Offering Love & Kindness for 2024

By Rob Radtke, President & CEO at Episcopal Relief & Development

As a child growing up in a rectory, this was always a somewhat odd time of the year.  

During December, my father, an Episcopal priest, would be consumed with preparing for Christmas and the many activities and services surrounding it, from Lessons and Carols to the Midnight Candlelight Service. 

We didn’t see much of him from mid-December until the 26th. He was usually there on Christmas morning, exhausted and bleary-eyed, as we tore through the bounty under our tree.  

As a family, we truly came to appreciate that Christmas was a season, not a day. The period between Christmas Day and December 31st was a special time. The busyness of Christmas dissipated and we could enjoy my father’s company as he recovered from his duties as a parish priest.

My father died in September, and so I find myself thinking about him a lot as 2023 turns to 2024.

Dad was a true believer in the sentiments expressed by Henri-Frédéric Amiel and summarized in this beautiful prayer: What greater gift can we offer each other this coming year than love and kindness? You and I are fortunate that offering love and kindness is at the heart of our work at Episcopal Relief & Development every day.

Sometimes, that love and kindness looks like a malaria net. Sometimes, it looks like shelter during a humanitarian crisis. Sometimes, it looks like access to clean water. It looks like many different things.

Thank you for offering the kind of love and kindness that gladdens the hearts of the millions worldwide who travel with us.

May 2024 be filled with joy and peace.

Rob Radtke is the President & CEO at Episcopal Relief & Development.