Habit Forming
In high school, I was a member of a Science Olympiad team that travelled across the state to compete in regional and state-wide competitions. Our faculty advisor was a chemistry teacher whom I considered a mentor. A devout Muslim and dedicated teacher, his love for his students and for learning bordered on reverence.
As our team piled into the school van to drive several hours away for a competition, our advisor told me to disembark. “I need to drive separately,” he explained, “and I did not get much sleep last night. I need you to ride with me and keep me awake.” Nowadays, that one-on-one car ride would be prohibited, but back then the only reason I could think of to say no was the thought of having to spending that time with my teacher instead of having fun with my friends in the van. I sighed and accepted my fate and began to climb into his sedan.
When I opened the car door, I saw a stack of chemistry textbooks in the front seat. Without thinking anything of it, I picked them up and put them on the floorboard so I would have a place to sit. “No!” the teacher called out, reaching in and saving the stack of books from the floor of the car. “We cannot put these down there. They are too important! They are precious! Hold them in your lap.” He dumped the twenty-five pounds of textbooks into my lap, which I dutifully held for the entire trip, wondering how in the world anyone—even a chemistry fanatic like my teacher—could think so highly of a subject that they would refuse to let a textbook touch the ground.
Years later, during seminary, when we were preparing to host an interfaith conference, a member of the faculty cautioned us not to carry our Bibles below our waist while our Muslim guests were there. He explained that, to many faithful followers of Islam, holding a sacred book of scripture below your waist is a sign of disrespect. It is always carried with honor, he explained. In an instant, I was transported back to high school and to my teacher’s car, and I wondered if there was a connection.
I searched my memory to see if I could picture whether any of the books in the stack I had haphazardly placed on the floorboard had been the Quran or another religious text. No, I decided, they had all been chemistry books. I was sure of that. But the connection felt significant. Surely, my devout Muslim teacher had been shaped by the intentional act of carrying the Quran with respect in a way that led him to attach some spiritual significance to the way other books should be treated. I had lost touch with him, so I could not reach out to ask about it, but I wondered.
Habits shape us in ways we may not expect. What are some of the gestures you have been taught over the years that have taken root in your life not only as regular practices but as character-defining actions? As a child, I grew up going to church multiple times every week. Actively nurturing my relationship with God has been normative for me for as long as I can remember—even during those college days when weekly attendance was not a given. Along the way, I was taught to tip restaurant servers more than expected, and the result has been a deeper affection and appreciation for those who work in food service. My parents’ home was always open to friends and family, and I inherited from them a deep love for hospitality that I have carried into adulthood.
At St. Paul’s, we invite you to develop spiritual habits that reflect our Rule of Life: worship weekly, pray daily, grow constantly, serve joyfully, and give generously. We believe that, by adopting habits or disciplines that reflect that balanced approach, you will experience spiritual growth. You may have developed your own rule of life, and you may even meet with a spiritual director who helps you identify and pursue that rule, but I suspect that almost all of us can accept our parish’s Rule of Life as a starting point. I think we instinctively know that being regular in worship, prayer, formation, service, and giving will lead to a deepening of our relationship with God and the community of faith.
Financial stewardship is a component of that rule that we focus on every year during October. You may have noticed that at St. Paul’s we approach giving differently from many other charitable organizations. For annual stewardship, we do not identify a goal or ask you to give a little bit more than last year to help us cover rising costs in a growing church. That is because we are not focused on raising money to fund our operating budget but on encouraging generous giving as a spiritual practice that will deepen your faith.
Yes, our parish depends upon your generosity. Yes, over 75% of our budget comes directly from your gifts. Yes, our church is growing, and so are the costs associated with ministry. But I care far more about your spiritual growth than growth in our finances because I believe a spiritually healthy and vital congregation full of spiritually healthy and vital parishioners will be faithful to God and, therefore, with God’s help, will do amazing things.
I will write more about annual giving as a spiritual practice below, but first let me take a slight detour. You may be wondering about the relationship between last year’s capital campaign and this year’s annual giving efforts. They are related but serve different functions in the life of our church. Typically, capital campaigns focus on raising money for a specific purpose—in our case, retiring debt to unlock ministry, caring for our buildings and grounds to ensure long-term growth, and providing access to everyone who wants to come to our church. To achieve those stated goals, we ask people to give over and above their normal annual giving to reach a targeted amount. Everyone is encouraged to take part in whatever way they can, but we encourage people to give out of their accumulated assets rather than their annual income if they are able.
Capital campaign gifts do not go to the annual operating budget but are set aside for the specific goals of the campaign. Although paying off debt has a positive effect on our budget by reducing required interest payments, the successful completion of the capital campaign does not directly tie into a successful annual giving campaign. Partly, that is because we keep those funds separate, but it is also because the goal of the campaign is radically different.
Our capital campaign has helped us grow in ministry, and the spiritual benefits of the campaign are directly tied to its stated goals. For example, we are a better, more spiritually grounded church when we are able to welcome anyone and everyone into our midst. That helps us remember who God has called us to be. With a capital campaign, each of us benefits spiritually from what we have accomplished as a congregation.
Annual giving campaigns work in the opposite direction. The goal of this year’s stewardship effort is not defined in terms of a financial target or a list of objectives. Our success is measured through long-term spiritual growth, which is manifest primarily in the lives of individuals and households and only by extension in the parish as a whole. That sort of success is usually discerned only after years of habitual practice, and that is why we place such emphasis on faithful giving every year.
In order to grow spiritually through your stewardship, I want you to get in the habit of giving a considerable amount of your income back to God each year. In fact, I want you to give way a tenth of your income. In the church, we call that a tithe. That is a lot—a lot more than most charitable organizations ask for. But the only way this habit can take hold as a spiritually beneficial practice is if it means something—if it begins to shape your life in meaningful ways.
You do not have to give all that money to St. Paul’s. Because this is a spiritual practice rather than a fundraising effort, I want you to know that it is okay for you to give that money away to other organizations. Our church does not have a monopoly on God’s work in this community. So, whatever you share with groups that are doing God’s work in the world—Magdalene Serenity House, CEO, United Way, New Beginnings, 7Hills, and Welcome Health, just to name a few—as long as you are sharing it with organizations that draw you more fully into God’s work, you should consider that as part of your tithe. Again, this needs to be more than simply writing a check. This is about offering yourself—your time, talent, and treasure—back to God. Wherever you are taking part in what God is doing to bring love, grace, healing, justice, mercy, and acceptance to the world is the place you should contribute your tithe.
If our annual giving efforts are successful, they will help you grow in the spiritual practice of giving more of yourself, including your income, back to God. Over time, that will lead to spiritual benefits like humility, patience, peace, generosity of spirit, confidence in God’s provision, eagerness to love—all of which we call faith. Because we care a great deal about your spiritual health and growth, we invite you to take some time to think about your giving before you fill out a card and turn it in. We want this to become a habit that makes a difference in your life.
On Sunday, October 25, you will be invited to place your estimate of giving for 2027 on the altar as a sign of your desire to grow in faith. Between now and then, think about your giving and the steps you can take to grow in this habit as a way of being formed for God’s service. Who knows how God will use you to help someone else see the beauty of belonging to a generous, loving God? The habits you develop now will bear fruit for years to come, and, like my chemistry teacher, you may never know who benefits from them.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
