Stewards ’09 Schedule of Events

April 17 – Potluck supper and pre-set up for Stewards ’09 Festival;
April 18 Stewards ’09 Festival – 1:00 pm till 3:00 at various locations around the church property. May also include Troup Square. Music by individuals and small groups throughout the property. Participants will be requested to sign pledge cards and deposit them at the festival; 3:00 – 4:00 pm – Celebration music and candle lighting in the sanctuary;
April 19 – Pledge Sunday – candles and celebration during the service

Stewards ’09 – Sustaining this friendly place
2009 – 2010 financial campaign – March 8 – April 19

“As we leave this friendly place” serves as benediction for our Sunday morning gathering, encouraging us to carry the personal impact of our attendance at this place into our daily activities and to the larger community. In order to do that, we must sustain the place and the people who create its special spiritual and social ambience. To maintain both the place where we come together for Sunday services and weekday activities and the people who write the words, sing the songs, teach the children and make the coffee, we must also bring our money and our time. 

That gathering of time and talent and money is the focus of Stewards 2009.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “steward” came into usage in about the year 1000 AD; four hundred years later, the word “stewardship” appears; since that time, the word has become associated primarily with Christian stewardship. 

As 2009 chairperson of this congregation’s annual financial campaign, I would like to focus, not on the collective but on the individuals who are the stewards. A steward was and is a person who takes care of a place or a group of people. It is that original meaning of individual care that we bring to our annual UU financial campaign.

As individuals, we determine the worth of this place and the people who create the events we enjoy here. We express that worth with our time and our talents but also with our money. As we come to this time of financial commitment, we will focus attention on the diverse benefits to be derived from being in this place with these people.

Over the next few weeks, we will call attention to the benefits your money buys both inside the walls of this place and in the wider community during Sunday services and fellowship and events like All-Committee Night and Potluck Supper and in communications from Reverend Joan and President Mark.

We are providing candles for use in meditation and you’ll receive a pledge card and information on your previous pledge to allow you to make an informed decision.

Then, on Saturday April 18, you’re invited to attend our first annual Steward’s Festival where you’ll see and hear just what this friendly place means in the daily life of this congregation, the lives of the citizens of Savannah and the larger UU community.

This campaign will culminate in Pledge Sunday April 19.

In preparation for this time of evaluation and commitment, the Stewards committee invites you to consider your personal definition of “this friendly place’. Use the reflection candles as you think about this friendly place and your commitment to it; take a moment to write your impressions of an event that happened here that is particularly meaningful to you – a sermon, a song, a joy, a concern, a word of encouragement, homemade cookies or bread, a bowl of camellias, a cup of coffee in the social hall, a bowling party or the opportunity to touch fledging red cockaded woodpeckers. Take a moment to write your reflections and share them on the UU blog.

Thank you for all you do to sustain this friendly place.

Judy Sharpton
Stewards ’09 Chairperson
EMAIL JUDY