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7:30 and 10:30 AM

 

The
Cathedral Church
of Saint John
Ten Concord Ave.
Wilmington
Delaware
19802

voice: (302) 654-6279
fax: (302) 777-5789

Wheelchair
Accessible

Parking lot
on Concord Avenue

  

Dean's Letter to the Parish

November 2007
Episcopal Cathedral Church
of Saint John
Wilmington, Delaware

Dear Friends in Christ,

On Sunday, the twenty-fifth of November, at both services, we will hold the ingathering of our pledges of financial support for the mission and ministry of the Cathedral. The twenty-fifth is the last Sunday after Pentecost, also known as Christ the King Sunday. It is a particularly appropriate occasion for the ingathering for two reasons. One, we are pledging our commitment for the work of Christ as we acknowledge him as King. Two, we are doing so as we prepare to enter a new year in the life cycle of the Church, for the following Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the Church year.

You will be receiving a letter as well as a pledge form in the mail next week. It will be this form that you offer during the ingathering on the twenty-fifth. I encourage you to treat making your pledge as something special, something that requires thought and prayer, something that directs you to consider who you are in relationship to Christ the King. Your baptism identified you as Christ’s own for ever; the faithfulness of your offering is a sign of how meaningful that identity is for you.

The Internal Revenue Code allows you to treat your financial commitment to Christ and the Church of Christ as a charitable gift. However, I hope and trust that is not the reason you make it. I hope that you do so because such a commitment is essential for you as one who has been signed and sealed with the Cross of Christ. In other words, doing so is just as natural as eating, drinking, and breathing.

Jesus did not hesitate to talk about finances, money, and wealth. Indeed, it is a prominent theme in the Gospels. When he did so, he often emphasized not only what good comes to others from our faithfulness, but what good comes to us as well. For Jesus, joy comes not from worshipping or coveting financial resources, but from turning those resources into instruments for the fulfilling of God’s Kingdom.

The pledge of financial commitment that you offer on Sunday the twenty-fifth of November will be a testimony to the stewardship you exercise over the portion of the world’s wealth in your care. It is not about how much of that wealth you have, but how you put what you have to use. Such stewardship is not to be taken on lightly, but rather, to borrow a theme from the marriage liturgy, with reverence and eliberation. It is not about paying dues. It is about making a sacramental-like act, one that is an outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual quest.

Your pledge of commitment, joined with the pledges of others, will give testimony to the faith and vitality of the Church and to the promise of its future here at Concord and Market in the City of Wilmington.

Faithfully,
William B. Lane

Dean’s Sermons:

Cathedral Call Letters from the Dean