Stewardship Sunday Year C

This is a sermon unapologetically about money, and particularly the money that the Cathedral needs to sustain its life and mission. That’s never a comfortable sermon – partly because it feels somewhat self-interested to make a direct appeal for the institution that I work for. But also because we are never very comfortable talking about money. That is strange, in a church context, as Jesus himself talked about money quite a lot. There are far more references in the gospels to money, and the ways in which an appropriate attitude toward it, and use of it, are fundamental to faith, than there are mentions of sex, for example. Although it’s arguably true that the church has, since then, had more things to say about sex than money. So perhaps this sermon might be seen as an attempt to redress the balance a little!

If we were, however, really going to talk about money, or at least some of the things that Jesus has to say about it, then I would be preaching a different sermon. Because, today we are focusing on the life of this Cathedral, and the financial challenges to that, rather than on our own attitude and use of money – although there are connections between the two. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is somewhat sceptical about the long-term survival of the beautiful and central place of worship of his own day – the Temple. ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’ As we examined last week, Christianity, the Church, is a response to the collapse of the temple. Christianity is born in the assertion that the temple that matters is Christ’s body, the church, the people of God.

And of course that is the most fundamental framing of the question of why you might want to support the church. Because to support the church, in this case, this Cathedral, is to support the ongoing nurturing of that Body of Christ which exists to bring life to the world. The church is not a members club, or a subscription organisation. Paying money towards its flourishing doesn’t get you into a higher category of membership, or access to communion, or, God forbid, a quicker root to heaven! We don’t charge entry into this Cathedral, or to become part of the church; we exist for all people, and we are available for all as a place of prayer and encounter and meaning. At the heart of church is the free grace of God, and we should never stand in the way of that. But – and there was always going to be a but – once we have learned to appreciate the importance of that; once we have ourselves have begun to be nurtured and fed by the faith that we encounter here, then our giving, our offering of time and money, is in response to that grace of God; our generosity has its wellspring in the generosity of God, and in a recognition of the importance of sustaining a place that proclaims that grace and generosity.

The rhythm of prayer and worship is the heartbeat of this place, and the heart of what we offer to our city. Above all this is somewhere, that in many different ways, people come to be fed – in music, in sacrament, in stillness and beauty. And nourished by all of that, I hope you, we, they are better able to navigate life and bring life to others. That is at the heart of what your financial generosity enables. It allows us to maintain and develop these buildings and our grounds, a living legacy. It enables the music of this place, and the ministry of the clergy. It enables us to celebrate and publicise all that. We have become more adept at using the resources of this place – both the Cathedral and our other buildings – to help generate income, and bring people in. And we increasingly finding ways to reach beyond this place – offer the music and generosity and resurrection life that this place proclaims – in new and fresh ways. Our Tuesday lunch club – a free meal offered to anyone over 60 who would like it – is one small token of that. Our development of a community garden on the north side of the Cathedral, is another sign of that trust in God’s bounty, even in a world threatened by climate change and the perils of hunger and financial hardship. And our development of the Edinburgh Schools Singing Programme – which is enabling us to work in local authority schools across Edinburgh – bringing the joy of singing to every child in P4 in those schools as their music lesson each week for a whole year – that is wonderful offering of the beauty and excellence that is discovered here, that we enjoy week after week, day after day, offered in fresh ways so that large numbers of children can begin to glimpse what is possible.

Your financial support of this place helps enable all that. And there is much to celebrate. But it does all cost money. I’m not going to anticipate the treasurer’s report to next week’s AGM by going through all the financial details. I would encourage you to look at both that report and the summarised accounts that are in the papers sent to you in advance of that AGM.

But let me offer a few reflections. We are doing more, and so our expenditure is inevitably up. We have been very successful in finding alternative sources of income. Grants, for example: at least initially the Edinburgh Schools Singing Programme is fully supported by grants and generous donations. The development of the Community Garden is being supported over the coming year by a £5,000 Grow Your Own Fund from the City Council. We also hire out the Cathedral a great deal more than we used to, but have discovered that that brings people into the building who might otherwise never do so. Our income from visitors, using the contactless machines and the donation boxes is significantly up on previous years. All of that is to be celebrated, and underpins the ways in which we have tried to grow the reach of the Cathedral.

It is hard, over recent years to get a consistent picture of how things have grown and changed, not least because the Covid pandemic was such an interruption to the usual ways of doing things. But if we go back to 2018 and do some comparisons with last year’s figures, then a picture of where we are doing well, and where struggling emerges. Recurring income – income from sources we might expect to receive each year has grown from £527k to £754k – an increase of 43%. Within that donations received from both regular donors and our visitors increased from £204k to £249k – a smaller increase of 22%. And visitor or one-off income did much of the heavy lifting within that. Our total income from standing orders, set up by members of the congregation, has largely remained static over the last 8 years. That’s not to say that individuals haven’t contributed more – some of you, I am sure, have increased your giving in very generous ways. But the total number of standing orders is down. That is partly due to Covid – like most churches our congregational numbers dropped in the immediate aftermath of Covid, even taking into account those who now join us online; and a number of people haven’t come back post-Covid. But our numbers for all our services, and this one particularly, have risen year on year since the pandemic. Our congregation has changed, in some ways quite markedly. We are attracting people of many different ages and stages of life, which is wonderful. But that hasn’t yet begun to translate into increased giving by regular means. To put it bluntly, if you have begun to call the Cathedral your home – and we really hope you have – then we would appreciate it if you were able to give on a monthly basis, rather than with one-off donations when you are here, welcome as those are. And if you already give, then please do think about if it might be possible to increase that, or at least consider when you last did so.

Because of course our expenditure has continued to rise, not just because we are doing more, but because of inflationary pressures. Since 2028, our recurring expenditure has increased from £772k to £904k – a 17% increase, so we have done well to keep it in check given inflationary pressures. But last year, that expenditure meant a deficit of £100k – not a deficit we can afford to run up year after year. And in that context, regular giving, an important contribution toward meeting those costs, has not risen in ways that might help meet that deficit. In fact it has remained static.

When I last preached on this subject, in 2018, I compared giving in the Cathedral to that in other churches across the Diocese. Statistics, which are somewhat crude, are compiled on that giving every few years, In 2018 the Cathedral was at 50th place in the league table, out of 54 churches. There are reasons we are so low, but it’s clearly not good enough! The good news is that in the latest set of figures we have – for 2023 - we have improved our place in the league table, to 44th place. We are still well behind churches that we might consider somewhat similar. St John’s, Princes St, for example has an average giving by its communicant members of £12.50/week. Our giving stands, on average at just under £8/week. £12.50/week equates to £50/month, and that seems a good figure to aim for as an average. Many of you will be able to afford much more than that; for others that would be asking too much. You each need to be honest and decide for yourselves. And I’m well aware that the Cathedral will not be the only call upon your generosity, and nor should it be. But if you are thinking about becoming a regular donor, that might be a helpful figure to have in mind. If we could sign up some- say 20- of our newer members, with an average donation of £50/month; then that’s already £1,000/month or £12,000/year that we have increased congregational giving. With existing members also giving more generously, I am confident we can reach our target of increasing congregational giving by 20% - up £25,000/year. That won’t wipe out our ongoing annual deficit, but it will encourage us to think that we are going in the right direction; with people prepared to help support what this place is, and all that it enables. And for that generosity, thank you!

You have received with your service sheets, a giving form. That provides the details of how to set up a standing order to the Cathedral. We are asking you to consider your giving prayerfully in the coming week, and fill out that form in the light of what you might be able to contribute. If you bring the form next week, we will collect them in a sealed box. They will be offered as part of our offering at the Eucharist, alongside the bread and wine that are brought up week by week. They will represent a token of our collective offering of ourselves. I should say that they will then be collected and used by our administrator, and treasurer, for our record keeping and for collecting gift aid where appropriate. The clergy are not party to what people give. We are deeply grateful for your generosity. But as I said at the beginning, what happens here is available whatever you give – our expression of the grace and generosity of God that is at the heart of this Cathedral, and our life together. Amen.