Hearing the Urgency of Stewardship
A couple of years ago, I pushed vanity aside and started wearing some much-needed hearing aids. I was tired of making jokes with my wife, spinning off what I thought I had heard…and she was very tired of repeating herself!
I really wasn’t aware before donning my hearing aids, what I was missing.
Every Fall brings the stewardship campaign and I reflect on how so many at St. Paul’s are able to give what they can afford in time, talent, and treasure to our church with their annual pledge. We wear our “spiritual hearing aids” to understand and appreciate how vital our church life is to us and to all whom St. Paul’s serves.
This year, our stewardship message is both loud and urgent. I think that the ringing in our ears is the Holy Spirit saying, “This time it really matters.” If we all rededicate ourselves to giving just a little more, it will make a big difference in pledge income. If we volunteer or try something new, that’s another important way to bolster our spirited community. Our efforts today, in this moment, can help us sustain all that we love about St. Paul’s in the name of Jesus Christ.
So, this Fall is our “clarion call”; one that is “brilliantly clear”: preserving what we love about St. Paul’s and growing out faith community and ministry is something we can all achieve by joining together. Listening to each of our still small voices inside we can…searching for the right cliché’…make our stewardship a resounding success!
Thank you if you’ve pledged already. Please consider pledging if you haven’t yet. Our gifts are the lifeblood of St. Paul’s, especially in our critical transition years ahead when we say “Happy Retirement” to Paul and “Welcome” to our new rector.
Jerry Martz