Over the past month we spent a lot of time talking about stewardship. While our commitment Sunday has passed, the truth is that stewardship is more than a drive or a season; it is a mindset, and a way of life. I often remind folks that God is not interested in our 10%, but rather in 100% of our lives. We are called to be faithful with everything entrusted to us, and everything is a gift. All that we have and all that we are.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m reminded that gratitude is a deeply important part of stewardship. And like stewardship, gratitude is a mindset, and a deeply powerful practice. Gratitude can change the way we see the world. When we focus on all the things that are out of our control, all the things that haven’t gone the way we’d like, all the things that feel overwhelming and daunting, it tends to make everything feel a little heavier. But practicing gratitude, starting and ending the day by dwelling on those things that have brought us joy, that have stirred hope within us, that have been move us to love deeper, that is life-giving. Practicing gratitude trains us to see those things even when they are harder to find, to pick out the flecks of gold in otherwise dreary days. And over time, it helps us find beauty in all things—in the marvel and in the mess.
St. Paul closes his letter to the Philippians with this encouragement: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” It is a call to gratitude; a call Paul issues as he sits in a prison cell! And that exhortation is for all of us, that we might turn our hearts away from what weighs us down and toward those things that build us up. The result of doing so, Paul says, is a peace that surpasses understanding.
And so I want to close this article by expressing my gratitude. I am grateful to you, Beloved, for your faithful consideration of how you practice stewardship, and what it might look like to grow in that practice, even in a time of challenge. I am grateful to you for your faithful witness to the world in so many ways, whether through the ministries at St. Mark’s or in your daily life. I am grateful to you for the compassion you show to one another in times of grief or suffering, for the love you practice with friends who have diverse lives and diverse opinions, for the welcome you extend to strangers wherever you meet them. And I am grateful to you for the trust you have placed in me to serve as your pastor, as we draw near to the close of my second year with you. There are so many blessings ahead, Beloved, and I can’t wait to see what God will do for us and through us.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Will Starkweather
Last modified: November 23, 2025