By The Reverend Deacon Nancy R. Crawford

In the last years of my mother’s life, whenever I visited her we also visited her attic. There, we found items that had been precious in her life, but which no longer fit into the living parts of her home. She hoped that these precious items would find new purpose, and new life, in my home or in my children’s homes. Quite often, because the items had been left in the attic for years and years, they had accumulated dust. Some things I dusted off and took home with me, and other things were left for another time.

REVISITING OLD, BELOVED ITEMS

Over the past several months, members of the Episcopal Church have been revisiting old, beloved items of women’s ministry, dusting them off, and giving them new life. How many of us have heard once again and been inspired by the story of the Emery sisters of Boston? These five sisters of a 19th Century Episcopal family were devoted to mission and ministry in the church. Julia Emery gave 40 years of her life as secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary, the precursor to Episcopal Church Women. Margaret Emery was instrumental in the creation of the Box Work, later to be known as United Thank Offering. Because of the recent attention that has been given to the UTO Board, its makeup and its granting process, my blue box is more predominant on my desk as it becomes heavier and heavier with coins.

Not only has the dust been stirred up with the United Thank Offering, so has the dust on my little blue box. Have you, too, become more intentional about the coins that are put in UTO blue boxes? I, for one, was not the most devout when it came to putting coins, along with thanks and prayer, in my UTO box. I generally remembered when my coin purse became too heavy, or as the time of the parish ingathering drew near. Now, if I don’t have a coin each day to put in the box, I simply touch it and give thanks. I give thanks for the women, past and present, who have volunteered their time and talents to see that in gatherings take place in churches, and that boxes are visible at church-wide events.

I give thanks for the women, past and present, who have volunteered their time and talents to serve as diocesan UTO coordinators, and who meet with their bishops to discuss grant applications. I give thanks for the women, past and present, who have served as province representatives and members-at-large to the UTO Board. Those serving now have swept away the dust and are back at work, making sure that funds are collected and then granted to mission and ministry projects around the Anglican Community.

STIRRED UP THE DUST

The Episcopal Church Women, too, have stirred up the dust on some old, beloved items of our organization. At the last Triennial Meeting, the delegates passed Resolution 101/104 which resolved “that an ad hoc committee be established by the 2012-15 Episcopal Church Women (ECW) Board to study, research, and review the present function and structure of the ECW Board, and the mission and purpose of the ECW.” The ad hoc committee has been established with a woman from each of our nine provinces, women who are intergenerational representatives from various Episcopal Women’s Ministries, as specified in the resolution. A consultant from Crystal Brook Consulting, Donna Lynn Johnson, an Episcopalian from the Atlanta, GA area, has been hired to work with the ad hoc committee and to provide professional services and oversight in the execution of the resolution.

What will they find in the attic of ECW? What will find new purpose, new life in the ministry and mission of ECW? And what will be left in the attic to be brought out at another time? We pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance with those who take counsel for the renewal and mission of ECW.

We “Stir up the Spirit”—and the Spirit decides to stir up the dust on our venerable women’s ministries.

Let us keep our hearts and minds open to hear what the Spirit is saying to us. Amen.†

The Reverend Deacon Nancy R. Crawford, Eugene, OR, was president of the 2012-2015 National ECW Board.