Trust Renewed: The Cookie Boycott
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Wednesday, after the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol, some of us gathered for an expanded "Church By Phone" service. Many of us were on the conference call as usual, and some joined us through Zoom. On that terrifying day, we included a couple of additional prayers, including the much-loved Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, and the less familiar Prayer for Our Country (found in the Book of Common Prayer on page 820). In the days since, we have continued to say both prayers and, even over the phone, I can tell that these words are touching our hearts.
In the Prayer for Our Country, we make a most timely request for God to "save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way." And, at the close of the prayer, we ask, "in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail."
I admit that after all we have seen and endured in just the last week and a half, and fearing what is yet to come, my trust in God has sometimes faltered. Maybe the same is true for you. We ask, how much longer, Lord? And yet, in God's usual subtle way, there are small but powerful signs that God is still at work, shining light into the shadows, renewing our hope for a just and peaceful future.
For example, some of you know that we have been glad to host a Girl Scout troop for five or six years now, renewing an old tradition from both St. Paul's and Incarnation. Thanks to the dedication and persistence of leaders Gina Verdibello and Kellie Lewis, the troop has grown in size and scope. Like scouts throughout the decades, the girls have gained new skills and learned about their community and beyond. It has been so gratifying to see this program flourish.
Over just the last few days, many more people have learned about our Girl Scout troop. As you may have read in the Jersey Journal or seen on the news or on Facebook, our scouts have taken a strong and sacrificial stand for compassion and justice. It turns out that many of those delicious (and mildly addictive) Girl Scout cookies are made with palm oil. And palm oil is often produced by child labor in places like Malaysia and Indonesia.
In a time with so much trouble and suffering, we might be inclined to simply regret this reality – just another sorrow in a world full of despair. And, since this wonderful program's financial health depends on the sale of cookies made with palm oil, we might be tempted just to look the other way or maybe try to rationalize the cookie sale. It is a good cause, after all.
Our scouts and their leaders chose the more challenging way, the faithful way, the way of compassion and justice. As one of the girls said, "There is no excuse for using child labor when you can pay legal adults to do the same work. Children should be in classrooms and not working on plantations." Recognizing a terrible injustice, our troop has joined a cookie boycott begun by one scout in Tennessee and now spreading through the country. What may have seemed at first to be a small and futile effort will no doubt lead to changes by the Girl Scouts and their cookie vendors, and might even lead to better lives for faraway children we will likely never meet, but who are our sisters and brothers.
Thinking about the sacrifice made by our Girl Scouts has renewed my trust that God is still at work in sometimes subtle but always powerful ways. And the stand taken by these girls, and the positive attention it’s attracted, has also made me more hopeful about the future. Like so many young people across the country, our kids envision a better world and are already speaking up and creating real change. So, no matter what happens in the days and weeks ahead, I'm not going to forget the cookie boycott. And, I'm going to keep my trust in our God who is hard at work, shining light into deep shadows, renewing our hope for a just and peaceful future.
Your brother in Christ,
Tom
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