"Fall Back" idea

[Mike Kinman]

Hi everyone,

John Miers of the Diocese of Washington had an idea that he and I have
been kicking around, and I want to pitch it to the rest of you for your
thoughts and creative input.

The idea is to take the extra hour we all (except for those in Arizona
and parts of Indiana) get when we shift to daylight savings on Sunday
morning, Nov. 2. People could choose one of several ways to use that
hour (and they wouldn't have to take the hour from 2-3 am, they could
take any hour on Saturday or Sunday) based on the categories in the EGR
Rule of Life:

PRAY -- spend an hour in prayer for the poor
STUDY -- spend an hour reading about What One Can Do to end poverty
GIVE -- give the equivalent of one hour's pay (we'll have a chart where
you can figure that out based on your income) to an organization of your
choice that supports the MDGs.
ACT -- spend an hour writing, creating, working on some sort of project
for the MDGs

I think this could be an annual event. The only tricky thing about the
timing is it's 2 days before the general election ... but even if it got
lost in the shuffle, we could consider this a test run for subsequent
years.

We could also use this to assemble a great list of What One Can Do in
One hour for the MDGs.

Thoughts? Ideas? Critiques? Anybody got a catchy name for this?

Christ's peace,

Mike+

--
The Rev. Mike Kinman
Executive Director, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
MKi...@gmail.com + 314.348.6453
http://www.e4gr.org + http://www.e4gr.blogspot.com

[Eleanor Braun]

While I applaud clever ideas, I have to say this one doesn't ring my chimes, for these reasons:

 

1.  It doesn't really have a MDG "hook" - like the Sept 25 event, or like Five Talents Sunday, November 16.  I hope you all are familiar with Five Talents International, THE Anglican micro-finance organization.  If you're not, you should be.  They are definitely in our line of work (it helps that their Exec Director is on the E4GR board, and that they live in the rectory of my church in Vienna, VA). 

 

2.  That hour we get when we change from daylight savings to standard time is payback for the hour that was taken away back in March.  I'm already spending seveal hours per weekend working on MDG activities - I'd just as soon use that payback hour to sleep, thankyouverymuch.

3.  We already have standards (0.7%) for giving, projects that need to be done, regular prayers to be said, people to be organized.  This doesn't really fit with any of that.

 

Sorry to be negative, but that's my honest reaction.

 

Eleanor Braun

Virginia

--
Eleanor

[Kathryn Horvat]

The idea didn't "ring my chimes" either, but I couldn't articulate why.  Eleanor stated it well.  

Kathy Horvat

[Ann Finch]

Part of the problem, I think, may come from the risk of being
perceived as too "gimmicky." If we hook onto too many separate clever
ideas, we may wind up all sizzle and no steak, at least in the hearts
and minds of congregants. Creativity is a good and joyful thing, but
we need discipline and focus to energize those endeavors already in
place.
Peace,
Ann

> MKin...@gmail.com + 314.348.6453http://www.e4gr.org+http://www.e4gr.blogspot.com