Newsletter September 27, 2023

Jim Lindsay and Fr David McCready of St Columba Orthodox Church, Lafayette, CO will be co-leading a Holy Land Tour June 3-16, 2024 (https://www.tartan-tours.com/). For more information about the trip talk to Jim after liturgy or contact him at JEL1451@gmail.com.

I notice that our use of candles has been increasing. Thanks be to God! It is a blessed part of our prayer life to light a candle when entering Church! Just a reminder: the candles are not provided for free. I encourage everyone to use them: just please reimburse the Church for the candles you use. Please note that the cost of candles is not part of our giving to the Church. We need to support our St. James parish through our giving (more to come on this topic) and we also need to give for the candles we use… Thank you.

My recent notice and note regarding candle usage and the associated giving led me on to considering the topic of financial stewardship more broadly. I know for sure that you all love our St. James parish and community. I know that you all love God and I am always uplifted when praying together with you! We are a beautiful and powerful Christian family here. I also know that you all desire for this St. James community to continue into the future.

As you all are aware, I have a secular job outside of Church that supports my family and myself. So when I discuss giving, it is not for myself. However, thinking about myself, I am led to be frank and say that the time is drawing near when I will either depart this life or will need to retire. I hope this is not an immediate concern: but it is getting near and is something we should begin to consider and prepare for. Which leads to the question of what will happen at St. James when this moment arrives? Generally, in the U.S., an Orthodox priest is supported fully and only by the local parish. There are no funds from the Archdiocese nor from the government (which is perhaps the case in many countries with an Orthodox culture).

At our current giving level, St. James cannot support a priest and his family. If there do not exist the funds for this, it is highly unlikely that a new priest will be able to be sent to St. James. What then will happen to our beloved St. James parish without a priest? Presently, I only know of one other priest who works a secular job in addition to his parish work. To obtain a new priest in the future, we will need to be able to provide full support for him and his family so that they can live a life comparable to our own in the Fort Collins area. Please remeber that this includes much more than the base livable salary: it includes many additional items like housing, insurance, retirement, FICA taxes, paid time off, travel/registration for required functions, etc. I have not done the math for all of these at current conditions, but I am sure this total package adds up to near or over $200,000 annually.

Thanks be to God; we do have money in the bank after our land sale to the State. However, as you can see, the amount in the bank will not even cover one year of salary, so it really does not factor in as a solution to this issue.

To begin the discussion: I am sure that some will suggest that we should then do fundraisers. Firstly, I would ask why we should ask our neighbors in the area to pay for our Church instead of ourselves? It is our loving obligation to do this for ourselves. Also, life is very different today: we are all very busy already with life outside of Church. I know that it is difficult for us to make time just to get to Church services: myself included. Do any of us honestly have the time to commit to 3 or 4 major fund-raising events every year (each one invloving weeks of preparation, execution, and cleanup), in addition to everything else in our lives, in order to raise this amount of money? And what would we do? I am not aware of anyone in our parish family who has the knowledge and experience to organize and lead such events.

I am convinced that it is our loving desire and our Christian duty to fully financially support our St. James parish. There are really no New Testament teachings as to the amount one should give. But they clearly speak of our obligation to do so. The only New Testament example I am aware of is the early community in Jerusalem sharing everything in common (Acts 2:42–47; 4:32–37). No one is asking this: I am just clarifying what I know of the teaching. The other broader biblical teaching is the tithe: 10 percent of all of our various incomes and talents (not only our paycheck). This is also the common Christian teaching. I think this is the goal we should all be striving to attain. It is difficult, I know. But it is also promised in Scripture that our dedication to financially supporting the Church will be rewarded and blessed by God.

St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:6–8).

I repeat: I think (and hope) that I still have time here as your priest and father. I am not hinting at nor suggesting any thought of leaving. I am writing this so that we can begin now to prepare for that inevitable day. With God’s help and blessings, let us begin now to discuss and work toward the goal of being a fully financially independent community!

Fr. Mark.

If you might be interested in such, this will likely be one of the best. Prof. Christopher Veniamin is a spiritual child of St. Sophrony the Athonite and former professor of patristics at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary.

For this bookclub, you must pay and join:

From the site: “The subject of our first Bookclub will be “Principles of the Christian Spiritual Life”, the first part of which will focus on Sts. Silouan and Sophrony the Athonites, and our main text will be Saint Silouan the Athonite. We shall read and discuss excerpts from Saint Silouan the Athonite, St. Sophrony’s seminal book on the life and teaching of his Elder, St. Silouan.”
https://www.patreon.com/TheMountThaborAcademy

Here are some free videos:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232462?_kx=zPe0_a7gZNsdyNIlKDjyAWZs8DvZ5kpmpqE5VKCBelA%3D.ST4iFB

Thomas G. – Nameday: 10-06

May God grant you many years!