Tapestry of Faith: Gather the Spirit: A Multigenerational Program about Stewardship

Activity 4: Letter to Me

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Paper and pencils/pens, envelopes and postage stamps

Preparation for Activity

  • Decide with co-leaders and your religious educator who will mail the participants their letters, some months from now. It is very important that someone take responsibility for this follow-up.

Description of Activity

Distribute paper and pencils/pens. Ask each participant to write a letter about specifically how they plan to offer stewardship to the Earth and its resources. Say, "Think of this letter as a pledge of stewardship." If any participants do not yet write, ask them to draw a picture of how they will protect Earth's water or have them speak their own plan for a co-leader or an older participant to write down.

When the letters are done, invite volunteers to share their letters with the group. When all who wish to have shared, ask the group, "What does a pledge mean?" Say a pledge is a promise. Use an example from a letter a participant has shared; for example, "This pledge means, from now on, Alex will take shorter showers in the morning." Or, "From now on, Petra will donate one week's allowance each month to a project that is helping bring water pumps to villages in Ethiopia ."

Say when you make a pledge, it is important to make it specific and, whether you share it aloud or not, make the pledge to yourself as well as the group.

Distribute envelopes. Invite authors to place their pledge letters in the envelopes, address the envelopes to themselves, seal the envelopes and hand them to you.

Say that you will put stamps on the envelopes and mail them out in three months. When participants receive the letter they have written themselves, it will remind them of their pledge and they can check in to see how they are doing. If they have been active stewards, they can congratulate themselves. If not, they can increase their efforts.

Make a note in your calendar to stamp and mail the letters on the promised date.