Bishop Hughes reflects on her time at a gathering hosted by the Iona Collaborative in the Diocese of Texas, where leaders are exploring how the Episcopal Church might share its gifts more generously. She invites us to see money, buildings, and all we have as gifts from God – meant not only for our own joy, but to bless our neighbors, our parishes, and the wider Church. (Time: 4:59.)
Video Transcript
This is Bishop Hughes in the Diocese of Newark. I should say from the Diocese of Newark, because this week I’m in the Diocese of Texas. I’m down at their camp, Camp Allen, is part of a conference being hosted by the Iona Collaborative. That’s the same group which we get the training that we’re putting our lay pastors and deacons through, Iona, so happy to be here, it’s something that they are hosting, because they certainly have given us quite a lot in terms of our training lay pastoral leaders and training people to be deacons. So it’s a way of us being able to give back to them.
And they’ve been wanting to gather people to think about the resources in the Episcopal Church, and how so many of those resources reside in a small area of the church. So the wealth of the church sits with the wealthiest organizations and congregations and dioceses of the church. And how do we consider the thought of sharing that with the parts of the church that don’t have the wealth, the organizations that don’t have the wealth, the dioceses that don’t have the wealth.
I can say I was glad to be invited because I want to support the Iona Collaborative because they have been such a big support of our diocese. I’m glad to be a part of the conversation, because I think it’s an important one that we need to have on all levels of the church, that the Episcopal Church needs to have that conversation, our diocese needs to have that conversation, our parishes need to have that conversation, and certainly as individuals and in our households, we need to have that conversation.
So I’m glad to be a part of it, but I have to say I’ve also been dreading it. And I’ve been dreading it, because I know how we are when it comes to money. We on some level, we all devolve to our youngest selves, and we look at our finances, we look at the money that we have, and we say, mine. This is mine. I worked for it. I put myself through college. I’m the one who stayed late, I’m the one who did the extra work, and I’m the one who climbed the corporate ladder. I’m the one who put my neck out there. I’m the one who my clients appreciate. I’m the one who fits a specific need in my business. This is mine. I earned it. It is mine. And parishes can have that same kind of point of view. This is mine. We ran the pledge campaign. Someone gave this to us. It is ours. A diocese can have that same point of view, that we have done this work with our parishes. This is ours. And the entirety of the Episcopal Church can say, we come from a nation where people are high earners and well taken care of, and this is ours.
And yet there is some part of us that knows that every single thing that we have, that the wisdom, the brains, the experience, the knowledge, the questioning that God has given us, that gave us the ability to get ourselves through college, get ourselves in the jobs, help us have the kind of lives that we have – that all of that came from God in the first place. So if it came from God in the first place, chances are God didn’t just give it to us, just so that we can be happy. Now God wants us to be happy, but God gave it to us saying, here, I’m giving you this, and I want you to take care of your neighbors. I want you to take care of those people you worship with. I want you to take care of your community. I want you to take care of that other church, you know, the ones where they can barely afford a priest once a month. I want you to help them out. I want you to be in ministry with them.
These are the conversations that need to happen all over the church. They need to happen everywhere. They need to happen in our parishes. They need to happen in our diocese. They need to happen in the Episcopal Church. They need to happen in our households. They need to happen inside, in our own interior, our souls need to hear us have those conversations with ourselves and with God.
Money is a gift. The buildings we’re in are a gift. These are all assets that are valuable and that are important to us, but they are gifts given to us by God, and God always gives gifts with an expectation that we are also going to give.
So as you move through life this summer and you enjoy the bounty that is summer, having the extra time, having the freshest vegetables and fruits. New Jersey, I love summer tomatoes! As we enjoy all these things all along the way, thank God for the gift, and then immediately give some of it away. Hand it to somebody else who needs that blessing.
