Dear Friends,
Over the last few weeks, we have been having a conversation about the stewardship of the commons — our common life as Christians and our common life at St. Hilda St. Patrick as a place of community in our neighborhood. We will continue to have these conversations throughout the year. We’ve reached the point now for asking how you will steward your financial resources for 2022. You can click here to pledge. Please have your pledge in by December 26.
Our stewardship voicemail line (206-639-2300) for you to share your stories of stewardship you see around the church has started to receive beautiful stories. Others have written to Sam Magill (sam@sammagill.com) to write their stories of how they care for their neighbors and for the church. Please keep this stories coming in as we continue to have our stewardship conversations — with an annual ask for financial planning.
Thank you to everyone who has pledged in the past. If you have not before, I invite you to take on this spiritual discipline. This is not a fund drive like KUOW. This is a conversation between you and God about how to give back to God what God has so freely given you. This could be to pledge for the first time (any amount) or to increase your pledge with percentage giving, working toward the Biblical standard of the 10% tithe.
Beginning next month, the worship committee will be studying Samuel Torvend’s For the Life of the World: Essentials of Episcopal Worship, which we may then study as a congregation. As I’ve read through this book, I’ve been struck again and again at how our life together on Sunday mornings moves us as stewards of our common life together outside.
I will close with one such passage, where he is summarizing Justin Martyr’s recording of a Sunday celebration. “…at the end of the liturgy, funds are collected to meet the material needs of the many, from orphans to sojourning workers. That is the generosity of God received in the eucharistic gifts of bread and wine is extended and expanded toward those in need. Indeed, such generosity constitutes a significant dimension of the Christian mission in the world.” (p.45, emphasis added)
May our conversations about stewardship and our care for the commons be such a reflection of and response to God’s generosity.
Advent Blessings,
Joseph+