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Stewardship
| The Time is Now From Steve Harper, Stewardship Campaign Chairman My family joined St. Francis Church back in 1993. Since then we have been fortunate to take advantage of the many blessings that St. Francis and the Lord have provided us. As chair of the 2010 stewardship campaign, with the leadership of the vestry, I hope to encourage you to pray about what the Lord has given you and, when you wonder when would be a good time to demonstrate your thanks to Him, to realize that the Time is Now. Stewardship is a way to give back to the church to show gratitude for the things that we are thankful for. I feel it is our obligation to show this expression. Financial stewardship allows the church to provide excellent worship services, Christian education, youth programs, outreach, etc. In these challenging economic times, tithing is very important. The average pledge last year was approximately $3200 per household. The Vestry and the Finance committee are preparing a well thought‐out conservative budget for 2010. In order to sustain St. Francis' programs, the church is asking everyone to prayerfully consider increasing your pledge by a meaningful amount. The second form of stewardship that the church is looking for is more involvement from our parishioners. Getting involved with various activities within the church allows for learning, sharing fellowship and a feeling of having a church home. You will also meet a lot of wonderful caring people as well. Starting this Sunday, November 8, you will hear important stewardship messages and will receive a pledge card. Please return the card as soon as possible so the Vestry can plan how to meet the church's financial obligations for the coming year.  Blessed Are the Debonair From Phil Ellsworth, Associate Rector When you’re a priest and you say the word ‘stewardship’ people start edging toward the door. Like a family story told too often, it can elicit groans. Soon after I came to Saint Francis, I remember being at a stewardship committee meeting where themes were considered for the upcoming campaign. I cheekily proposed this one: Either life is holy with meaning or life doesn’t mean a damn thing. You pay your money and you take your choice. Blank stares and furtive glances. I kept a straight face until a committee member said it seemed a little wordy. We ended up that year with Charting Our Future Together in Christ. This lacked punch, I said, but Carol Tutera and Brenda Bell assured me with a knowing wink that it meant the same thing. Stewardship asks where we are going and how we plan to get there if we get there at all, and what we are going to find if we finally do. Vestries are responsible for that planning, and the only reason for asking yourself what your role — and your checkbook’s role — will be in the life and mission of Saint Francis is that you want to be part of where we’re going and how we plan to get there. We pay our money every day, to one thing or another. By the way we use what we earn and what we’re given, we show what really matters to us. If you’re a member of my parish then four or five months from now in your mail you’ll receive an envelope from Saint Francis with a pledge card in it. Hmm. You’ll ask: What to do with this? What numbers to scratch there? How much of what I work so blessedly hard for should I give gladly away? If you believe in what we say and do at Saint Francis — if you believe that God is busy in your life here — then when the pledge card comes do this: say your prayers, take your pen, and surprise yourself. The struggle we have with money is really with Jesus himself. And the truth about Jesus is that if indeed he is everybody’s friend the way the old Jesus hymns proclaim, he is at the same time everybody’s worst enemy. He is the enemy at least of everything in us that keeps us from giving him what he is really after. And what he is really after is our heart’s blood, our treasure, our selves. On the twenty-third of June, 1993, Victoria, Evan, Gabriel, Gillian and I took a train from Seekonk, Massachusetts to Boston to visit the New England Aquarium. I remember the sea lions as we call them (it would be interesting to know what they call us) racing around in their tank, leaping through hoops, balancing beach balls on their whiskered snouts and delighting us all. On the train ride home that night, Gabriel and Evan were sitting in front of us on opposite sides of the aisle. At one stop, I looked up and noticed Gabriel patting people on the arm as they passed by him. Victoria saw it, too. She leaned forward and said to him, “Gabriel. What are you doing?” “I’m petting them, Mom,” he said. “What?” she said. You shouldn’t do that, Gabriel.” “I’m only petting them, Mom.” At the next stop, I overheard Evan encourage Gabriel to pet a steward whom Gabe must have mistaken for the conductor. Gabriel said, “No.” “Why not?” Evan asked. “Because I don’t pet abductors [sic].” There’s a steward in this story but that’s not why I tell it. I tell it because I ask myself: Why would a boy barely four pat on the arm people he did not know from Adam? And why do I love him for doing it? It was a crazy thing to do. It was a risky thing to do. It ran counter to all standards of New England practicality and prudence. It was debonair. He did it because he saw the people on that train not as strangers but as compagnons de voyage. It was not a level-headed, play-your-cards-close-to-the-vest thing to do, just as giving away your hard-earned cash is not level-headed, not playing your cards close to the vest. But to live this way is to make visible who we are and where we are going together, you and I. It is to see the world lit up as if by lightning on a dark night. The Faithful Use of Money From Billy Shand, Rector In a few weeks, we will concentrate more fully on matters of faithful Christian stewardship, specifically as that discipline applies to the life of our parish. The thoughts in this column appear a little in advance of the scheduled dates for me to write on the subject, but why put off that pleasure until a later time? I am not being disingenuous when I refer to such matters as a pleasure, but I would be willing to admit it is an ambivalent one. Every year when we come to this part of our parish life, I find myself somewhat chagrined to be in the company of so many others who ask for our money. Each person who reads this column regularly knows what I mean, for we are all besieged by requests for various causes, some of them even worthwhile. It is not simply enough to point out that for the Christian, all requests are not equal, and that our use of money is specifically related to the seriousness of our desire to be a faithful disciple of Jesus. That is why he talked so often about money and treasure. The two — treasure and the disciple’s heart — are inseparable. And that is where the real pleasure comes in. It is a joy to respond “unfeignedly”, as the Prayer Book puts it, as part of our discipleship. The faithful use of money is one of the distinguishing traits of the Christian, and there are countless examples over the years of those who embodied that trait, and whose examples inspire and encourage the rest of us. Those who do not think there is a relation between our discipleship and our stewardship bear the burden of proof, and stand in direct neglect or even disobedience of our Lord’s teachings. I do not write that to be contentious nor sanctimonious, and surely not to try to induce greater guilt among the flock of Potomac Parish. That would be very poor pastoral leadership, and it would surely not produce greater financial stewardship among us all. Yet to deny that relation is also to deny a basic Biblical tenet. I have said over the years, perhaps too sardonically, that those who complain that the Episcopal Church is quick to ignore Biblical principles (and we surely are, to our shame) are not as quick to speak loudly when the principle in question is the tithe. Do Biblical principles apply only to morality and not to bank accounts? Jesus did not seem to think so. That sets the context, bluntly but with charity. Here is another case where St Paul’s observation that we have all fallen short comes to mind. It is not just a matter of dollars and cents pledged to the church — although let it be clear, that concern does indeed matter. We will save that for later, but when we do consider these things, we will know we are not permitted the false luxury of thinking these questions do not reflect the health of our soul. As we approach this serious subject, I hope we can do so with a broad vision. We recognize how important these matters are. We recognize that the work of faithful Christian stewardship is more than just good works, but rather is part of our response to the blessings we have received from God. We recognize that this use of money really is different from every other cent we commit — not necessarily better, but surely different. Humility demands that recognition, too. So, coming soon will be words and thoughts from the Vestry and those who are helping with this work in our parish. I am confident you will give a fair hearing to what others will present, just as I am confident that with the grace of God, we shall prove faithful in this as in many other aspects of our common life in this parish. |   |   |