Thank You

Dear Friends,

Please forgive the expedience of this note. It seems the best thing to do given the time available to me and the largeness of the task I want to accomplish. I want to thank you for the wonderful retirement party on August 3. Every part, bit, piece of the evening was perfect. Lisa and Kate join me in thanking all who planned this event and all who participated in it. Many know how much I love words and what they can do. Every once in a while, though, words fail. What we want to communicate cannot be expressed in them. I believe that this is one of those rare moments. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough.

Chris

August Letter

Dear Friends,

From time to time I try to provide you with an accounting of money coming into and going out of the Parish Discretionary Account. The period covered by this report is July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. This is an unaudited accounting which means that the information you are getting is “pretty darn close” to accurate. My purpose is to give you a good idea of what we do with the money you give us.

The Parish Discretionary Account is to be used to help those in need. This year our Parish made 65 grants from the Discretionary Account. Most of the grants fell into six categories. Twenty-four grants were made to help with rent or to stop evictions. Five grants went to help pay for gasoline or auto repairs. Thirteen grants were to pay medical bills or prescriptions. Five grants were used to purchase food. Seven grants were used for school expenses, and eleven grants paid utility bills. In all, these grants served about 150 individuals.

Income to the Discretionary Account comes from three sources. The majority of this income comes from the first Sunday of the month undesignated offering. A second source is the honoraria (or “stole fees”) which Frs. Berg or Wollard or Dcn. Marlyn sometimes receive for weddings, baptisms and funerals. The other source of income for the Discretionary Account are one time gifts from members or friends of the Parish or from Parish groups (e.g., the Altar Guild has been consistently generous toward the Discretionary Account).

This year there was another source of income which made an enormous difference in the level of help we were able to provide. It came from the Christmas Offering. It is our custom at St. Andrew’s to donate the entire Christmas Offering to the working poor of our community. This year we were all astonished by the generosity of our members and friends. Indeed, we were able to make a significant difference in the lives of a dozen families this year.

The ad hoc committee which makes decisions about these grants made a very wise decision at the end of the granting cycle. It decided to reserve five thousand dollars to support the Parish Discretionary Account in what was clearly going to be a very demanding year. Tragically, the committee was correct in anticipating how difficult this year would be for many.

We began the year on July 1, 2007 with a balance of $2,403.30. Income to the Discretionary Account was $12,651.15. So we had $14,054.45 with which to work. Of this amount we disbursed $10,780.05. As of June 30, 2008 there was a balance of $3,274.40 in the Discretionary Account. [Since July 1 we have disbursed another $509.48 to help with rent and auto repairs for two families. As the Fall draws near we anticipate additional draws on the Account as families begin to prepare for school.]

Those responsible for making decisions about distributing money from the Discretionary Account are the Parish Almoners. This is a small group appointed by the Rector. At this writing
the Almoners are: Renee Wegman, The Rev. Bob Wollard, The Rev. Dcn. Marlyn Stroud and me. With Renee’s relocation to Chicago and my retirement I have appointed Randy Arsenault, a member of the Vestry, and Tracy Moore, the acting Office Manager, to join Fr. Wollard and Dcn. Marlyn in this work. This group is large enough to catch a person in need who might otherwise not be noticed by a single person. Yet the group is small enough to ensure the privacy of those who give and those who receive.

Since last I reported to you about the Discretionary Account, the number of grants has grown. Perhaps more significantly, the size of the grants has also grown. This may be a symptom of the serious financial plight in which many folks find themselves. Costs are rising faster than people are able to adjust to them. St. Andrew’s has joined an informal group of churches and agencies in north central Oakland County which have recognized that we can do more good together than we can apart. Open Door in Union Lake serves as a kind of clearing house for the dozen or so churches and agencies in Waterford, White Lake, Clarkston and Union Lake who cooperate to help those in need. It provides a level of screening which helps us to use limited resources where they will do the most good. St. Andrew’s Almoners give priority to members and friends of the Parish when they decide about grants. Yet we also recognize that the love of God is indiscriminate, and so must be our expression of God’s love. Grants are generally made based on need; there is no religious or denominational “test” to qualify for assistance.

This is the last Companion letter I will write you as your rector. It seems an odd way to end our correspondence, to write you about money and where it comes from and where it goes. Yet this is not a letter simply about money. It is a letter about need and about generosity. Efforts like the parish Discretionary Account depend on our awareness of God’s generosity toward us. We give because we have received. Indeed, it rests on the more mature awareness that God’s generosity is indiscriminate. That is, God does not just give to us alone because we are so wonderful. Rather, God gives to everyone because everyone can be so wonderful. God’s gives with overflowing abundance, grace upon grace.

Those who receive from the Discretionary Account have a variety of responses. There are some who simply take. For a whole host of reasons they do not or are unable to express gratitude. None is expected or required from us. The “just taking” response is quite rare. There are others whose understanding of “church” is confirmed by what we do. They are grateful and reassured that there are communities of people for whom “church” continues to involve “giving” and not simply getting or acquiring wealth and property. Finally there are those who are genuinely confused. It is here that I think we see a glimmer of nothing less than the Kingdom of God. These are individuals who look beyond the immediate relief which your gift offers. They are moved to feel the question, “Why do you do this?” or “Why do you do this for someone you do not even know, someone who does not even believe as you do?” There are wondrous possibilities in these questions. They are questions about who we believe God is and how we believe that God is involved in our lives. They invite the recognition that there is a community which holds a vision of life that can be very different from that of the prevailing culture… a community which knows that God is lavish, and that there is enough for everyone and more than enough. It is a community which struggles against the fear that leads to hording the gifts which God intends for everyone. Grants from the Discretionary Account invite an encounter with these questions. It invites encounter with a community which supports a ministry like the Parish Discretionary Account. As I say, there is a kernel of the Kingdom in this invitation, a potential, a thing not yet fully realized. But in time, for those with inquiring and discerning hearts, kernels can grow into something glorious. In time, with effort....

Chris