The whole notion of stewardship through tithing isn’t an accounting principle for computing contributions; it is about the demanding business of whole-hearted commitment of all that we have to God’s work.  This is what the image of “first fruits” is intended to help us to see, that our gift to God needs to be “off the top.”  A tithe isn’t a contribution made after all our other obligations have been met; it’s recognition that God has given us everything, AND WE GET TO keep 90% of it.  Stewardship is not about avoiding budget problems; it is about responding to giving challenges!  Stewardship decisions are about stepping up to sainthood, making the commitment to think beyond ourselves, to those in the generations to come who will either find a vibrant St. Thomas’ Parish opening its doors with courage and enthusiasm to the post-modern world of need and opportunity—or not.  The tipping point we face places us at the edge of opportunity – the chance to grow in our spirituality and our walk with God, the chance to grow in our ability to remain a vibrant site of innovative worship and prophetic hospitality, the chance to grow in numbers who answer Christ’s call and come here, and thus, too, the chance to transform our physical space for housing all of this life we are helping to make possible.  St. Thomas’ Parish doesn’t just need a contribution during stewardship, we need your whole-hog commitment to make all that you are and all that you have available for God to do as much as the Spirit is calling us to do as Christ’s hands and feet here in Dupont Circle.  I am asking you to join John Dwyer and myself, in our commitment to you, our belief in you, to step out in faith with your biblical tithe-- we are keeping 90%, the rest we are giving to St. Thomas’, a parish of transforming hearts, unclenching fists, one at a time!

Amen +