Today is the Feast of All Saints! Let us be grateful for God’s love, which has bestowed on us Jesus Christ, God With Us, all the angels and all who we know and have known who walked in truth and love. Amen!
We are in the midst of our annual stewardship drive. A couple of weeks ago you received in the mail a list of ministries through which you can help build the Kingdom. Some of these ministries just require you to show up and do a task (remember, Laudato Si’ second Saturdays, 9:30!) Or getting out a mailing. Some require volunteer coordination, others, such as Social Justice, are very process-oriented. Almost all the councils and commissions need someone to take minutes. Some need people to keep track of money. If you’re really not sure how you might fit in, take the Strength Finders assessment on the website. The commitment form is on st-therese.cc on the right sidebar on a computer or near the bottom of the scroll on a phone.
Last week we heard Sam Lawrence give witness to why, after spending the last twelve years in Alabama, he and his wife Terri came back to St Therese when they returned to Seattle. Sam first attend St Therese in his early 20s at the invitation of a Jesuit volunteer friend, who invited him to Easter Vigil. Talk about jumping into the deep end! Needless to say, it was in impactful experience. Sam grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, in what he characterizes as “the most liberal square mile of Mississippi.” [Only liberal square mile of Mississippi?] His parents, much to their credit, sent him to public schools, where he got to experience life as a minority. St Therese, with our openness and multi-racial community, was a church like nothing he’d seen before. He and his wife Terri converted last month. Welcome home, Sam and Terri!
It is out of this kind of gratitude that I would like you to consider your giving to St. Therese. Please take a look at your budget as a spiritual exercise. Consider your commitments and your gratitude and make some decisions. I would ask you to put your generosity first in your budget and then squeeze the rest in. There are a lot of demands on your generosity: food banks are facing record demands, St. Vincent de Paul is struggling to keep many in southeast Seattle in their homes, and St. Therese needs your support.
As you know, the St Therese budget is showing a deficit. Closing that deficit would require about a 10% increase in giving. I know that for many of you, that is not possible but for those who can, it would help make your parish sustainable. For those who can’t, please give what you can from your resources.