Stepping Forward Together
Dear Friends at Holy Spirit.
Peace and every Blessing to each of you!
I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for the great work that so many of you did to make our Ministry Fair a wonderful experience for our Parish Community. A special thanks to those who generously offered their TIME and TALENT as we begin our STEWARDSHIP program at Holy Spirit. We first, most generally, think in terms of a pledge amount (which is important, of course) when we think of Stewardship. I think we do ourselves a disservice when not recognizing all the talent that resides among us as a fundamental gift to each of us from our Creator. These many talents, unless shared in community, can be taken for granted, or worse, be forgotten. Our giftedness is given for the Kingdom, as scripture teaches us, and so, to share time and talent is a fundamental Christian obligation and a way of making God’s Love known. We still need ministry assistance in many areas. After just a couple weeks here I have noticed that a lot of the organization of parish activities as well as the ordinary management of many of these ministries has fallen to the staff. I pray that folks who are gifted and feel called will continue to come forward to help lead some of our vital ministries. I thank those who have committed themselves over the years to such a call here at Holy Spirit. Please contact Suzy Spencer or me if you have interest in volunteering in any of our Family or Liturgical Ministries.
You should have or will soon receive the information about our Fall Stewardship program with a request to consider your financial support of our ministries. The Vestry is taking this campaign very seriously as they are charged with the responsibility for the financial vitality of our Parish Community. This current year we are running a deficit as our pledge income has fallen behind what was expected at this point. Fall is often a time of generosity with Thanksgiving and the holiday season in our sights. We pray that we will be able to “catch up” with our ordinary expenses as we end the year. We also pray that we can build a firm budget for next year to support the many programs that we have in place and build where we can, with a new Rector, the ministries here at Holy Spirit that best serve the building up of the Kingdom of God in this place.
Peace,
Fr. Bob
Interim Rector