Stewardship Letter from the Rev. Denise Doerksen
November 5th, 2025
Dear Holy Trinity friends,
Let me tell you a parable about stewardship. This parable, as parables go, conjures up a familiar scenario to teach something important. I trust this parable will do the same. The scenario I wish to conjure up for you is that of the little girl and the lemonade stand. The thing I need to tell you is that we need to address the way we are financially supporting ministry with bequests made in the past.
She sits on a folding chair behind a card table on the sidewalk. A handwritten card says, “LEMONADE 10 cents”. She is as fizzy with anticipation as the golden juice sparkling in the pitcher. It isn’t lost on her that the chair, the table, the glasses, the pitcher, the lemons, sugar and water all came from her mom. Her mother was happy to provide all she needed to sell the neighbours a glass of cold lemonade on the hot summer day. The little girl does exactly this with so much glee that no one can refuse to stop and buy a glass of the sweet fizzy liquid.
We sit on the corner of Mills and West Saanich Road anticipating people coming up our sidewalk to take a drink of the living water of God and quench their spiritual thirst. No matter the weather we have food and drink to share that can heal, comfort, guide and refresh our neighbours. Every Sunday we are like the little girl with a lemonade stand, fizzy with the anticipation of meeting others who long for spiritual nourishment.
It isn’t lost on us that our little brown church, our pews, our table, our silver and linens all come from our ancestors. The moms and dads of our house have supplied us with what we need to put bread and wine on the table and offer it up to others. What may be lost on us is that we’re still able to “sell lemonade” because bequests provide the bulk of our financial income to this day.
The reason to tell you this parable isn’t to say we are here to sell cheap glasses of lemonade, for we are called to freely give water to the thirsty, but to let you know that we need to generate income in our day and not rely entirely on what our parents have supplied.
The mother of the little girl with the lemonade stand hoped her daughter would grow up and understand the difficult nature of managing money one day, so that she could carry on the tradition of seeing her daughter sell lemonade from the provisions of her own home. Our ancestors would have hoped the same for us, that we would gladly and gratefully accept their patronage and learn to match their contributions over time through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The large bequeaths we draw from to support the ministry of Holy Trinity won’t sustain us indefinitely. We all know that the sign “LEMONADE 10 cents” really only symbolizes the desire of the little girl to give and receive and carry on this lovely neighbourhood tradition. How overjoyed the little girl is when she counts her donations and finds $100, when she only served 10 glasses of lemonade. Let’s share the joy of carrying on the tradition of being the sacrament of Christ to our neighbourhood by doing what we can to increase our regular monthly income and leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
With gratitude,
Rev. Denise Doerksen