If you are like me, you have been touched by those who have stood here and told the stories of their spiritual journeys to St. Thomas’ Parish. I don’t plan to be quite so eloquent, but I do want to say that I share many of the hopes and fears joys and pains many of us have experienced in our lifetimes. I am deeply grateful to the Creator of all of us, for leading me here. St. Thomas’ is a unique place of vision and not just hope but opportunity for Christ’s love that spills out onto the streets of Dupont Circle and around the globe. Jesus Christ is in this place!

A friend of mine who asked me to not identify them, told me recently that they avoid their own parish throughout the month of October, just to avoid their own pledge drive/canvas.  There is a part of me that is deeply sympathetic.  I too feel this awkwardness about talking about money in Church.  And I realized that I had to address this phobia!

I was raised with a very simple understanding about giving to the Church: Ten percent off the top.  That was it.  Nothing mystical, nothing magical, it was just that.  When I was a teenager working as a life guard, bus boy, or at the pharmacy downtown, ten percent was pretty easy.  My favorite priest growing up introduced to me to the relational aspect of giving.  He always said that when you give to God, “you may not have everything you want, but you will have everything you need.”  I have struggled through the years to understand that.  When I graduated from college, moved to the big city, and began working on the hill for the grand sum of $17,500 per year, ten percent was a lot of money.  And I was terrified of giving that much money to the church.  As I think back on it though, even the meager amount of money I did give to St. Thomas’ back then was very small compared to what I got back.  This place, this holy place has been a refuge for me and a source of inspiration, support and joy.  As much as being an Episcopalian is a part of who I am, St. Thomas’ has cemented that identity. 

Confessional

In my time here at St. Thomas’ I must confess that I given ten percent.  To be quite honest, I am not quite there yet even today, but I’m getting there.  I am committed to working toward it because I believe deeply that this place deserves my commitment and so does God.  Part of my challenge in my giving is not necessarily the money, but my management of it.  Andy does the check book at my house and it’s a good thing.  A number of years ago, I became so frustrated by always being behind on my pledge and the guilt that I shoved on myself for it, that I turned my pledge over to a higher power—the internet!  I have never been so guilt free in my life about what I give to the Church as I am right now.  Today when I go home, I will go on-line, fill out my pledge card, click that almighty button submit and it will be done.  Then I will go to my credit union web site, pull-down the bill pay tab, type in my number, and hit that wonderful freeing submit button and it will be done! No more guilt, Nancy Lee gets paid, and I can sleep easy.  But the most amazing thing is that now I don’t even miss the money because I never see it.

I don’t have everything I want.  But I have many of you as friends, I have the joy and fulfillment of the fine preaching offered here, I have the inspiration of a wonderful choir, the excitement of knowing that Children have a church home that loves them, I feel cared for by my clergy and nourished by the work that this church does to seek to serve Christ in all persons, and I have the pride in knowing that we stand up for and welcome all who may live on the margins in our society.  I am grateful to St. Thomas’ Episcopal Parish in Dupont Circle for giving me everything I need.  In your own giving I hope you find this same peace.