Friends,

That was a weird year.

First, let me now specify. It was a profoundly weird year with domestic issues, politics, the government shutdown, the military, global affairs, assassinations, law enforcement, and what is happening with this whole Venezuela thing and those oil tankers?!?!

Very specifically, I am talking about our Church’s finances which have been dominating my attention against the backdrop of unexpected, bizarre and often tragic events. Our parish administrator, treasurers and finance committee generally have a supernatural knack for financial forecasting. Each month’s finances followed predictable trends, and our spending and income have generally been right in line with our estimates. They are genuinely weirdly good at this task. For the first time since I have been at St. Luke’s, things did not follow our forecasts, and we were looking at a grim financial situation at the beginning of December.

We responded by communicating the situation to you all with a request for additional giving, and now that the dust has all but settled, I am officially in awe of your generosity and support. The vestry and I knew that we did not have enough information to pass a budget for 2026 in good conscious even halfway through December, so we convened a meeting over Zoom on New Years Eve unsure if or what hard decisions needed to be made. I am very thankful to say that we were all astounded with the giving and we passed a budget that will allow us to continue to thrive at St. Luke’s for this year.

Though this is not just good news, but remarkable news, it is also very clear that some things will need to change. We have been “leaning into growth” for the past few years, and it paid off to pass deficit budgets. We once again passed a deficit budget, though a smaller one than in years past, and we will likely re-visit this budget at the vestry retreat in March. Asking our community to give above and beyond what they had planned under dire circumstances every December is simply not an option, and sooner than I later I am eager to start ensuring that we have a balanced budget and can focus on thriving, rather than over-extending our resources.

One change that is already in the works is a reusable bulletin that I hope to show you in the beginning of Lent. This will lower our printing costs, be more environmentally sustainable, and greatly lower staff hours in making a new bulletin every week. We strive to be exceptional in our worship and communication at St. Luke’s, but sometimes more is not necessarily better. Between the website, e-mails, social media and bulletin we have tons of redundant information. This is helpful if you want to saturate the world with information about our services; however, it creates many points of failure when anything needs to change. Switching to a reusable bulletin and encouraging people to use the prayer books in the pews not only can save us money in materials and labor, but it also has the potential to streamline how we communicate and avoid future headaches if we ever need to pivot.

All this talk about money and bulletins is dancing around the point a bit. January 19th will mark me being your priest for five years. I cannot believe that it has been that long! When I first arrived, I craved growth. Churches everywhere were in decline, and I saw so much potential in this area. With growth, there is excitement in the change that comes with growing a faith community, and there is also comfort with positive momentum… a sense that this thing we’re doing is going to be around for a while.

Nearly five years in, and we have growth and I want more, but I am also craving something else. While I want to continue being the cheerleader for St. Luke’s, I crave more time to pray, worship and get to know people. Perhaps, I just need to schedule it and it will happen, but in the next five years, I hope to get St. Luke’s to the place where there is a greater degree of certainty, and room for the staff and members not just to fulfill their duties, but to offer services daily and have room to experiment with ministries, or even just to invite that one person out for coffee that they expect is in need of company.

We have an incredible community at St. Luke’s, and I am beyond thankful for our staff, leadership and all the people in the pews that make St. Luke’s such a special place. In five years, I will be 44 years old, and both of my children will be at Waynewood. The Fairleys and the Stephens better have PCSed back to the neighborhood by then, and there is no foreseeable reason we will not be in awe of how we have grown together in God’s grace when we celebrate ten years together.