I’m here to make a pitch for the United Thank Offering or UTO as we commonly know it. UTO is the mission arm of The Episcopal Church, and it funds a myriad of mission programs throughout the United States as well as globally throughout the Anglican Communion. We are asked to notice all the blessings we receive daily and to give thanks for those blessings by donating to UTO using the now famous little Blue Boxes. At Advent, we recognize the work of UTO during the summer months of July and August. UTO distributes 100 percent of all it receives to support mission, both local and global. This year, UTO will fund 34 mission projects for a total of almost $1.3 million.

I was called to a personal mission ministry in Tanzania 10 years ago, and I’m proud to be able to tell you that UTO has played an important part in my ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Tanga in Tanzania. In the 10 years of that ministry, I have authored five grant applications to UTO, and four of them have been funded. They have included a solar power project in the parish of St. Francis Xavier in the village of Kizara in the Usambara mountains, as well as three projects at Hegongo Holy Cross Secondary School in Magila, an Anglican boarding school for boys and girls. In 2016, we received a grant of $37,000 to renovate the girls’ dormitory. Three weeks ago, we received the good news that UTO has blessed us once again by funding our latest application – $66,000 to renovate the kitchen and dining areas at the school. Because of the generosity of UTO, the work of reconciliation continues and Hegongo Holy Cross Secondary School has become a beacon of hope and pride to our Anglican sisters and brothers in Tanzania.

And so, please join me by taking a UTO Blue Box today, if you haven’t already done so, and fill it with all the loose change you have lying around the house and in your car. Please be generous knowing of the important work of reconciliation that UTO is doing both here in the United States and throughout the Anglican Communion.

Thank you. Last year we collected $781, and this year we hope to exceed that amount.