A Letter From the Stewardship Committee

Dear Friend,

A couple years ago the Stewardship campaign quoted a prayer from Teresa of Avila. Perhaps you know it. It starts with, “Christ has no body on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours.” It’s a beautiful call to action, an exhortation to be Christ in the world, not just to meet Christ in church on Sundays.

If we could have foreseen how cruel this year would be, we would have saved that prayer, because it’s never been more true. Our style of worship had to change fundamentally. For a time we could not meet in person. Even now we have constraints. But our hearts remained open. Please take a look at one of our parish emails — we have never had more people involved in (safe, socially distant) group activities. Our Outreach expenditures this year surpassed 2019. We set a record for weddings. We have baptisms scheduled almost every weekend. These are acts of resolve, perseverance, and hope, inspired by God’s grace.

Last year we reminded each other that once the worship is over, the service begins. This year we are determined that our service will continue, no matter how our worship has changed.

We move into 2021 with far too many unknowns, but with hope that it will be better, and faith to make it so. We rely on St. Paul’s to be our spiritual home, perhaps now more than ever. The good news is that the foundation of this home is strong and its people are resilient. It is — we are — as vibrant as ever. It’s just a little harder to see on a Zoom meeting.

We are called to keep that vibrancy going. To continue service to our community and each other. To provide ourselves with the resources to plan for new challenges and adapt to new opportunities. The best way to do this is to pledge.

So in an extraordinary year we are making an extraordinary request. We will make it through 2020 without having to cut staff or programs, However, our Treasurer detailed in her recent letter that 2021 will be even more challenging. Could you, in addition to the annual pledge, also make an additional gift to help support the 2021 budget during this difficult time? This is one way to be Christ in the world. We realize that this is bold, but we are called to be bold.

Please prayerfully consider pledging and giving a special gift to St. Paul’s for 2021.

Yours in Christ,

The Stewardship Committee

Ginny Barnicoat, Senior Warden Geoff Hurd, Junior WardenThe Rev. Noah H. Evans, Rector

John Sheehan, Frank Horrigan, Ann McStay, Amanda Harris, Domenique Comparetto, Preston Shimer

Click here to see all of our Stewardship Materials and to Pledge