Stewardship Sunday
Sunday is Stewardship Sunday, a day where we intentionally focus on our monetary gifts to the church and make a commitment to a particular amount for 2026. Pledges are not legal contracts you make with the state. They are promises of faith made with God and His church that we do our best to honor so that St. Timothy’s can faithfully plan how we will use our financial resources in the upcoming year.
We live in a culture that constantly reinforces the idea that what you do with your money is nobody else's business. In Holy Scripture, Jesus breaks through and demands more. He invites us into a more fulfilled life by challenging us to regulate our relationship with money. He pushes us to fulfill the tithes of the Old Testament no longer under compulsion but freely and joyfully.
Sunday you are invited to make giving a priority. Oftentimes, we may think, “I’ll save more now so I can be generous later,” but that idea falls apart quickly. Generosity is a virtue, and virtues can’t be postponed—they grow by practice. We would never say, “I’ll skip being patient now so I can be really patient later,” or “I won’t bother with courage today because I want to be courageous someday.” It’s the same with giving: if we aren’t generous now, we won’t magically become generous later. Beginning where we are forces us to depend on God, which can feel scary, but ultimately leads to being drawn deeper into His mercy instead of deeper into self-reliance.
If you have your pledge card with you Sunday, please drop it in the bowl that will be in front of the altar rail when you come up for Communion. If you have already pledged online, feel free to pick up one of the “I Pledged Online” cards in the narthex to place in the bowl during that time. At the end of the mass, we will pray over these signs of our dedication to habitual generosity and thank God for his continued blessings and protection over this parish and its mission and work.
Lord Jesus Christ, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets: mercifully grant that building upon thee, the chief cornerstone, with beauty and substance, we may raise here at St Timothy's a faithful people and a holy temple to thy glory. May we and generations yet to come learn to praise thee more and more in spirit and in truth. Amen.