1/10/2015
Epiphany Greetings!
I was going to offer “Warm Epiphany Greetings”, but as I’m in southern California, I thought that might be somewhat unfair to those of you in other parts of the United States and Canada.
My rector, Ed Bacon, has turned the word, “Epiphany” into a verb. “To Epiph”, is to see things anew, to discover new life or a new way to live. Given Epiphany honors the arrival of the three wise ones who bring wonderful gifts, perhaps, to epiph also means living a life of renewed generosity.
However we see the season of Epiphany, I’m epiphing with my new work as the Executive Director of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS). It is an honor to be the third Executive Director in the life of TENS. It will be a challenge to follow in the footsteps of my friend Laurel Johnston and TENS inspired founder, Tom Gossen.
My hope is that TENS will help the church in the United States and Canada (and beyond, someday) see the work of stewardship in new and life transforming ways. For stewardship is not about an annual campaign, it is about how we live and share in the abundance of God’s generosity to each of us.
To that end, I also want to make sure you’ve put the dates of our next TENS Annual Conference on your calendar. The dates are May 28-30, 2015. And what better place to experience the abundance of creation than Camp Allen, outside of Houston, Texas!
Please know that I’m here to serve you as you and your congregation work to discover, anew, a life of abundance, generosity and the stewardship of God’s creation.
Faithfully,
Rick
Richard W. Felton
Executive Director