By the Rev. Heather L. Melton, staff officer for the United Thank Offering
2022 marks several milestones that you’ll read about in this newsletter, but perhaps the most important one for our organization is the centennial of the death of our founder, Julia Chester Emery. Each year the church celebrates Miss Emery on Jan. 9, the date of her death, but it often gets overlooked as a new year is underway, and it is right after Epiphany. Therefore, we’ve decided to spread out Miss Emery’s feast day to involve the entire year of 2022. Miss Emery was humble and gracious, so much of what we know about her, we know through the work that she accomplished, or the biography written by her good friend Margaret Tomes. There are just a few photos, including the one at the top of this article, of her as a young woman, and only one painting, which hangs in the Archives of The Episcopal Church and was painted by her sister. This year, the Board wants to do a better job of telling the story of Miss Emery and the history of the United Thank Offering. In 2021, the UTO Board commissioned the creation of four new images of Miss Emery, from traditional icons to whimsical drawings, each of which will be released with new materials or special events. (Icons will be available for purchase directly from the creators but will also appear on UTO items.)
We’ve created a new page in the history section of our website dedicated to Miss Emery. It includes materials you can use to help share her story on social media and with your congregations and dioceses.
To begin our year of celebration, and to mark Miss Emery’s feast day, we invite you to participate in the following offerings this January:
Julia Chester Emery’s Feast Day – Sunday, Jan. 9
This year, the feast day of Julia Chester Emery falls on a Sunday. We hope you’ll use this event to pass out UTO materials (including the new materials for Lent available at unitedthankoffering.com/lent) and include the prayer for her feast day. On our history webpage, you’ll find a graphic image that easily can be shared on social media or webpages, as well as the full listing from “Lesser Feasts and Fasts” as well as “Holy Women, Holy Men.”
Virtual Worship in honor of Julia Chester Emery – Monday, Jan. 10 – UTO Social Media
Join this year’s Julia Chester Emery intern, Nick, for a quick prayer and moment of gratitude on social media for the life and work of Miss Emery. The video will be posted the morning of the 10th and can be accessed on Facebook, Instagram and our website whenever it is convenient to you.
Icon Release and Julia Chester Emery Trivia – Thursday, Jan. 13 at noon Eastern
Register now to join us for the release of the first new Julia Chester Emery icon (which we’ll then share in the February E-News). We’ll have some UTO and Julia Chester Emery trivia (and prizes!) to kick off the year of celebration.
Register in advance:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYvf-CsqjsvGNYYb_L41cxuK948VHBqS4V7
Thank you for helping us celebrate this amazing woman by telling her story of faith and sharing reminders of her profound love of the church.