EDYTHE:  Betsy, that’s just wonderful. … So when’s your next radiation? … Do you have a ride? … Oh, he is? Okay, then. … Get some rest now. … See you Friday. … ‘Bye. (Hangs up.)

            (ANGEL enters, sits next to EDYTHE.)

EDYTHE:  (Casually.) Hi.

ANGEL:  (Casually.) Hi.

EDYTHE:  That was Betsy on the phone.

ANGEL:  How’s she doing?

EDYTHE:  Better. Lab reports came back, all good.

ANGEL:  Wonderful.

EDYTHE:  No kidding. For awhile there, I was afraid we might lose her.

ANGEL:  Oh, no. We won’t lose Betsy.

EDYTHE:  Really? That’s good news. Since you’re here, it must be money time again at St. Paul’s.

ANGEL:  It’s all about love.

EDYTHE:  What? Oh, you’re still talking about Betsy. Yes, it is all about love. I’m praying for her every day. But now I have to work on this money stuff, my pledge to St. Paul’s. I wish I didn’t have to figure it out all over again every year. I wish I was one of those people who find this easy.

ANGEL:  I don’t know many people like that.

EDYTHE:  You know, the ones who know what they’re supposed to do. I have all these arguments about it in my mind, and they keep changing, and I have to wrestle with them every year.

ANGEL:  Yes, it’s all about love.

EDYTHE:  What are you talking about? What’s the connection between money and love? Those are two different animals. Just tell me, what’s enough?

            (ANGEL shrugs and exits.)

She is no help at all.

            (TED enters, knocking. He is wearing a clerical collar.)

TED:  Knock, knock.

EDYTHE:  Come on in, Ted, and sit down. You know, the last two years, I thought I knew what my pledge was going to be when the canvasser came to call, and I ended up changing my mind both times. This year I’m starting out confused, so maybe that’s progress.

TED:  Tell me what’s confusing.

EDYTHE:  To be honest, I keep remembering a pledge drive at my family’s church right before I left for college. The theme was Thankfulness. It was all about giving back to God out of thanksgiving for all that God gives to us.

TED:  Okay.

EDYTHE:  I was fed up with church back then, and the theme sounded very self-serving to me. The idea that I’m supposed to figure out what I owe God, and then give it to my church? And be joyful about that? I care a great deal about St. Paul’s, but it’s not God.

TED:  No, the church is not God. And you don’t owe God anything.

EDYTHE:  I don’t?

TED:  No. Everything we have, our lives, this amazing world we live in – it’s all a gift from God. A gift of love.

EDYTHE:  And in exchange, I’m supposed to …

TED:  No! There’s no payback for a gift. You can’t pay back God anyway, because you live in God’s world. The gifts of God come to us in the form of a trust. We manage the trust, but we don’t own it.

EDYTHE:  “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”

TED:  Exactly. Now let me ask you something. What do you think St. Paul means when he refers to the church as the Body of Christ?

EDYTHE:  Ummm… Just Paul being Paul?

TED:  Stick with me here, Edythe. Is your body the same thing as “you”?

EDYTHE:  It’s not all of me, no. My body’s how I do things. But me … that’s something more.

TED:  All right. The church was founded and grew out of the Incarnation – the recognition of God’s son, alive and active and at work here among us. As one of us.

EDYTHE:  Right.

TED:  And the church is contained in the Incarnation today. I wish we’d take seriously what we say in church every Sunday. Otherwise, the church is nothing more than a voluntary organization of people who get together because it feels good. Unless we believe that God is involved, as a point of commitment, we’ll never get where we need to go.

EDYTHE:  That makes me think of when I stopped in at the church last week, and Diane, the secretary, was talking to a man I’d never seen before. She handed him a slip of paper and said, “Good luck with that new job.” After he left, I learned that he’d had some real hard times, and then finally found a job, and then – boom – his car broke down.

TED:  Oh, no.

EDYTHE:  Couldn’t get to his job without the car. He heard about us and came in and asked for help. Because we vouched for him, a local auto repair place will fix his car at a reduced price. He pays what he can, and our discretionary fund might pay some too, depending on how much it is.

TED:  I’m glad we were there to help.

EDYTHE:  I am too. I don’t know if that man will pull his life together or not. What matters is the moment of hope. The chance. When that door cracks open, then yes, I think God is involved. Sometimes I wish I could just give all my pledge to the discretionary fund.

TED:  But the discretionary fund is nothing by itself. Your moment of hope needs a place for that man to come to – a place where he’s treated with respect. It needs someone to greet him, and the phone to call the auto repair place. In fact, it needs a whole community of people who practice their faith.

EDYTHE:  I get it. The church building is not God, and the rector is not God. The congregation is not God, and the whole blessed hierarchy is not God. But that moment of hope – yes, that just might be God. All those other things give that moment shape. They’re what brings hope to life.

TED:  And that is the Body of Christ.

EDYTHE:  You know, I was just talking to Betsy on the phone.

TED:  How’s she doing?

EDYTHE:  Pretty good, overall. She told me about your visit last Sunday afternoon. It meant a lot to her, having communion brought into her home and shared at her bedside. Made me think about what I’d want, if something happened to me.

TED:  Me, too.

EDYTHE:  Yeah. But all this about the Body of Christ makes me realize that the church isn’t just an insurance policy for me. I want that kind of caring for all of us, and for anyone else who needs it. I want it to be there at a moment’s notice. The phones, the place, somebody on the job. And I want that job to be recognized and compensated.

TED:  “The laborer deserves to be paid.”

EDYTHE:  Right. I want St. Paul’s to be there so that anyone can be welcomed into a world where they are loved and cared for. And this is how we do it: With a beautiful and welcoming physical space. With a staff who’s there for us and for the whole community. With programs that teach that way of life.

TED:  The Christian way of life.

EDYTHE:  Not that we always get it right.

TED:  No. We’re human. We fail, again and again. And when the church really gets it wrong, I don’t think it gets much wrong-er.

EDYTHE:  But even then, deep down, I think it’s part of the struggle toward love. Love is not always easy.

TED:  No. It takes practice.

EDYTHE:  So … my pledge. How much? It always come down to that, and it’s always a problem.

TED:  That’s why the church teaches proportional giving. Proportional giving is fair, and it comes out of our abundance, great or small. My advice is to give a percentage of what you have.

EDYTHE:  Right. The tithe. I’ll tell you, Ted, giving 10% of my income to St. Paul’s would be a big shock to the household budget.

TED:  The principle is more important than the exact percentage. And, Edythe, do you know what? If each household gave just 3% of their annual income to St. Paul’s – just 3% – we would have no money problems in the parish at all. The bills would be paid, our programs could blossom and grow, and we’d have energy and resources to work toward that world you want – the world where all people are cared for and loved. So, Edythe, do you want me to leave this pledge card and let you think about it?

EDYTHE:  No. My income next year will probably be pretty close to what it is this year. And I can do the math. (Figures, fills out the card, puts it in an envelope, gives it to Ted.)

TED:  Thank you, Edythe. It was good talking to you.

EDYTHE:  Same here. See you Sunday.

TED:  I’ll be there.

            (TED exits.)

            (ANGEL enters.)

EDYTHE:  Guess what.

ANGEL AND EDYTHE: (together)  It’s all about love.

The End