With the fall season comes vivid reminders of just how blessed we are in so many tangible ways. The hustle and bustle of our lives, unfortunately, serves as a convenient distraction from our heartfelt acknowledgement and expression of our thankfulness to God for all the blessings bestowed upon us.

Just as we receive these blessings, so are we to be good stewards of these blessings by sharing with others around us as a vital part of our Christian mission.

This year’s Stewardship Campaign theme, “Receiving & Sharing God’s Bounty,” sums up well our stewardship obligations. We must not just receive God’s bountiful blessings – we must share them as well.

At a recent Stewardship Retreat, the Parish leadership came together to prayerfully ponder our personal commitment to Christian Stewardship. This retreat culminated in a Stewardship Parish Leadership Letter. It reads as follows:

What better way to commence this year’s Stewardship Campaign than with a concise statement of belief, commitment and invitation to Christian stewardship from the Parish’s leadership? We hope everyone will prayerfully consider and accept this invitation to stewardship as you make your campaign pledge in the coming weeks.

Peace!

Paul Nix

Stewardship Commission Chair

Dear Friends,

We need rain. According to a specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is one of the worst droughts in living memory in the Southeast. Most of us are living with some sort of watering restrictions, county by county. Each of us is called on to conserve water in whatever ways we can. In the early nineties, LA County was experiencing an extreme drought. Parking enforcement officers were re-routed to give tickets to those caught watering their lawn or washing their cars. During that time I began doing what I could from the suggestions given to us. I put on a low-flow shower head. I put a brick in the toilet tank to save that much water with each flush. I filled the sink when I was shaving rather than letting the water run. Simple things but taken together as a community made a difference. Even after the drought was over—the emergency was over, I left the low-flow shower head on; I left the brick in the toilet tank; I continue to stop up the sink to shave rather than let the water run.

Being a good steward of our resources is not only being responsible to one another as a member of the community but is also a good spiritual practice—remembering who I am and whose I am and taking care of what I have been given, not only in an emergency, but in the ongoing, daily flow of life. Each day is gift, each moment.

For the daily life of St. Bartholomew’s we need pledged income. At the end of June, we were $52,112 in the red for the year. In the ebb and flow of the year, we are normally twenty to thirty thousand in the red for this time of year. Budgeted expenses are pretty much on target. The larger gap this year comes from pledged income. Currently, we are $44,220 off on budgeted pledged income. I have asked the staff to cut back on expenses. The vestry has discussed a reduction of spending—delaying budgeted expenses that are not absolutely necessary to the running of the church. Your vestry and staff endeavor to be good stewards with the resources given to us. In this season of summer and vacations, doing what you can to keep your pledge current will also help. Keeping your pledge current may seem like a simple thing but taken together as a community it makes a difference. It will help us together carry out the work we have been given to do.

Being a good steward day-in-and-day-out is not only being responsible to one another as a member of the community but is also a good spiritual practice—remembering who we are and whose we are and taking care of what we have been given in the ongoing, daily flow of life.

Continue to pray for nourishing rain. Continue to pray for the people and the ministries of St. Bartholomew’s. And as part of our spiritual practice, let us continue to be good stewards with all our resources.

Your servant in Christ,

The Rev. Wm McCord Thigpen +