Resolution A178:Establishing the First Sunday in Lent as ERD Sunday

Good MorningE4GR Friends!

Here is the 3rd of the 3 resolutions we are actively working on at General Convention this year. As you know, there are many other legislative initiatives which E4GR wholeheartedly supports and will advocate to pass, specifically those surrounding just economy, and unsustainable debt in the developing nations. But in these last three--this is where our planning, time and efforts has gone.

Thank you, for standing with us but more importantly those who without you would not have a voice, the poor.

A178: Establishing the First Sunday in Lent as ERD Sunday
(read the resolution here)

Background
In 2008, our Presiding Bishop designated the first Sunday in Lent as ERD Sunday and advocated for an annual celebration of ERD’s role in our collective mission to seek and serve Christ in all persons.

Since that time, six dioceses have submitted resolutions to General Convention to establish this practice across the church (in the form of several “C” resolutions) and over 30 dioceses officially observe ERD Sunday on the first Sunday in Lent already. This initiative enjoys widespread support as a set-aside Sunday to recognize and celebrate ERD.

Talking Points
Our church, at General Convention 2003 and 2006, placed peace and justice as expressed through the Millennium Development Goals at the top of our programmatic and budget priority list.

ERD is our church’s relief and development agency – the “on-the-ground” ministry in far-reaching places across the globe to alleviate extreme poverty and preventable disease.
Designating a special Sunday for ERD would provide the church opportunities to:
• Celebrate the reality that when we as individuals combine our resources, prayers, and intentions through ERD we can make significant change in the world
• Learn about – and delight in – the work of ERD which is saving lives on a daily basis on our behalf as a church
• Draw attention to the needs of the “bottom billion” of the world who live in extreme poverty.
• Raise our voices together in worship through song and prayer in giving thanks for God’s abundance and reminding ourselves of our baptismal promise to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” ERD Sunday can remind us that one way to be responsive to this promise is to participate in ERD’s ministry.
• Designate a “loose plate offering” on ERD Sunday for the ministry of ERD
• Lend our own organic creativity to new ways of observing this Sunday across the generations and sharing it with each other