“A pledge this big”

About this time each year we begin to plant the seeds for the upcoming pledge drive that basically runs through March.

Obviously, you can’t see my hands right now.  However, if you could, and you imagined my hands spaced out in a similar manner to the picture of the fisherman above, my hands wouldn’t probably be quite as far apart as his.  Something more believable, and reasonable.  I say that because, as we look forward to the 2026 2027 church year, and attempt to set a budget and the priorities that it inevitably helps establish, I am asking people to be reasonable in these unreasonable times. 

It isn’t that First Parish having a successful pledge drive isn’t important; it is.  A successful pledge drive is in fact, crucial to our thriving.  Neither am I too embarrassed to ask for your support for a church that I don’t think deserves it.  Quite the contrary.  I’m not, not pushing you that hard this spring because First Parish isn’t worth supporting.  It is.

It’s just that what interests me are not the dollar amounts we raise.  Crucial as they are, what interests me is talking about what we are doing, starting to do, and have the potential to do as we look to negotiate and manage our response to these very unordinary times.

So, in that spirit, as I did in my pledge sermon, I am asking you to apply the following test of how valuable the church is to you and your life.  Ready? 

Where… seriously, where…outside your own home or apartment do you get more from one place than you get from First Parish?  This is not a rhetorical question.  I’m asking.

Honestly, where else do you support, or regularly find yourself spending time, where you get to feel a part of a tribe, and a people with a place where you can freely roam around and call yours?

Is there another place you frequent where nearly “everybody knows your name?” 

Do you have another place that doesn’t charge you for every little thing you do?  Another place where you can jump in to be involved, or bow out at a pace you wish? 

Where, other than here, are you given the variety of opportunities the church does for you to actually step up and out into the world make at least a little bit of a difference?

What other place cares enough about your soul and conscience that it actually occasionally risks challenging you to be a better person? 

Where?  Where are you more known and cared for than here? 

Please seriously think about that as you give.

If you got a better place, a better tribe, a better representation of how and where your values find form, well…a very earnest, lucky you.  Most people don’t. 

As you think about your pledge, be mindful that outside the walls of our beautiful church, the economy does not ask you what you think you should pay.  The world outside our little cooperative non-profit enterprise 😉 is run by large corporations constantly trying to trap you into contracts that bind you against your will.

I love that a pledge to our church is a little old-fashioned.  I mean, where else are you asked to pick what you pay?  Seriously, where?

Pledging to contribute to an organization what you think you can rather than what one HAS TOO is to me “antiquated” in the loveliest of ways.

I likely need not tell you that pledges are more than essential.  Pledges are not only our church’s overwhelmingly single most important source of church income, pledges are the only source of income that comes without the additional expense of wear and tear on our building, or by taxing our base of loyal volunteers. 

I just wanted to pause in this newsletter to remind us of the blessing we have.  We have a building that, although classic in its design, is relatively new.  We also have a new ready to fire to life solar panels.  We have a growing reputation as a place where people with liberal religious views can find some like-minded friends.  

Overall, although small, we are in pretty good shape.  We are blessed not to have to pay property taxes.  And we are blessed that we sit in the center of town, in a population of people roughly half of whom more or less share our values, and half of them don’t have enough community connections or a religious home.  I guess I snuck that last one in as much as a challenge as a blessing, but you get my point.

One guide for what you should pledge is that you find a number large enough that you feel good about it, but not so large that you feel deprived or resentful to have to fulfill it.

I obviously care about the financial well-being and capacity of our church, even if I frankly don’t care that much about spending a lot of our time discussing your pledge

Please be mindful that the pledge drive this spring is for the upcoming 2026-2027 church year that begins at summer’s end.  You might also be aware that people arrange to pay their pledge in any number of ways. All at once, monthly, etc.

I’ll close with two quotes.  The first being what the Gospel of Luke says so poetically nearly 2 thousand years ago, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:34).  May that sentiment be your guide.  However, if that does not motivate you, please consider the less poetic words of John Dillinger, who said, “Hand it over, and nobody gets hurt.”

Let’s pause and remember that the fate of how strong First Parish is, and how easy it is for our leaders to do their job and be all that we can be as a church, is in our hands.

Thanks, Steve