A Letter from The Reverend Holly Huff, Associate Priest
Dear Friends in Christ,
I’ve been thinking in the past few weeks about the urgency of our Christian witness here in this Cathedral church. I’ve been painfully reminded that it literally saves lives to hear the Gospel message proclaimed, free from hateful, shameful accusation. The Episcopal way of generous, open, and affirming Christianity that honors all people as made in the image of God meets a genuine spiritual longing, here in Salt Lake City and everywhere.
Stewardship enables our Gospel witness to unconditional love in this city to continue. Stewardship is the way Christians talk about living in the flow between gifts received and gifts given. It’s another word for living eucharistically, letting our whole life be offered up on the altar, blessed by Jesus, and given back to us. The grace we have received calls gratitude forth in us, and we can’t help but pour that love back out.
Giving back is a spiritual practice. Giving money to the church is not a mere fee for service, but a spiritual discipline by which we acknowledge in gratitude that everything comes from God. In our giving we acknowledge that we were created, that we have received, that we are sustained moment by moment and breath by breath. Pledging is one part of a life-wide practice of living and giving generously, in imitation of the Generous One who waters us with grace daily. Receiving fully flows out into giving back.
Our 2024 stewardship theme is “Place of Springs,” taken from the lovely Psalm 84, which promises each of us a home even as we walk a pilgrim path. St. Mark’s opens us onto the place of springs, Christ Jesus himself, the water of eternal life gushing up to meet us in every moment. Learning to stay planted in this love is why we have church. St. Mark’s is a school of love. It’s a place where God loves us first, loves us well, loves us so thoroughly we can’t help responding in kind. As Father Tyler reminds us so clearly, we are being loved into loving. So our vast projects of self-improvement can be put to rest. Our gracious and loving God—to whom all hearts are open, from whom no desires are hid—loves us just as we are, now, and this God wants to set us free from the parched land of enslavement to some Pharaoh of how we think life ought to be and bring us to the place of springs, where God’s steadfast love flows up to eternal life in each of us, you just as you are and me just as I am.
As we continue our 2024 stewardship campaign, it’s important that you know that this parish depends on the pledge donations of its members. It costs $650,000 to run this place, to maintain our beautiful and historic Cathedral where we gather for worship and to fund its many ministries, which include formation classes, top-notch music programs, opportunities for fellowship, and important missional work in our community. Just last month, more than 3000 people facing food insecurity received free groceries at Hildegarde’s Food Pantry, which we fund with more than $37,000 each year. Our budget also funds work at The Point to the tune of over $26,000, where people who have been without shelter have found a roof and a home, where the dignity of each person is honored and respected, where each one is welcomed as Christ himself.
Our bold-but-entirely-achievable stewardship goal is to increase pledging to cover our entire budget. In the past, we have depended on the generous gifts of a few wealthy donors and supplemented the shortfall in our budget from our savings account. What a blessing to have these resources to meet the gap— and yet we’ve been complacent with regard to our common responsibility to contribute to a sustainable future for this Cathedral. It’s time to set our house in order. Our goal is to increase pledges by 25% in 2024 and 25% in 2025 so that in the next two years we can cover our entire $650,000 budget with parishioner pledging. Becoming self-sufficient monetarily will free us up to fully focus on others. With our budget covered, we will be able to devote a sustainable portion of investment income each year to good works in our community, amplifying what we are already doing in outreach to the least of these in our city.
St. Mark’s does not receive money from the Episcopal Diocese of Utah or the wider Episcopal Church. In fact, we give more than $50,000 each year to the diocese to support the Episcopal Church in Utah and also the national church, funding formation programs across the Episcopal Church as well as humanitarian efforts through Episcopal Relief and Development, which is currently working to procure essential supplies in Gaza.
We are asking every member of this parish to make a pledge, no matter what size. If you have found a spiritual home at St. Mark’s and a parish family, if you’ve enrolled in this school of love—please make a pledge to support this community. Making a pledge helps us to plan a responsible budget to meet our operating costs as we invite everyone within these walls and those beyond them to life-changing encounter with Jesus at the place of springs.
St. Mark’s shapes us in following after a liberating God of love, a message and mission so utterly necessary in our hurting world. Your pledge makes this life-giving work possible. It’s time, St. Mark’s, to fully support and strengthen our witness to the unconditional love of God, and plant our thirsty feet deep in the reconciling love Jesus pours out for all people, and indeed all creation.
In the peace which passes understanding,
The Reverend Holly Huff, Associate Priest
You can also read this letter in a printable format on letterhead.