12/18/2025
December 14, 2025
Third Sunday of Advent
Dear Friends of Incarnation:
Advent Greetings to you!
During the Season of Advent, we look forward with longing expectation to celebrating the arrival of Jesus at Christmas, but we also look forward to that future day when we know Jesus will return and make everything right in the world. At times, it feels like the world is completely falling apart around us. We need times like Advent to pause, pray, and be reminded that no matter how dark things may seem, in the end, the light of Christ will prevail!
We have all experienced many trials over the past year, but as a community we have continued to experience incredible blessings as we have blessed those around us. We experienced two adult baptisms, and gained several new members. We have partnered with First Methodist Church and helped the unhoused in our community, and we have created safe spaces for our q***r neighbors as well. We have shown overwhelming support for My Mother’s Voice, serving the underserved in our backyard and providing much needed meals for those in need. The Fig Tree Coffee Art & Music Lounge has continued to prosper, giving us all an incredible ministry footprint in the community. In August, Josh was consecrated as a Bishop in the Episcopal Free Fellowship of America, and both Phoenix and Jessica have continued on the path toward ordination. We have members helping those in the recovery community, and others engaged in prophetic activism. It truly is a blessing to serve alongside of all of you!
Today we begin our 2026 stewardship campaign, which will help us make a responsible budget for next year. Incarnation is entirely self supported. This means that all money for our staff, for rental of our worship space from Bethel Lutheran, and for other necessary expenses, is paid for by the generous tithes and offerings of our members. However, that doesn’t mean you should give just because you want our ministry to continue. If you consider Incarnation your church, you should also give because it is an act of spiritual discipline that will help change and transform you into the likeness and image of Christ.
The biblical word “tithe” literally means ten percent, and the principle of giving a tithe is found throughout scripture (see for example: Lev 27:30; Num 18:21; Prov 3:9; 2 Chron 31:4; Mal 3:10). An “offering” to God is anything beyond that initial ten percent you may decide to give (see 2 Cor 9:7; Rom 12:1). Tithes and offerings are both acts of worship that will help you on your spiritual journeys, and they help keep ministries like ours running.
At this time, we would like all our members to prayerfully consider how much they can commit to giving towards our ministry together on a monthly basis. We have opened up a portal online where you can enter that amount so that we can then plan our budget for 2026. Please visit the portal on our webpage, http://www.incarnationmission.org/donate/pledge-2026 and fill it out by Sunday, January 4th.
Thank you. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me, or our Senior Warden, Larissa Roe.
Your fellow servant,
Bishop Joshua Lickter
Church Planting Priest, Incarnation Anglican Church
Roseville, CA 95678.
