Lenten Discipline
A Lenten discipline passed down from a dear friend of mine is to always take care of the business you have put off (for whatever reason) during Lent. Well, one of mine is addressing Planned Giving in our parish. We had a dinner for parishioners last spring before I left on sabbatical. It did not have the tenor nor tone I had hoped for AND many of you did pledge to leave a gift to St. Cross in your estate planning. My Lenten Discipline is to begin to circle back to folks and open this discussion again. I VERY MUCH DO want to hear from folks as to why St. Cross is important to them, and what are their hopes for the future of St. Cross after they are gone.
Some pointed out that their family no longer attends church, so why leave anything to the church? True, but many DO attend and many do not have family who can give a legacy gift, so you are giving for all people, not just your family. Also, many leave legacy gifts across charities that may or may not connect to their family (think of colleges or the ASPCA). Other parishioners said it was too complicated/expensive to amend their trust/will. We understand that also, so for some it is easier to sign over an insurance policy or list St. Cross as a beneficiary on an investment account.
All of this is to say, I hope to have this conversation with many of you. My hope and prayer is that St. Cross will be well endowed, ready to face the changes that are happening in our church world. I think we can all agree that we want St. Cross to be poised to continue to serve others as a sign of God's love for the next century (at a minimum).
You will start ot see blurbs in the weekly email like the one below. Please let me know your thoughts, and if you would like to include St. Cross in your estate planning.
Peace,
Rev. Rachel+
