Imagine a loaf of fresh-baked bread: warm and soft yet filling and sustaining. Even the thought ignites your senses: it’s the best. What causes bread to possess this power over us is the living yeast which, when added to the flour and a few other simple ingredients, grows and rises into a loaf. During our upcoming Stewardship Sunday, we’ll watch this transformation take place during service and then enjoy the results during Coffee Hour.
Church done well is a sort of “living yeast” that acts on the wider community, bringing out the good and sharing God’s love in important places. And churches — especially small, powerful ones like University Church — need yeast of our own to rise to the occasion our times demand. This is why we pledge.
Each year we spend the month of November committing with our time, talent, and money for the next year. It is how we set our budget for 2018 and how the dream of the Beloved Community is made real. Our Pledges act like this yeast and can create a nourishing church home that feeds the minds, souls, and spirits of our Congregation. With our church home we can also help provide literal sustenance to our community through the work of the Sanctuary Café — which serves “daily bread” — and provides employment and a meeting place for our neighbors.
Our Pledges also allow us to help nourish our young people through our youth and children programs, and the Blue Gargoyle, which does youth programming and outreach to the community.
We can sustain our Social Justice Ministry as it works on issues such as affordable housing, Fair Trade, racial and immigrant justice, along with partnerships in Guatemala and Angola.
When we make our Pledge for 2018 we do so with faith that God will give us our daily bread — much as God provided manna to the Israelites when they were in the desert — and so we will be able to provide the yeast and the means for the church to share this bread with our brothers and sisters in the Congregation and with the world.
Be prayerful over your finances as you prepare to turn in your pledge card. For some, a 10% “tithe” of your income will be what you write, and less or more for others. What we ask is for 100% participation: full participation of our congregation, of any amount that is significant for you.
Stewardship Sunday this year is November 19th, and we’ll receive pledge cards through the end of November. You can also call or email the office with your pledge, or make your pledge ONLINE USING THE FORM BELOW.
THANK YOU for participating in the making and sharing of the Bread of Life.
—Pastor Julian and the Stewardship Committee
