In a stewardship testimonial last fall, I used the image of the empty church, stripped of its furnishings between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. This annual ritual symbolizes the emptiness that the disciples felt in the days between Jesus’ arrest and resurrection. My point at the time was that we would feel a similar emptiness if we abandoned our shared commitment to CSMSG. Without pledged income, our ability to retain clergy and staff would erode, we would become unable to offer programming, our facilities would fall into disrepair, and the worship of God at the Point would fade away.
When someone sent me a funny cartoon last month—“I hadn’t planned on giving up quite this much for Lent”—I realized we were living through a version of the very events I had feared. The church was empty, the doors barred to all uses, and the altar of St. George’s Chapel was stripped. Outings and gatherings cancelled, Confirmation on hold, Shelter breakfasts suspended. But of course, God’s plan was not the one we would have expected. In these Words of Encouragement, and in the Church’s e-letters and social media postings, we have seen all the ways in which our community has come together despite the pandemic’s demands. Bible studies have moved online, youth group is hanging out twice a week, parishioners are delivering food for Bridges to Care and Recovery. Our bridge club has been playing cards online and, as always, closing each game with a prayer.
The altar of St. George’s is not bare because we have scattered, but because it has been moved to the Page Memorial Garden. Gardens have always been a place to meet God, whether we expect to join him there walking in the cool of the day, or have only the strength to drop to our knees, confessing that we seek not our will but His. If we are not worshiping in the church today, it is because we are worshiping in a garden, and all around us spring’s splendors give us an assurance of rebirth and renewal.
How will these moments in the garden help us enter our next chapter? We must consider stewardship again. Stewarding resources is part of gardening, too. Online worship has awakened many of us to a new appreciation for the Daily Office. If we are to continue to offer church online, resources will need to be directed or re-directed to that considerable production task (see the Words of Encouragement from Laurie Brown and John Tyler dated April 16 to learn more). As we re-enter our church facilities, we will surely be reminded of the physicality of a century-old building whose leaks and creaks will be newly apparent to us. In conducting our annual stewardship campaign, we often use the language of doing God’s work, emphasizing mission and social action as the purpose of our pledges, but we need not be ashamed that our budget is rooted first in our need to keep the church running, without which our community truly will lose its foundation.
Let us be encouraged that there is much we can do. We have a strategic plan to implement, and this pause will give us renewed energy to put it into action. Fortunately, we are confident that we will recover from the financial and social impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Several parishioners, including some of our largest pledgers, have taken the lead by pre-paying their pledge for the year. I hope that parishioners will consider, for this year or next, whether their pledged commitment to the church matches what God calls them to do. In my age group—parents of school-aged children—only about one-fifth of families make a pledge. If you haven’t, try it! Try taking this small step forward on the spiritual journey you have already begun. Whether the amount is large or small, a pledge lets the church plan ahead, and lets the pledger verbalize their commitment to our community. Your pledge says that you belong.
As the Diocese releases its requirements for reopening, and we begin to plan for the next chapter of our shared mission, we need to be encouraged in another way. Around us, neighbors are tiring of pandemic precautions, and our leaders are not well aligned in their messaging. In the health system where I work, we have as many inpatients with COVID-19 as we have ever had. There are calls for more widespread testing, but all lab tests for all conditions suffer from false positives and negatives: there never has been, and never will be, a perfect test. We must continue to run with patience the race set before us, and not let up our social distancing measures yet. Staying home, wearing a mask in public, and eliminating unnecessary social gatherings are acts of charity. We have learned that these measures are most beneficial for the most vulnerable members of society, for whom our Lord had a special love.
Let us all feel encouraged that we have heard, through this time, the clear voice of Jesus, who continues to work out his plan in this place that we all share—The Church of St. Michael & St. George. We are excited by what we will do when we can all gather there together again.
Ian Hagemann
Stewardship Committee Chair
Clerk of the Vestry
