"Episcopal Relief and Development offers 2009 Lenten Devotional"

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has published its 2009 Lenten Devotional, Peace and Compassion: To Heal a Hurting World, which features daily meditations adapted from the Rev. Barbara C. Crafton's Almost-Daily Emos.

"The reflections lead readers to explore their spiritual connections to people living in poverty around the world," an ERD release said. "Focusing on Episcopal Relief and Development's efforts to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the devotional offers ways for parishioners to promote health, fight disease and save lives through the MDG Inspiration Fund."

For the first time, the devotional is available in Spanish and can be downloaded here.

Last year, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori declared the first Sunday in Lent, as the first annual commemoration of Episcopal Relief and Development Sunday. Jefferts Schori is again encouraging Episcopalians in congregations across the country to use the first Sunday in Lent to engage with Episcopal Relief and Development during this traditional season of almsgiving.

"As Lent begins, I encourage you to include Episcopal Relief and Development in your giving as you consider how to care more deeply for those in need," said Jefferts Schori. "Episcopal Relief and Development's work with disasters, from Gaza to Costa Rica, and ongoing development work, from Honduras to Tanzania, is care-filled and effective."

A bulletin insert with additional information about Episcopal Relief and Development Sunday, February 28, is available here.

"Lent is an ideal time for us to renew our commitment to our faith and each other," said Brian Sellers-Peterson, Episcopal Relief and Development's director of Church Engagement Programs. "During this season of prayer and self-examination we hope that the Lenten Devotional will encourage Episcopalians to reflect on the role of God's grace in our lives and how we may act as instruments of God's healing in a hurting world."

Lenten Devotionals and other resources should be ordered by Monday, February 16 to ensure delivery by Ash Wednesday. To order copies of the devotionals, call Episcopal Books and Resources at 1-800-903-5544 or visit www.er-d.org/LentenResources.

To help Episcopal Relief and Development achieve the Millennium Development Goals, visit www.er-d.org, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief & Development, "MDG Inspiration Fund" PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.

"The Desert" by Craig Cole

How many times have we felt like we were walking in a spiritual desert? Places in our lives where we felt our spiritual life was dry and parched. Times where we felt God had abandoned us, or maybe where we had abandoned God. Have we stopped trusting God? Jeremiah describes those who don’t trust God as ones who are living in the “wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.”

In working with the poor here in the US and overseas, I have seen those who are physically thirsty. I have seen the poor villagers who have to walk up to eight hours just to fetch their daily rations of water. For us, it’s a short walk from the couch to the kitchen sink or to the bottled water in the refrigerator. In our physical lives, we are never thirsty.

It sometimes seems we have to walk a long distance before we find God’s presence, again. Believe it or not, our wanderings through the stark wilderness are essential for our spiritual growth. The trials Jesus faced in the desert served to strengthen him for his three-year ministry. The trick for us is to recognize when we are going through a spiritual desert and to use it to grow closer to God, not to use it as an excuse to abandon him.

Lent is a time to realize our spiritual desires, which we repress through distraction, entertainment and the belief that life is going along fine. We have to understand we are spiritually poor while others in many places in the world suffer from a physical poverty that cries out for justice.

Our walk through the Lenten desert is one way to strengthen us for our work to serve the poor. It is difficult and emotionally draining to stare at the barren truth day after day. People die of malnutrition, from preventable diseases and other tragedies that go without notice.

For in reality, God never leaves us to die of spiritual thirst. It’s really only a short walk into the arms of God. A God who will fill our cups to overflowing if we allow him to. He doesn’t deliver tap water or sparkling water; he serves us life-giving water that quenches our parched lips. As Jeremiah writes, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the lord...for he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream.”

Craig Cole is the executive director of Five Talents International, an Anglican microfinance nonprofit. He is also a member of the Diocese of Virginia's Mission Commission and an EGR board member.