowold

18. 17
2014
Friday, March 14
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one
another with whatever gift each of you has received.
—1 Peter 4:10
When mired in extreme poverty, physical or emotional, it is
understandable to think that one has nothing to give. Yet God’s
generous grace bestows on each of us some gift, some talent.
With prayer and guidance, we can discern these gifts.
To discover the unique gifts of a local community, Episcopal
Relief & Development uses the asset-based community
development model in places such as Ghana, where they partner
with the Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization
(ADDRO). With conversation, relationships and time, the gifts
become evident.
Alice’s uncertain future in Yelwoko, Ghana, became clear. ADDRO
funds the Anglican Women’s Development Group, which trained
Alice as a seamstress. Alice discovered a talent for sewing and a
gift for teaching. She now teaches other girls (ages twelve through
eighteen) in the community in a three-year seamstress program
and gives shorter batik and beading courses. The girls sell their
creations in the market, providing income so they can eat two
meals a day and send their children to school.
Through God’s grace and in partnership with Episcopal Relief &
Development, these young women serve one another and their
community with their unique gifts.
What gift has God given you? How do you serve others with this
gift?
—Judy Quick

19. 18
2014
Saturday, March 15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved
by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly
explaining the word of truth.
—2 Timothy 2:15
After three years of study and commitment, the young women
gathered for graduation and stood behind their new sewing
machines. I expected to see all smiles and happy faces.
The celebration was in a village outside of Bolgatanga, Ghana,
and all the families, teachers, children and elders were there. And
these young women, each dressed in dresses made from batik
cloth they had dyed themselves and designs they had created, that
they had sewn themselves as they acted as models and forms for
one another—on what must have been the proudest day of their
lives, not one of the nine looked happy. Their faces carried in them
the look that I imagine Jesus had when he surveyed the hungry
five thousand, or that Gandhi had as he encountered the crowds
joining the Salt March. Their faces were serious, and resolute, and
faithful, and carried a great deal of responsibility, all at once.
Their faces carried messages to those gathered: messages of
gratitude, of assurance that they would use their hard-earned
knowledge for the betterment of those around them: teachers,
families, communities. In their faces they showed that they were
ready to go out and make the world a better place. And somehow,
I believe they will.
—Sean McConnell

20. 19
2014
Sunday, March 16
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is useful for building up,
as there is need, so that your words
may give grace to those who hear.
—Ephesians 4:29
What we say matters. Indeed, it matters a great deal. The childhood
adage about sticks and stones—“but words will never hurt me”—is
courageous but often untrue. After all, words can and do hurt. Our
words can steal a person’s joy and murder their spirit, destroy their
reputation and lead them to resentment or envy. In the same way,
words can and do make us feel valued. “I love you.” “I forgive you.”
“I am so very proud of you.” These are building blocks for helping
construct a healthy and happy life.
The fact is that great power is unleashed, for good or for bad, for
building up or for tearing down, every time we choose to open
our mouths. It is little wonder, then, that James urges followers
of Christ to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger”
(James 1:19). How utterly countercultural this is today, as we tune
in to just about any talk show program and hear talking heads carp
at each other with no one truly listening to the other.
On the cross, when he understandably could have cursed his
tormenters or insulted his fellow prisoners, Jesus instead chose to
speak words of forgiveness on behalf of those who knew not what
they did and to speak words of comfort to a criminal who had little
hope. May I choose this day to offer forgiveness and hope and value
to those I encounter—through my words as well as my deeds. May
my words build up, always.
—C. K. (Chuck) Robertson

21. 20
2014
Monday, March 17
And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you
did it to one of the least of these who are members of my
family, you did it to me.”
—Matthew 25:40
Shortly before his death in 2005, John Garang, who led the fight for
our freedom in South Sudan, said, “Women in the Sudan are the
marginalized of the marginalized.” So much has changed since he
said this, but shamefully this statement is still true, especially in
the Bahr El Ghazel region where I come from in South Sudan.
Official government statistics say 98 percent of women in the
region cannot read or write. Although a few girls go to school,
most will not complete their education. They will likely be married
off for a dowry. The dowry may be paid in stolen cows, a practice
fueling the current tribal conflict in South Sudan.
Yet we rely on these same women to provide food, manage our
homes and raise our children. They are such a central part of our
society, and, I think, these women are the key to unlocking a better
future for South Sudan. We should care more for those who seem
to be the least important in our society. We should empower them
to take their proper place in our shared future.
What if we lifted up those who are the very least in our society,
showed them we cared and empowered them to make the future
their own as equals in their own country? What if we included you?
—Moses Deng Bol

22. 21
2014
Tuesday, March 18
John answered, “No one can receive anything
except what has been given from heaven.”
—John 3:27
The best kind of giving comes from the belief that our most prized
gifts must be shared. Our gifts are heavenly and multiply in the
sharing.
Through my international work, I have seen countless times that
the gifts I value the most are ones I share and that others share
with me. Several years ago I had the privilege of seeing a young
deaf man in Paraguay teach a blind and deaf baby in an orphanage
her first word in sign language. The gift the young man gave to this
baby girl has multiplied many times over.
The girl has been able to share with others the meaning of the word
that she learned: love. And for me, witnessing this remarkable
exchange has been a life-transforming gift given to me by a baby.
She allowed me to see how capable she is of learning and loving. I
continue to honor this gift by sharing the story of her triumph with
others.
The incredible power of humanity is that we are all capable of
giving. God has given us all talents—our gifts from heaven—that
are in abundance and can be found in the most isolated and silent
places in our world.
How will you share your divine gifts with others today?
—Judith Morrison

23. 22
2014
Wednesday, March 19
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let
each of you look not to your own interests, but to the
interests of others.
—Philippians 2:3-4
Nandong Village is located in a minority area in southwest China.
In the past, villagers were splintered, working their own land or
with small businesses.
In March 2012, the Women’s Development Association of Nandong
was established, and Xiao Ping was elected chair. The village
committee provided 1.3 hectares of paddy fields to support the
association. Under the leadership of Xiao Ping, women learn to
read, study planting and husbandry, participate in traditional dance
workshops and take study tours. The members also actively work
the association’s farmland. Last year, they earned 29,800 yuan from
the harvest. The association used this money to support the elderly
and children from poor families. They also helped disabled and
poor women grow rice. Their work receives consistent high praise
from the villagers as the area becomes cleaner, the women become
more confident and the cohesion of the community grows.
Through the women’s association, we realize the power of
community. Through bringing people together and building
capacity, we can fulfill our dreams and realize God’s plan for us.
—Helen Zhao

24. 23
2014
Thursday, March 20
And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and
good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit
of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as
you see the Day approaching.
— Hebrews 10:24-25
The Nuu-chah-nulth nation has about 10,000 members living in
fourteen communities in British Columbia. Less than 2 percent are
fluent in the language, and most of those fluent speakers are over
sixty-five years old.
Since 2002, the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development
Corporation (NEDC) has partnered with The Primate’s World
Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada
(PWRDF) to implement a Nuu-chah-nulth Language and Culture
Program. The program provides funding to projects aimed at the
preservation and promotion of their language and culture.
The methods of preserving and teaching this ancient language
are very modern. NEDC provides funding for groups that use
Facebook to connect speakers of Nuu-chah-nulth, YouTube to share
videos of elders speaking the language, DVDs featuring pronun-
ciation guides, and more. Nuu-chah-nulth was purely an oral
language until recently, so most fluent speakers aren’t literate in it.
NEDC has been successful at working with their communities to
secure language and culture for the current and future generations.
“Provoke one another to love and good deeds…encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Let us
reflect during this Lenten season on how we can continue working
with indigenous communities in their goal of self-determination.
—José Zárate

25. 24
2014
Friday, March 21
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing
is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
—Hosea 6:3
Over the years, I have been privileged to meet Episcopal Relief
& Development partners around the world who are constantly
pressing to make lives better—family, community and self. In
pressing to make things better, they make God’s love tangible:
mosquito nets. Microloans. Seeds and tools. Maternal and child
health programs. Clean water.
The idea that God will come to us like rain showers makes me
think of water: Moses’ trip down the Nile in a basket. Parting the
Red Sea. Jesus’ baptism by John. The Sea of Galilee. Water turned
into wine. Jesus walking on water. Our Baptismal Covenant.
I also think about catchment tanks and rain barrels that catch
rainwater and provide access to fresh, clean water safe for drinking.
Episcopal Relief & Development partners and community members
build and maintain these tanks and bring hope to family, friends
and whole communities. If you visit www.episcopalrelief.org and
type “Water Catchment Kenya” into the search box, you will find a
wonderful story about “spring rains that water the earth.”
Press on!
—Brian Sellers-Petersen

26. 25
2014
Saturday, March 22
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and
give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out,
an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no
moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
—Luke 12:32-34
Marie and Jean surveyed their new banana grove, bunches of
ripening fruit all around. Their neighbors were impressed too—
and eager to learn the new cultivation techniques. Here was
hope—reclaiming their land in Eastern Congo, ravaged by years of
conflict—and sustainable hope too, as the bananas would feed all
their children, with enough left over to sell.
Marie and Jean are part of a movement in the Anglican Church
of Congo called Ensemble Nous Pouvons (Together We Can).
This approach involves local churches and their communities
thinking about the gifts God has given them in their skills, in
their environment, in their “togetherness.” It asks them to consider
where their true treasure lies—and how that treasure can bring
hope to others. Supported by Episcopal Relief & Development,
church leaders and community members visit other communities
to learn and be inspired, and then, helped by a facilitator, they
decide their own priorities. Some communities identify health,
others education. In Marie and Jean’s community, the priority was
growing enough food to feed themselves and to sell. Discovering
what it means to be “good news” to each other, they are also
creating a wealth of relationships and trust. Together this local
church and community are building the kingdom, here and now.
—Rachel Carnegie

27. 26
2014
Sunday, March 23
Give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap;
for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
—Luke 6:38
A good measure…not a half-hearted consolation prize, not a guilt-
trip donation, wrung out of you by someone you need to impress,
but a heaping, sifted, tamped-down measure. This is the way Luke
describes the gift we must give, and the gift that will be given back.
In other places, the Bible says you will receive ten times what you
give. My experience mostly has been somewhere between those
estimates. And except in the cosmic sense, the giving is not usually
reciprocal. The point is that giving, like forgiving, is one of those
amazing mysteries of God’s grace. Giving produces in and of itself a
mental attitude of gratitude. Whatever we get in return, we actually
appreciate more.
—Sister Claire Joy

28. 27
2014
Monday, March 24
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every
way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the
whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament
with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly,
promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
—Ephesians 4:15-16
I know, I know. Anybody of any spiritual interest at all seems to
be saying, “I am spiritual but not religious.” We know what they
mean, that they enjoy a purer sense of the Holy when they are
not trapped and frustrated by the mechanics and structure and
sometimes sheer boredom of institutional life.
But good spirituality is always about the body as well as the soul.
Our bodies really do carry soul. And bodies need bones and
muscles and ligaments; our bodies need mechanics. From the
greatest to the least. So it is that Ephesians 4:16 indicates that the
Body of Christ is joined and knit together by every ligament doing
its part.
The root meaning of the word “religion” includes the root meaning
of ligament, “to tie back together.” Good religion, then, is about
tying and holding together the critical pieces of our spirituality.
Pray for the church today. Pray for the church as a living body,
which really does need structures and ligaments, from the greatest
to the least. That body really does carry the living Christ, our Soul.
—Sam Candler

29. 28
2014
Tuesday, March 25
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant
you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance
with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
—Romans 15:5-6
Please let me tell you about signs of encouragement in South
Sudan.
In our Wau Diocese, the Mothers Union operates literacy and
financial education programs that empower women with these
two key skills needed to advance in life. We get help from the
United Kingdom’s Mothers Union to do this.
Please let me tell you about Naomi Bakri, a South Sudanese mother
living in France. She speaks in various churches and raises money
for women’s adult education. I praise God and give thanks to
Naomi for her example and great kindness.
Please let me tell you about Val Wilson and a group of women from
Pool Deanery in the United Kingdom. Together they have raised
funds so that women may attend St. John’s Theological College in
our own cathedral compound.
In Wau Diocese, we want to build a secondary school for girls. It
is a dream of mine to make a bold statement that the education of
girls and women is vital and necessary. We are working with the
government to advocate and remind them of their pledge to open
25 percent of government employment to women at all levels.

30. 29
Let me ask you, what if we could achieve this? What if we could
make a change that lasted forever? What if we did this together and
enriched each other in doing it?
So that together, we may with one voice glorify the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Moses Deng Bol
For all Christians in their vocation
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit
the whole body of your faithful people is governed
and sanctified: Receive our supplications
and prayers, which we offer before you for all
members of your holy Church, that in their
vocation and ministry they may truly and
devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer, p. 256

31. 30
2014
Wednesday, March 26
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap
to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of
your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or
gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them
for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
—Leviticus 19:9-10
I like efficiency. It’s a congenital legacy reinforced by my Dutch
Calvinist heritage and enshrined through tales of my grandfather’s
work as a tool and die maker. His precision and economy of
movement compounded as he honed hundreds of mechanisms in
his shop.
Predisposition to efficiency fits well into my professional world
of investing and finance. So I am stopped short by the dramatic
injunction to leave some of the fields unharvested. It clashes with
the financial drive for focus, efficiency and maximization. Reduce
transaction costs and risk; drive profits. Every bit of capital must be
gleaned, right?
When we consider investments from a sustainability or values
perspective, we may answer differently. We see that what we don’t
“price”—like the ability for all to prosper, breathe clean air and
have access to capital—is, in the long term, valuable. We begin to
see opportunities to invest our money, looking not to reap to the
edges, but standing in solidarity with others. To consider all of
our relationships, the full spectrum of God’s economy. That’s the
economy where nothing is wasted but not all is efficient.
—Jackie VanderBrug

32. 31
2014
Thursday, March 27
Whatever your task, put yourselves into it,
as done for the Lord and not for your masters.
—Colossians 3:23
I was definitely not taking typing. Nor would I major in English,
become a teacher or nurse or learn how to cook. As a teen, I was
determined not do things I thought others expected of a woman.
I didn’t want my gender to presuppose my actions or profession.
I was so caught up in my own ego, in a self-righteousness masked
as feminism, that I almost missed the vocation God had laid out
for me.
Somehow, despite my stubbornness, my father convinced me to
take a semester of typing. And my English teacher wrote notes in
the corner of my papers, suggesting I continue to write, even while
I pursued my plans for medical school. When you write, when you
tell stories, she said, you come alive.
During college, I began to understand that the choices I make for
my life shouldn’t be for or against what others expect—or how I’m
rebelling against those expectations. Gender rules and stereotypes
can be an insidious master. Instead I needed to discern the gifts
given to me by God—and do my best to honor them.
So I write, I tell stories, and I help others tell stories. And, as my
dad often reminds me, I’m thankful every day for that typing class.
—Richelle Thompson

33. 32
2014
Friday, March 28
Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
—Proverbs 31:8-9
When I read this passage, I am reminded of a carpenter—not the
one you are probably thinking of, but John Awozo, a man whose
life and work reflects Christ. Otherwise known as the headmaster,
John runs a vocational carpentry school for men with disabilities in
a small village in northern Ghana.
In many countries, including Ghana, it is customary for families
to hide away the disabled because they are seen as social stigmas.
Many times, they are deemed “cursed” and are hidden away for a
lifetime. Deaf himself, John goes from hut to hut recruiting and
freeing the disabled from lives of solitude and shame.
With the support of Episcopal Relief & Development and
its partner, the Anglican Diocesan Development & Relief
Organization, John is not only able to house and feed his students
but train them in carpentry skills as well. John teaches them a
trade while teaching them how to lead meaningful lives. Such an
education opens otherwise closed doors, allowing his students the
opportunity to create their own businesses and livelihoods.
John Awazo speaks out, passionately and eloquently, for the
disabled. He is a sign of God’s unconditional love and God’s call
that we be Christ’s hands, feet, and yes, voice, for those in need.
—Mary Stuart Smart

34. 33
2014
Saturday, March 29
O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every
morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
—Isaiah 33:2
Our beloved and excellent Godly Play teacher received deportation
papers.
Married to a U.S. citizen, she had hoped she would not have to
leave her family and her job. Assisting her mother-in-law in a
successful childcare business, she had grown to love her work
with children and dreamed of studying child development. But
now she would have to leave the U.S. and be sent to the dangerous
city of Juarez, Mexico, to await her trial. Hundreds of women have
been murdered there in the past few years, and the cases remain
unsolved.
Her mother-in-law was heartbroken and would now be responsible
for her two granddaughters and have one less employee. The
congregation, especially the children, was saddened and worried
that she may never return. On her last Sunday with us, we wanted
to make the best of the situation, even though our hearts were
breaking. She was given flowers, cards and presents and then
asked to share a few words. With incredible conviction, she
comforted us and shared her infinite faith in God. She assured us
that God had a plan, and that no matter the outcome, she would be
fine. She was fine. After nine months, she miraculously returned
with papers to be reunited with her family and her church; and the
family childcare business is thriving.
—Mary Moreno Richardson

35. 34
2014
Sunday, March 30
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another. Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another. By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
—John 13:34-35
Jesus, who came to live among us to reveal to the world the infinite
love of God, invites us to love each other as he has shown us.
To love as Jesus loves us is to hand over our life itself for a beloved
friend. To love as Jesus loves us is to accept each other just as we
are, with our differences and our different ways of being and not
being. To love as Jesus loves us is to serve with love and humility
all persons who are around us, always looking out for their well-
being, for justice, peace and harmony in whatever we undertake
to enrich our lives and to carry out our dreams of a better way of
living every day. To love as Jesus loves us is the way we commit
ourselves to be agents of change in our communities, struggling
together in solidarity and for the common good.
The love that Jesus came to show us should not only be our guide
for all endeavors leading to our benefit but also should shine with
its proper light. As Jesus’ words express it, the whole world will
know that we are his disciples when they witness the love that
we have for one another and that is revealed in the works that
strengthen us as a community.
—Ema Rosero-Nordalm

36. 35
2014
Monday, March 31
Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye,
but do not notice the log in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the
speck out of your eye,” while the log is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to take the speck
out of your neighbor’s eye.
—Matthew 7:3-5
When the women clergy of our diocese met with our new bishop, I
asked for those who were not being paid the diocesan minimum to
stand up. I can’t remember now how many stood, but I think our
bishop was shocked to see it. I wasn’t.
I am no longer a parochial priest, so I have no personal stake in
this. But I believe it is very important for us to pay attention to
our messages of economic empowerment right at hand. When
we expect our church staff to work more hours for less money,
I’ve seen the attitude trickle down to local businesses, service
providers, program recipients and even volunteers.
Economic empowerment can begin with paying our own
employees what we promised we would pay when we hired
them, and with paying those who provide our services a full
and decent wage.
—Laura Darling

37. 36
2014
Tuesday, April 1
The young man said to him, “I have kept all these;
what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be
perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;
then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word,
he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
—Matthew 19:20-22
I want to know, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
Yes, I understand, he went away grieving. But did he get through
the grieving process? Did he come to understand that his things
were not himself? Did he finally do what Jesus asked, find out
where Jesus had gone and set off to follow him for that next part of
the journey?
For it is a journey. Very few of us get it right away. It takes some
time…time to think, to grieve, to be alone with God, to get over
ourselves. This story doesn’t end here. That gives me hope.
—Sister Claire Joy

38. 37
2014
Wednesday, April 2
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
—Proverbs 22:9
This statement from Proverbs is a precept of love: we must cultivate
love for one another. We affirm that the blessing received by those
who carry out this word is doubled. First, we see how the lives
of our brothers and sisters who live in need are transformed, and
secondly, when we have a generous heart, our God blesses us more
abundantly in whatever we undertake and in a way that we cannot
even imagine.
One of my blessed experiences in life has been to work in my
country, Honduras, with microfinance programs sponsored by
Episcopal Relief & Development. Through these programs, the
participants not only have the opportunity to be helped financially
but also supported spiritually, since it is by means of these
programs that we have shared the Good News of salvation.
We witness how lives are being changed in one way or another, and
we hear the testimonials of women as they express their gratitude
because they felt useful and empowered to be able to contribute to
the economy in their homes. The happiness reflected in their faces
is the best gift that can be received for our work.
Throughout the length and breadth of this world where the poor
and marginalized are in great numbers, there is significant need
of a friendly, generous hand to help these brothers and sisters to
be builders of a better world—not only for themselves but also
for their families, so they may have the opportunity to live with
decency and with dignity.
—Connie Sánchez

39. 38
2014
Thursday, April 3
Bear one another’s burdens,
and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
—Galatians 6:2
During the 2013 Episcopal Relief & Development pilgrimage to
Ghana, I was particularly blessed to visit one of the small farms
in the northern part of the country. We walked a good distance
through the beautiful millet until we saw vibrant colors among the
stalks. They were the clothes of workers, bending over and hoeing.
Men and women together, about twenty in all, formed a straight
line and were methodically tending to the entire field. A few
minutes later, with a great cheer, they were finished.
We learned that the tenders to the field were all neighbors to the
actual land-owning farmer, who was but one of the persons hoeing.
The rest of the people were his neighbors, all pitching in on the day
his field needed hoeing. The next day, the same group would take
on another field, and then another, until the community work was
done.
What I saw were neighbors helping neighbors, without regard for
individual competitive victory. I believe they were fulfilling the
instruction of Galatians to, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in
this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Wow. When we love our
neighbors as ourselves, the whole world seems filled with vibrancy
and cheer.
—Sam Candler

40. 39
2014
Friday, April 4
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world and all who dwell therein.
—Psalm 24:1
Whenever I am leading a training with subsistence farmers, I
always begin with a Bible study of this passage. Remembering that
we are called to be caretakers and not owners of creation helps
us to remember our right place before God. I ask the question,
“What about the place you throw your garbage? Does that belong
to God?” Realizing that all things belong to God helps us to hold
our possessions more lightly, to share resources more freely and
to make the effort required to be better stewards of what we have
been given.
This lesson is just as important in the developed world as it is for
impoverished rural farmers. We who have been given access to
more resources are called not to hoard what we have. What we
have belongs to God, and we are called to share it so that others
will have the opportunity to be stewards of God’s resources as well.
I have seen a light come on in the eyes of someone who considered
themselves lowly, nothing but a subsistence farmer, but then
through study of scripture discovered that farmers are called to the
honorable and noble task of being caretakers of creation, stewards
of God’s riches.
What time, talent and resources have you been given? How can
you be a good steward today? How can you share what you have to
empower others?
—Robin Denney

41. 40
2014
Saturday, April 5
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
—Proverbs 22:9
In the dead of night, while their families slept peacefully and
obliviously, nine women in Tennessee made pound cakes. They
wanted to give back to the community, to offer gifts of kindness, to
help others without any expectation of return.
They eavesdropped in grocery stores, listening for people who
needed help, noting when someone had to put back bread or milk
for lack of money. And they filled the cart and paid the tab. They
drove through neighborhoods on hot nights and wrote down the
addressesthathadfansinthewindows—asignofnoairconditioning.
They left gifts on the porch, including a homemade pound cake
and a note that said, “Somebody loves you.” If a utility bill needed
paid, they sent money to the company, no questions asked.
Since the 1970s, this band of women has operated with stunning
generosity—and stealth. Their good works became public a year
ago, with a story that has been shared across the Internet.
When they first began, they wondered how they could fund their
mission. They gave up sending shirts to dry cleaners and started
clipping coupons, so they could splurge on behalf of others. Oh,
they wished early on, if they only had a million dollars. More
than thirty-five years later, the nine women have contributed
nearly $900,000 to spread happiness and compassion in their
communities and beyond.
Those who are generous are blessed, indeed.
—Richelle Thompson

42. 41
2014
Sunday, April 6
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
—Matthew 6:21
When I was a kid, my mom and I moved into a small apartment.
The complex had a pool and a boatload of kids. We were poor,
but I had no idea. I was happy. My mom had only a high school
education, and though she worked multiple jobs, money was scarce.
A few months after moving, she got a call from a friend who
wanted to know if she could stop by with a housewarming gift. My
mother’s friend delivered six boxes of food. My mom began to cry.
Years later, I learned we only had 29¢ in the bank that night. We
had a partial loaf of bread and a mostly empty jar of peanut butter
to last two weeks. Mom hadn’t told anyone, only prayed that God
would provide. It was a pivotal time in my mother’s faith, not only
in Jesus, but in herself as well.
It was a small investment, supplying food to our family, but it
became the catalytic action that changed our lives forever.
Feeling secure that our needs were met gave my mother
confidence—a resource she used to go back and earn multiple
degrees. She then opened a school to help dropouts complete their
education and go on to higher learning.
In this same way, Episcopal Relief & Development helps
communities meet their own needs, building confidence and
creating opportunities to move from scarcity to security.
How can we be that kind of catalyst for another?
—Chad Brinkman

43. 42
2014
Monday, April 7
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of
heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and
sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but
when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes
a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
—Matthew 13:31-32
I like honey almost as much as mustard. Bees and honey are one of
my favorite Episcopal Relief & Development projects. I am always
asking our partners if I can see their beekeeping projects. I am
fascinated by bees, beekeeping, pollination, honey. As a young
boy, I loved tramping out into the fields with my Nebraska farmer
grandpa to check out his bees, making sure they were healthy,
thriving and helping his crops grow in abundance.
For small-scale farmers who are unable to keep livestock, bees
can change their lives. I remember well a women’s group in Kenya
proudly showing me their bees and beehives, giving me a tutorial
on basic beekeeping, insisting that I sample their honey, explaining
how they get their bottles of honey to market and their plans for
building their business for the benefit of their whole village. They
didn’t have to tell me, but it was abundantly clear that bees were
bringing hope and transformation to their lives and community.
The kingdom of heaven is like a beehive!
—Brian Sellers-Petersen

44. 43
2014
Tuesday, April 8
The twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away….”
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—
unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For
there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Make
them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so and made them
all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to
heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set
before the crowd. And all ate and were filled.
—Luke 9:12-17
I’m in Jane’s single-room house that is divided by a hanging blanket
into a place for sitting and sleeping. Without light, it is difficult to
make out the dishes and an open fire area in the corner that is her
kitchen. She lives in this dusty space with her two children and
three siblings, and she pays school fees for all of them.
Jane is exceptionally fortunate. The local community in her informal
settlement selected her as a girl at risk, and she was accepted into a
nine-month training program for hairdressing. Jane, like millions
of women around the world, beams with entrepreneurial dreams.
While I’m overwhelmed with the need, the systemic barriers and
numbers at risk, she’s looking for a loan to buy a blow dryer.
Through her, I try to listen to Jesus, who does not panic at the
crowds, entreats God’s involvement and creates abundance with
what is at hand. The story and his words, “make them sit down in
groups,” work on my paralysis and push me to ask what I see. Do I
see need and despair or assets and opportunities? If I see through
Jesus’ eyes, what is possible?
—Jackie VanderBrug

45. 44
2014
Wednesday, April 9
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped;
Therefore my heart dances for joy,
and in my song will I praise him.
—Psalm 28:8-9
Isn’t it reassuring that we do not travel alone on our life’s journey?
When we think we cannot take one more step or make one more
decision or help one more person, we draw on the strength of our
Lord to continue.
The Haitian people find strength in the Lord and give thanks.
Through extreme poverty, earthquakes, floods, suffering and
misfortune, the indomitable Haitian spirit shines through. The
love of Jesus sustains and inspires them as they live from day to
day. Even the local transportation in Port-au-Prince, the Tap Tap,
displays scripture and inscriptions as a moving reminder to all:
“Jesus Loves You” “Merci, Jesus.”
The love of Christ is ever present as Episcopal Relief &
Development partners with the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti,
rebuilding homes and lives after disasters, providing cash for work
for individuals and microloans for small businesses and supporting
the Bishop Tharp Institute, a community college, that helps prepare
young people for the world of business and technology. With
education and enterprise, little by little, communities get stronger,
with God’s help.
How is the Lord strengthening you today? How will you give
thanks?
—Judy Quick

46. 45
2014
Thursday, April 10
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world and all who dwell therein.
For it is he who founded it upon the seas,
and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.
—Psalm 24:1-2
Sharing is at the heart of practicing Christian love for one another.
My parents might raise an eyebrow at this, given that as a kid I was
notoriously bad at sharing with my sisters. Having learned from
my own bad example, I appreciate that sharing teaches us to rely
on one another and build each other up for the well-being of the
whole.
As Christians, we can share even more freely because we are God’s,
and everything we have is from God. Sharing our time, talents and
treasure builds up the Body of Christ. I see examples of this in
the self-help groups Episcopal Relief & Development supports in
Guatemala, where women come together to encourage each other
in saving money, learning skills and improving their lives through
small business endeavors. I see this in the community buffalo
banks in Myanmar, where community members “borrow” a pair of
animals to work their land, and then give back two of the buffaloes’
offspring so their neighbors can have a chance to benefit. I see
inspiring examples of giving from church members here in the
United States, who see this work as a way to seek and serve Christ
in others, near and far away.
May we all seek to share of ourselves with our sisters and brothers
worldwide, and so continue to bring forth the kingdom of God.
—Faith Rowold

47. 46
2014
Friday, April 11
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or
free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus.
—Galatians 3:28
When I was a boy, I loved to spend summers at Camp Mitchell, the
camp and retreat center for the Diocese of Arkansas. That beautiful
spot, set on bluffs overlooking the Arkansas River, is where many
young Arkansans found their earliest formation as disciples, and
still do. When I entered my teens, I was surprised to hear that a
new priest was coming to take charge of the camp. My surprise was
because the priest was a woman.
I immediately took it to heart that I would no longer be happy at
Camp Mitchell. The priests I had known at camp were a part of the
place for me. So, I went to Father Joe Tucker. He, for me, was what
a priest looked like and sounded like. He always seemed old, and
he always smiled. “Father Joe, how can a woman be a priest?”
“Sean,” he spoke through that smile, “when Jesus stretched out his
arms on the cross, he spread them out for the entire world—for
every man, and woman, and child. So, it is not only men who can
share Christ’s embrace with the world. All people can.”
In that moment, my worldview changed deeply, dramatically. And
when I met the Rev. Peggy Bosmyer, the first woman ordained
south of the Mason-Dixon line, I was given a vision of Christ that
expanded well beyond the horizons of that mountaintop vista.
Today, don’t only seek Christ in all persons; be Christ for all
persons.
—Sean McConnell

48. 47
2014
Saturday, April 12
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first
sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has
enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a
foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will
begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build
and was not able to finish.”
—Luke 14:28-30
While working as a fellow for a nonprofit microfinance
organization, I went to Uganda to provide due diligence on some
of its field partners in Kampala. The first microfinance institution
(MFI) I visited was in complete disarray. Some borrowers had not
received loans, because the money for the loans had been used to
pay back loans from former borrowers who had lost jobs that had
been guaranteed by the MFI. It was a mess.
And it wasn’t the borrowers’ fault. As I interviewed people and
prepared an analysis of the situation, it was clear the problem
lay with a well-intentioned founder who wanted to build a tower
but who had never thought through the full plan. Sadly, many
people she set out to help ended up worse off because her dream of
providing economic empowerment didn’t have a plan behind it. It
was hard, but I learned that good intentions are not enough.
—Laura Darling

49. 48
2014
Palm Sunday, April 13
We know that all things work together for good for those
who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
—Romans 8:28
It is a verse that can bring comfort, but only if we do not see it as
a simplistic formula—“say the magic words, rub the lamp and the
genie will give you three wishes.” No, this verse is not about easy,
feel-good answers when we hit rough times. Rather it is about
divine perspective. It is so seductive when someone says, “Pray and
God will make it all okay.”
The fact is that there are times when we might well repeat the
words in Mark’s Gospel of a desperate parent who cries out to
Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (9:24). Faith can be a stretch
in those times when we feel overwhelmed and alone. Years ago, I
heard a priest who was experiencing really dark times with one of
his children admit to a colleague, “I’m not sure I even believe right
now.” Rather than berate that priest for such an admission, the
colleague simply put a hand on his shoulder and quietly replied,
“That’s okay. Right now we’ll believe for you.”
Hope and love come together to buttress us when faith feels far
from us. Hope looks forward, expands our perspective. Love
empowers, gives us strength. Yes, we may well admit that in the
dark moments, we cannot see any sense, any meaning, but we can
dare to hope and know deep in our soul that somehow, someway,
“all things work together for good.” And until we can reach that
good, here or in paradise, we can look to our fellow pilgrims to
stand with us.
—C. K. (Chuck) Robertson

50. 49
2014
Monday in Holy Week, April 14
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
There is no law against such things.
—Galatians 5:22-23
In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul invites us to live
centered by faith in the love of Christ, our Liberator, and as slaves
to the love of our neighbor, guided by the fruits offered to us by the
Holy Spirit, source and giver of life, guide and inspiration for all of
our lives.
Whenever we, on our own or together with our communities,
feel inspired to enlarge our economic opportunities, whenever
we would like to try to open our way to improve our economic
situation, let us be ever mindful of the presence of divine love
which, through the Holy Spirit, is the cause of the fruits or the
necessary virtues to undertake any effort to improve our lives.
The most important of all those virtues is love. The movement of
that love in our being is the source of inspiration, the motor to
start every endeavor. That love is the one that, by loving God with
all our strength, loving ourselves and loving those around us, fills
us fully not only with joy and peace but also helps us to be kind,
patient and gentle. If we know ourselves as faithful and placing all
our trust in God, we will grow in humility and in self-confidence.
As we feel ourselves filled with the Spirit and strengthened with the
given fruits, we will enter in our power, we will affirm and share
our wisdom, and our voices will be heard. Nothing and nobody
will be able to go against our dreams of economic well-being.
—Ema Rosero-Nordalm

51. 50
2014
Tuesday in Holy Week, April 15
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and
wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind
to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as
God in Christ has forgiven you.
—Ephesians 4:31-32
How many times have you heard that someone is a disaster, a lost
cause, that they’ll never learn? What do we expect from people we
have written off in our lives and from those who have been written
off by society?
Years ago I had the privilege of working with a group of low-income
recyclers. Although they were part of a burgeoning international
movement, the people were literally the throwaways of their
societies. They were constantly dismissed as being worse than the
garbage that they picked. Many had a great deal of pride about their
work. It was an honest living that provided a service that was good
for the environment and was highly efficient. Through organizing,
these formerly homeless people found meaning in their lives and
found a path toward a solid future for their children.
During the organizing process, some individuals were lost. These
were the people who took the words they heard on the street to
heart. Biting comments made by so-called respectable people,
speaking in ways that were highly disrespectful, plunged these
brave workers into despair. Our words count. We use words to
send our prayers into heaven, to say grace for our many blessings
and to transform our world.
What messages will you use to share grace to all those who hear
you today?
—Judith Morrison

52. 51
2014
Wednesday in Holy Week, April 16
She rises while it is still night and provides food for her
household and tasks for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength, and makes her arms strong.
—Proverbs 31:15-17
Through my visits to programs over the past year, I have met
countless women who amazed, humbled and inspired me with
their strength and generosity.
As exemplified by the capable wife described in this passage from
Proverbs, the women our partners work with really do surpass all.
They rise early, work through the day to provide water, hot meals
and healing and kindness to their husbands, children and many
others. And they do so often with very few resources and despite
many challenges.
I think in particular of one woman I met in Nicaragua last year. She
was chosen by her community to be an agricultural promoter. This
means that she not only attends sessions to learn new techniques
for diversifying what she grows and sells and for conserving her
land, but also that she commits to sharing everything she learns
with five other neighbors.
This woman does so enthusiastically, dedicating countless hours to
help other women and men gain new knowledge and skills.
During this season of Lent, let us give thanks for the opportunities
that each of us have and reflect on the ways in which women
around the world tirelessly embrace and share new opportunities.
—Sara Delaney

53. 52
2014
Maundy Thursday, April 17
Jesus said, “For I have set you an example, that you also
should do as I have done to you.”
—John 13:15
On Maundy Thursday evening, the church celebrates one of
the most lovely and complex liturgies of the year. In most
congregations, people gather to recall both the washing of feet and
the institution of the first Eucharist—the two central acts of Jesus’
last meal with his friends. Even in the midst of Holy Week, the
Eucharist is celebrated with joy. Often, the altar is stripped bare in
preparation for Good Friday. But there is also the washing of feet.
Many congregations omit this practice, sometimes softening it by
changing it to the washing of hands. In our culture, touching one
another’s feet seems to break a taboo. Indeed it does. That is why it
is so important, I think, to do what Jesus commanded—to practice
this sign of vulnerability and love as we wash the feet of others and
have our own feet washed. All pride is stripped away in this ritual,
and our Christian charity is laid bare.
In this tender act, we see that in Jesus the distinctions between
powerful and powerless are wiped away. How different would our
culture be if we found ways to be servants and to be served on a
daily basis?
—Scott Gunn

54. 53
2014
Good Friday, April 18
Let the whole world see and know that things which were
cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown
old are being made new, and that all things are being brought
to their perfection by him through whom all things
were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer, p. 280
Ask any Episcopalian for a favorite prayer in The Book of Common
Prayer, and many of us will turn to this one. It appears several
times: on Good Friday, during the Great Vigil of Easter, just before
the renewal of baptismal vows and during ordinations. Its poetry—
and its vision—are captivating. They are also undeniably risky.
O God, please look out for your church—not our church, but
yours. Let the whole world see and know; in other words, the life
of the church is a public life, dedicated to becoming a witness to
the activity and purpose of the living God. And what is God doing?
What is this plan of salvation? God is raising up things that have
been cast down. God is renewing all that has become old and
encrusted. God is wrapping arms of love around all of creation,
through the incarnate One, Jesus Christ, and through his body, the
church.
I am glad we pray this prayer so often. In the desolation of Good
Friday, it gives us a reason to hope. In the darkness of an Easter
Vigil, we can see light on the horizon. Every time we say “I will” in
baptism or ordination, this prayer reminds us just what mission we
are signing on for. We see Christ, arms stretched wide to embrace
and renew a world. We see our own arms, extensions of his, lifting
and renewing. It’s risky. It’s worth it.
—Stephanie Spellers

55. 54
Holy Saturday, April 19
Will you … respect the dignity of every human being?
—The Book of Common Prayer, p. 305
Every human being? Certainly I make an effort to respect the
dignity of everyone I see at church, and people I meet day to day.
But every human being? All seven billion? I can pray for them.
What else can I do?
While there are billions we will never see, our actions have
consequences that reach further than we imagine. Every dollar we
spend has ethical potential. Good may be done when spending one
way. Or we may support enterprises that are doing a great deal of
harm by spending differently. I don’t imagine we would be pleased
purchasing shoes we knew our neighbor forced his children to
make, yet without researching what we buy, we make similar
purchases every day.
Do we support farmers who pay workers a living wage, or do
we search for cheaper food regardless of how the person who
harvested it was treated? Almost every cell phone has slave labor
inside it. What happens to our spirit when we understand our
action of buying a phone that has kept a child in slavery? How
might knowing that someone was abused in the making of
products change our relationship to what we buy? How might it
change us?
Yes, these are complicated questions. And yes, we take that on in
baptism. “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people,
and respect the dignity of every human being?”
How do we dare reply, “I will?” Only “With God’s help.”
—Rosa Lee Harden

56. 55
2014
Easter day, April 20
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in
Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have
not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers
and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced
to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them
that he had said these things to her.
—John 20:16-18
It is a powerful testament to the role of women that Jesus empowers
Mary to be the herald of his resurrection. In the context of the
times, it must have been startling and shocking for the disciples
to receive this news from a woman. It’s what gives the passage the
visceral feel of the truth for me.
Many times as I’ve sat with women in their villages and talked with
them about their lives, their challenges and their triumphs, I’ve
been struck by their forthright honesty. It is often the women who
will give you the most nuanced analysis of the situation. The men
of the village are often taken aback as they circle around the fringes
of the conversation. Too often they’ve not really been listening, or
maybe they never asked the questions.
As we awaken this Easter morning to proclaim the Good News of
Jesus’ resurrection just as Mary Magdalene does in this passage
from John, let us also undertake to listen to the entire Body of
Christ…men and women both. God speaks through all of God’s
children.
—Robert W. Radtke

57. 56
For the Mission of the Church
O God, you have made of one blood all the
peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to
preach peace to those who are far off and to tbose
who are near: Grant that people everywhere may
seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh,
and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer, p. 257

58. My Lenten Response
During this season of reflection, I want to follow Jesus in
caring for people in need. Enclosed is my Lenten offering to
help make communities stronger and help the underserved,
including women, people with disabilities and children and
families affected by HIV/AIDS achieve long-term economic
stability.
Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners work to create
economic opportunities and strengthen communities. In
collaboration with church partners and local organizations, we
empower individuals and families by helping them find creative
ways to generate and increase their bottom line. We increase
earnings potential in communities by:
• Enabling people to develop small businesses in a variety
of fields
• Providing training for people to become effective managers,
marketers and small business owners
• Helping families in underserved communities access
financial services, including building local partnerships
that introduce savings, loans and insurance products
• Promoting cooperatives to help individuals pool their
resources and maximize their earning power and potential
• Assisting communities in gaining access to local markets
and improving the value of products to increase profits
• Helping farming communities increase their crop yield
so the surplus can be sold for income
□$50 □$100 □$500 □$1,000
□$2,500 □$5,000 □Other $___________
PLEASE COMPLETE THE INFORMATION ON THE NEXT PAGE.

59. ________________________________________________________________
Name
________________________________________________________________
Address
________________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip
________________________________________________________________
E-mail address
________________________________________________________________
Name of your church City
Please make your check payable to Episcopal Relief & Development,
and return this page with your gift in the attached envelope. You may
also call 1.855.312.HEAL to make a donation.
FOR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CREDIT CARD DONATIONS:
Please charge my gift to my:
□VISA □Master Card □AMEX □Discover
________________________________________________________________
Account number Expiration date Security code
________________________________________________________________
Name on card Signature
________________________________________________________________
Phone number (required for credit card donations)
Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and development
agency of The Episcopal Church and an independent 501(c)(3) organization. The
agency takes its mandate from Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25. Its programs
work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Episcopal Relief &
Development works closely with the worldwide Church and ecumenical partners
to help rebuild after disasters and to empower local communities to find lasting
solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.
BI14-1B

63. NAME______________________________________________
ADDRESS___________________________________________
CITY_______________________STATE_______ZIP________
oPleaseindicateifthisisanewaddress.
PleaseRUSHmyLENTENresponse
tostrengthencommunitiesandprovide
economicopportunities
EpiscopalRelief&Development
P.O.Box7058
Merrifield,VA22116-7058
YOUR
POSTAGE
STAMPHERE
WILLHELP
SAVELIVES