Stewardship letter from Father Ben
Dear parishioners,
Our Annual Pledge Committee wrote to you conveying the financial needs for Saint James’ in 2026. The committee asked you to do your part, invite you to reflect on the place this church holds in your life, whether for generations or the past few months. They challenged you to look out beyond our current horizons and envision new possibilities for our church, how radiant our light could be if we all burn more brightly. I also encourage you to consider your continuing connection to Saint James’, but I will also ask you to do the hard work of seeing this exercise as more than that.
Why do I give to Saint James’?
I am both proud and grateful for this community. I see people finding their way here from such different realities and discovering something uniquely warm and wide open, a true home here at Saint James’. I am so proud of all of you for cultivating and living out of that love that Jesus embodied. It is not just an inclusivity but a love that compels us to move beyond ourselves, our preconceived ideas, our judgements, our comfort and our current selves.
I cannot imagine walking through these past twelve and a half years without this community to encourage and lift me up, to guide me, and to wrestle with difficult realities and issues together, to hold up Jesus and the Gospel as our collective guide. I believe in this church and see it as a bright light. I want to support this wonderful community and enable it to do more and shine farther.
I also give because I feel it is my responsibility. It is my duty as a Christian and as a part of this community. I also give sacrificially because I feel it is bound to my role as spiritual leader. I need to say with authenticity, I take that leap year after year beyond what is comfortable.
I give as an act of gratitude. Giving is not just a response to all God has done for me, but an intention that opens my eyes, pushes back my shoulders, lifts my chin to receive and behold the beautiful grace that is all life and this specific life that I have been given.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I give because I hear and believe God’s warning, that you cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve God and wealth. My pledge orders my life around what I proclaim with my lips, that God is central. I am as prone as anyone to wondering what I could do with the money I commit to the church, how much security it would bring. BUT, all of that presumes that the money is mine and that my safety and protection is in my portfolio and not in my creator, redeemer and sustainer. It isn’t a destination at which I have arrived, but a critical instrument in allowing treasure to slide between my fingers so that I can grasp what is true treasure.
Please reflect on your 2026 commitment as a leap of faith, as an instrument in aligning your relationship with money, as an expression of gratitude to God, and as reflection of the centrality of God in your life.
I believe if all of us take this discipline seriously, Saint James’ will indeed have broad and bright horizons, other organizations that serve this community will have ample resources to thrive, and we will feel the deep peace of a grateful and generous life in greater harmony with creation and our creator.
God’s peace and blessings,
The Rev. Benjamin Wells Maas