As The Episcopal Church’s Good Friday Offering enters its second century, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites bishops, congregations, and supporters—in his annual Lent letter—into “that selfless way of living” demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth on the cross.
First gathered in 1922, the initial Good Friday Offering was an intentional response of The Episcopal Church to support Anglican ministries in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East that were impacted by the devastation of World War I, the Spanish flu pandemic, and social and political unrest affecting Armenian Christians, among others throughout that region.
A lifeline of hope in times of genuine need in years past, the Good Friday Offering continues to support churches, medical programs, and schools today.
“This coming Good Friday, April 7, I invite you into that selfless way of living through your part in the Good Friday Offering,” Curry writes. “For 101 years, Episcopalians have lived out the song, ‘If I Can Help Somebody,’ by providing sight to people at the Ras Morbat Eye Clinic in Yemen, one of the poorest countries on earth; for a child to receive an education at Christ Anglican School in Nazareth; for a hospital in Nablus to welcome new births at a rate of 220 per month; for young deaf people to be cared for and taught life skills in Jordan.”
The Office of Global Partnerships offers downloadable resources about the Good Friday Offering, including bulletin covers, inserts, litanies, videos, and more. Information about ways to give—including a form for online donations—can be found at iam.ec/goodfridayoffering.
“Your gifts to these places and many others ‘spreads love’s message’ and enables both you and those you help to discover that ‘our living shall not be in vain,’” Curry writes.
For more information, contact the Ven. Paul Feheley, Episcopal Church Middle East partnership officer.
Lent 2023 letter from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Siblings in the Lord:
I greet you in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving Savior, Jesus Christ, in this, the 101st year of the Good Friday Offering.
In February 1968, two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, in which he remarked that upon his death he wanted to be remembered neither for his fame nor accomplishments but for serving others. He ended that sermon by quoting from Alma Bazel Androzzo’s much-loved song, “If I Can Help Somebody,” which Dr. King first heard 20 years before:
“If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or a song.
If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.”
Later, at Dr. King’s funeral, the legendary Mahalia Jackson sang these words as part of her rendition: “If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, If I can bring back beauty to a world of rot, If I can spread love’s message as the Master taught, Then my living shall not be in vain.”
Every Good Friday, we remember the sacrifice of our Lord, whose teaching and life is the basis of that song. By walking the way of the cross, Jesus of Nazareth showed us what a life of sacrificial love is all about and left behind footsteps that we are called to follow. The selfless way of the cross enables us to live authentic Christian lives.
This coming Good Friday, April 7, I invite you into that selfless way of living through your part in the Good Friday Offering. For 101 years, Episcopalians have lived out the song, “If I Can Help Somebody,” by providing sight to people at the Ras Morbat Eye Clinic in Yemen, one of the poorest countries on earth; for a child to receive an education at Christ Anglican School in Nazareth; for a hospital in Nablus to welcome new births at a rate of 30 per month; for young deaf people to be cared for and taught life skills in Jordan. Your gifts to these places and many others “spreads love’s message” and enables both you and those you help to discover that “our living shall not be in vain.”
Information including bulletins and ways to give is available at iam.ec/goodfridayoffering. Any questions about the offering may be directed to Archdeacon Paul Feheley, Middle East partnership officer. He can be reached at (800) 334-7626 x6222 or pfeheley@episcopalchurch.org. I remain
Your brother in Christ,
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church