Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Sunday, November 13, both the 8:30 and 10:30 AM services will be our Fall Pledge Ingathering. Yes, it is that time of year that we focus on our stewardship of money. Many people struggle with the power of money – unsure as to whether it is an entitlement, a perk from God for true and faithful living, or a neutral reality that we can choose to use for good or for evil. For the unbelieving world, money can take on divine status, justifying a life of rampant greed – a belief that all that we can accumulate is for our own benefit and ours only. All three of these views are contrary to scripture, and St. Paul, our earliest New Testament witness, wrote about money in most of his correspondence with the emerging churches of the Mediterranean. We recently heard some of his most sincere efforts to map out a Biblical view of money in his letter to the Philippians which we read in church for several weeks earlier this fall.

At the conclusion of his letter to the church at Philippi (4:10-20), Paul thanks the people in that church for their support of other churches in need, particularly in Macedonia: “…no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs more than once.” Paul is writing this from a Roman prison. He understands need. And he understands that the Church of Jesus Christ can survive only on the giving and receiving of monetary gifts.

Our fiscal year 2012 will be a challenging one. All the more so as I shared on Sunday because we have been beneficiaries of the kind of giving and receiving Paul writes about. As you know, each parish in the Episcopal Church contributes a portion of its budget to the Diocese, and a portion of that goes to our Church Office in New York City. This money allows us to support ministries at home and around the world that we otherwise could not support on our own. The Episcopal Church is, at heart, a mutual aid and missionary society.

To get through fiscal year 2011, the Diocese of Maryland cut our allocation in half – an unheard of show of support. This means that most of the other 113 parishes subsidized our annual operating budget. In 2012, we will be expected to return to our full apportionment. Additionally, we have lost a significant revenue stream when the St. Peter’s School reorganized this past spring – it is a leaner, smaller operation which will just break even in the 2011-2012 school year. For these reasons alone, we will need to increase our Pledge base for the year ahead. We also need to get back on the giving end of the giving-and-receiving standard Paul champions so that other parishes can be given the same kind of subsidy that has helped us get through this past year.

For those looking for a Biblical guide to giving, this past Sunday we heard Matthew’s Jesus instruct his followers to do what the Pharisees teach (Matthew 23:1-12). As regards giving, they teach giving 10% of one’s annual income called The Tithe. It is significant that Jesus openly supports this standard of giving that stretches back to the origins of monotheistic faith – at least to the time of our father Jacob. (Genesis 28:22)

In the same letter to the Philippian church, Paul concludes, “I am fully satisfied now that I have received…the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (4:19-20)

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Kirk