Review Nov 06 - page 1 of 6

Redeemer Review

The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

I remember when I was a little kid, I liked nothing better than to receive gifts. This had less to do with the

desire to acquire stuff (that would come later), than it did with the sense of the gift as an outward and visible sign

that someone loved me. It was exciting to peel open the wrapping paper and discover what that love looked like:

doll clothes, a new book, a pen, a bicycle. Giving gifts was fun for the same reason: it gave me the chance to get

to know someone well enough to give them exactly what they lacked and often didn’t know they even needed.

Today, when we all have so much, gift giving feels different somehow, but I’ll save that point for another time.

Returning to my childish delight, you would think that writing thank you notes for it would be a breeze, but it

wasn’t. The gift felt free, while the gratitude felt obligatory. What is it about gratitude that makes so many of us

I’ve always believed that the greatest form of gratitude is not so much to pay it back as to pay it forward.

Give to others as I have been gifted. Show my abundance by sharing it. I was very good at this when I was young,

but again I have had to work harder at it as an adult. It seems I have fewer encounters in which I’m really needed.

The Church talks all the time about God’s economy of abundance, about little seeds yielding a hundred fold, but

there are times I get so worried about paying my bills and meeting my obligations that life doesn’t seem abundant

at all. It’s a huge disconnect between the consumer culture that insists I must pay for my gifts and the Kingdom of

God that suggests I will do better when I give. It’s a huge disconnect between how easy it is to get and how hard it

is to give, not to charity, but to community. And here, I think, lies my problem with gratitude. It feels like paying

the bills. God isn’t a tax collector. Jesus transformed tax collectors. Then, in the midst of my ponderings, I

remembered what I think it was Joe Garbarino said to me one Sunday, “Want to see abundance? Come to the

recycling center!” All of a sudden, confronted by all that I had thrown away, I saw how rich I really was. All of a

sudden, seeing all that garbage transformed into building materials, paper to be turned into new paper, cans that

would hold more drinks and bottles that would be transformed, I saw how even the excesses of wealth give life

when recycled and shared rather than left to fester individually in the landfill.

God loves us by giving us life, family, beauty, and yes, even problems to deal with. How do we recycle

all that God gives us into something great, new, wonderful and wise? How to be aware of the gifts we already

have? November is a month set apart by both Church and state as a time of giving thanks. We begin with All

Saints/All Souls on November 5 when we give thanks for those who have gone before us. On November 12, we

will focus upon our Redeemer community. After a simple Eucharist, Mary Sparks, Liz Chiarolla and Sallie Wood

will lead a town meeting to share with you the results of our Congregational Survey and what it revealed about us.

The following Sunday, November 19, we will make our commitment to community in the form of a financial

pledge, which is not only an act of giving to the Church, but is also an affirmation of faith in God who will help

us find the money to do so. Finally, on the fourth Sunday of November, we will continue in the spirit of the

Thanksgiving Holiday and have a special Sunday of prayer for the people and animals in the world who are poor

This issue of the Review, and the Congregational Cycle of Prayer for November all have thanksgiving as

their theme. Which allows me, from the bottom of my heart, to give thanks for all of you.