iHOPE

Why We Are NOT Doing a Special Offering This Sunday

Why would we NOT do a special offering this Sunday for hurricane relief in coastal Texas?

It’s too slow! If you want to help, give directly online. If we take a special offering, we have to wait until Sunday. Then we have to sort it, count and deposit it. Then we write a check, mail it, … you get the idea.

It is faster and more efficient to send money directly online.* There are several responsible and trusted groups who are on the ground and have the infrastructure in place to give care and coordinate with others. One of the best known is Red Cross. Another that isn’t as well known, is our own Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA.) One of the reasons you probably haven't heard about them is because they spend almost no money promoting themselves. If you have ever given to our One Great Hour of Sharing, you have given to PDA. The staff is in place, they have an established infrastructure including partnerships, so there is very little overhead to cover. In fact, if you designate your gift through PDA, 100% of it will go to that particular project. That’s pretty amazing. Check them out here.

Waking Up White

Maybe you have racism figured out. I thought I did. I thought I was pretty enlightened to the issues of race and racism in this country. Then I read Debby Irving’s book, Waking Up White…and finding myself in the story of race.

Irving’s book is her own discovery of the pervasiveness of racism in her own life. It is not meant to speak for all white people in America. She invites us into her own story of ‘waking up’ to the unconscious assumptions and embedded structures of race in America. She shares her experience with painful honesty and self-deprecating humor. Between the chuckling and wincing at Irving’s story, I found more than enough of my own experience. Many others have had the same experience. The spirit of the book isn't to hit people over the head with guilt, as much as it is to turn on a light in some unexamined parts of our brain.

Maybe that is why the Co-Moderators of our PCUSA invited all churches to read Waking Up White this year. It is offered as a “one church, one book” experience. Many churches have taken on this challenge and a few have shared their stories. I included it as one of the three books in this summer’s Pastor’s Book Club.