First I want you all to know that is has been a pleasure and a privilege serving as your Stewardship Chair. Three years ago when Penny asked me to take this position I had no idea what all was involved. I thought it was mostly planning the events for the annual campaign. But since then I’ve learned that stewardship is so much larger. Yes, the annual pledge campaign is extremely important to the Cathedral’s ability to continue to thrive. However, stewardship of all that God has given to us is a year round responsibility. Webster’s defines it as “the careful and responsible management of all that has been entrusted to one’s care.” That means how we manage our family, our friends, our environment, our community, our health, and yes our finances.
I found a beautiful description of stewardship in the Episcopal Church Foundation newsletter. “ Stewardship is described in many ways but at it’s core is our response to God’s unfathomable love for all of us. It means discerning how we use our multiple gifts to make the most positive impact in a broken world. It is everything we do after we say “I believe.”
Most of you have heard my personal story about how I began to pledge and the year that I decided to just give back to God in response to all He had given me, instead of looking at my budget first and deciding how much I could afford. I’ve been doing that every year since then and the abundance in my life just overwhelms me everyday.
In the past years I’ve used the Step Up Chart which is found in your pledge brochure. Hopefully you all received one in the mail and if not please let me know. After looking at the chart I decided where I wanted my gift to be in relation to my St. Paul’s family, and continue to strive to be there.
This coming year, in the midst of construction, remodeling and careful budgeting we’ve set our pledge foal at $1,050,000. That’s just $50,000 more than last year and I feel certain with your help we will achieve it.
We are just instruments in this beautiful stewardship symphony and how blessed we are to know that God is our conductor. Together what beautiful music we can make!
Sunday, October 6,2019
Pat Kreder
