Generosity as a Spiritual Practice
The Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams, Saint George’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Virginia, Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, August 24th, 2025
As most of you are aware, I will be retiring on Sept 14th. Words cannot express what a privilege and joy it has been to be your rector, pastor, priest, and friend for these past 15 years. This past Friday afternoon, a parish email went out from our Senior and Junior Wardens, Liza Lowe and Victor Tolomeo, sharing the news about our new process for calling your next clergy leader. In the past, churches almost always called an interim rector to be with a parish during a time of transition. They normally stayed 12 to 18 months while a search for a new long-term rector was taking place. Increasingly these days, another model is being used, especially in healthy, financially stable, growing churches, like Saint George’s. This model involves a shortened search process of 3 to 6 months that results in the calling of a Priest-in-Charge. After two years, the priest can become rector, if they and the vestry discern that they are a good long-term fit. In the vast majority of churches in our diocese, the priest-in-charge does become the rector. In this paradigm, there is still a thorough, thoughtful, prayerful search process conducted by a discernment committee, made up of members of the congregation, as well as members of the vestry, with lots of input from the congregation, and guidance from our diocesan transition minister. This process is what Saint George’s will be using as we go forward and the discernment committee is already preparing to begin their work so that Saint George’s will hopefully have a new Priest-in-Charge in early 2026. The vestry voted on the members of the committee last Wednesday night and they are Darren Hekhuis (chair), Joan Pepin, Allison Otto, Mike Giaquinto, Anna Alt-White, and Becky Fulton, along with Elliott Branch and Victor Tolomeo from the vestry. This is an exceptional team, all of whom are former Senior Wardens, ministry leaders, or both. And they bring a plethora of spiritual gifts to this work. We are very blessed.
The discernment team will be commissioned during our services on Sept 7th and they are already getting prepared to begin their ministry of calling your new clergy leader. As hard as it will be for me to say good-bye to you all in mid-September, I am so very thankful that this groundwork is already being laid by our wonderful wardens and vestry. During this time of transition, Mother Karin will be leading services and providing pastoral care, with support from other clergy. And our entire staff, ministry leaders, wardens and vestry will be ensuring that our ministries go forward throughout the fall. And everyone, each and every of you, has a role to play during this time of preparation and great expectation.
The continued health and vitality of Saint George’s depends on two things, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and your generous response. I am very confident that the Holy Spirit will be with you every step of the way. The Spirit will be moving in and among you, and I have no doubt that you will respond with an open heart. That is the kind of community Saint George’s is. That is who you are. The Holy Spirit has blessed our community with a beautiful charism, an authentic, welcoming, joyful way of being, and that is very precious, and has to be tended and nurtured by everyone in order to continue to flourish.
Two Sundays ago we reflected on the importance of gratitude in nurturing our relationship with God and with other people. Gratitude is a foundational spiritual practice that is the alpha and omega of our life of faith. And it is important to give God thanks and to give other people thanks, in very specific ways, every single day. It is good for our souls, it is good for our mental health, and it is good for our relationships.
Generosity is a corollary of gratitude. It too is a spiritual practice. They go together, gratitude and generosity. When we live out of a grateful place, it puts us in a generous mindset and heart space. The great thinkers of various religious traditions have emphasized generosity in their teaching over the millennia, and Christian tradition puts a huge emphasis on the importance of being generous. The first and foremost expression of generosity is generosity of spirit. Having an open and giving posture toward others. Generosity of spirit involves being gracious, making space for other people, and having an abundance outlook. And it’s really hard to do, because so much in the world around us works against it. That’s why we have to practice it every single day in very specific ways. Having a generous spirit really can transform the world, relationship by relationship.
Jesus shows us what generosity of spirit looks like in the Gospel today. Jesus was completely grounded in his life with God, and open and highly attuned to the needs of other people, especially people on the margins. Jesus saw the woman who had been unable to stand up straight for 18 years. He saw her when she came into the synagogue where he was teaching and he stopped everything to meet her needs. Oftentimes in the accounts of Jesus’ healings, the person asks, or their friends or families ask on their behalf, but nobody asked in this instance. Jesus simply saw the need and met it. That happens all the time at Saint George’s. People see a need and quietly and graciously meet it.
If we have generosity of spirit, it manifests in being generous in our actions toward others. The Holy Spirit calls us to offer the individual people in our lives the gift of time, focus and energy. And we are also called to do that for the communities we are a part of, and especially our church community. Everyone offering their gifts of time, focus and energy to support our ministries this fall is essential, especially during this season of transition. And that looks like coming to church faithfully, supporting our ministries with your time and talents, and being generous in your financial support. Jesus talked about money a lot in the Gospels. And that’s because how we spend our money reflects our values. Some people are able to give more than others, and that’s o.k. Giving as generously as we are able is the key. And doing our best to take the next step on our generosity journey is also important. Our stewardship season will begin in October and you will get a letter from our stewardship co-chairs, Mike Giaquinto and Clayton Swope, thanking you for your giving in the past, and asking you to consider going a step further, as you are able and willing. And I feel very confident that everyone is going to do their very best to do that because Saint George’s is important to you. Many people have various organizations that they contribute to that do good things in the world. And my hope is that you will put our church community at the top of that list, both for the good we do in the world through our food pantry and social justice ministries, and for the spiritual undergirding that Saint George’s gives all of us to be God’s people in the world, enabling us to bring a spirit of generosity to our families, our workplaces and our world. That is something you can’t quantify, but it is immensely, immensely important. We need strong, inclusive, welcoming churches. So many churches are struggling these days, but thanks be to God, we are doing well, and we have to support Saint George’s in order for that to continue.
One of the things that candidates will ask about during the Priest-in-Charge search process is Saint George’s finances. And they will do that because they know it is one important measure of health and vitality. And they will already be aware that there is an incredibly generous spirit here, through what they know about us already, what they read in the strategic plan that we completed a few months ago and the other materials that will be prepared. Most of all, they will be able to tell right away from talking with our amazing discernment committee, and hearing about what committed lay leaders we have who are eager to partner with their priests in doing the work of the Gospel. I certainly had that experience when I talked with the search committee 15 years ago and knew right away that you all were my people. And I am confident that the Holy Spirit is already working to bring you together with a new clergy leader.
The Spirit has good things in store for Saint George’s and God’s Spirit will continue to inspire, comfort and lead you into the future. My prayer today is that you will support and encourage Mother Karin, the wardens, vestry, discernment committee, and staff, and that a spirit of generosity will grow and grow during this season of transition and great hopefulness.
In the words of our Collect of the Day: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
