“A pledge this big”

About this time each year we begin to plant the seeds for the upcoming pledge drive in 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 the fisherman’s. Maybe a little closer in. That is because as we
look forward to the 2026 2027 church year, and attempt to set our a budget for it, I am only
asking that we be reasonable in this unreasonable times.

It isn’t that a successful pledge drive isn’t important; they are. They are crucial in fact. Nor am I
embarrassed to ask for your support for a church that I don’t think deserves to be supported.
Quite the contrary. I’m not the least bit embarrassed. First Parish is worth supporting. The truth
is, the pledge drive must be successful, or we are in trouble.
It’s just that what interests me are not the dollar amounts. What interests me is talking about
what we are doing, starting to do, have the potential to do, and how well we are managing the
challenge of our times.

So, in that spirit, as I did in the pledge sermon a week ago, I am asking you to apply a test to
your life. Ready?
Where… seriously where…outside your own home or apartment do you get all you get from one
place than you get from First Parish? This is not a rhetorical question.
Honestly, where else that you support, or regularly find yourself spending time do you get to feel
a part of a tribe; a place outside your own residence where you can freely roam around and call
yours?

Is there another place you freely go 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 not at a pace you wish?
Where are you given a variety of opportunities, like you are here where you can actually make at
least a little bit of a difference?

What other place cares enough about your soul and conscience that it actually 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 ours is an economy run by large corporations
who are constantly trying to trap us into contracts that bind us. Please remember that the
economy outside our beautiful big doors is an environment anxious to get you into methods of
payment they hope you will forget is silently pulling money out of our accounts. 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?

You may not know this, but the idea of small un-monitored farm stands where a box or jar is left
out for people to honestly pay for what they take is-at least as I understand it- is mostly a new
England thing. I love that. And as the owners of those stands report, sure some people
underpay, but many leave more than they need for what they take.

Pledging to contribute to an organization what you think you can and/or should, rather than what
one HAS TOO is to me an antiquated practice in the loveliest of ways.
I likely need not tell you that pledges are more than essential. Pledges, as Alan often reminds us,
are not only our church’s overwhelmingly single most important source of church income, what
he does not often say is that pledges are the only source of income that comes without the
additional expense of wear and tear on our building, or very importantly, a tax on our base of

loyal but overtaxed 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 now fully repaired
steeple, new railings adapted for physically challenged folks to more fully participate in worship,

a new sewer line that replaces a faulty septic system. Overall, 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 which 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 in 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.