Welcome, Rejoice & Come In

My husband Charlie and I have been coming to First Parish Church for about 35 years. I’m not sure when we became members, but we became involved almost immediately. Like many, we sought out church to begin our children’s religious education. Charlie came from a Catholic background and I from a Protestant one. We knew we were looking for a different experience for our children than we had had, and so my initial involvement was with the religious education program. I was so impressed at the quality of the curricula.

I have three children that have all gone through the religious education program here and while not all of them have stayed involved with the church, they each had very positive experiences. They often speak fondly of those years of going to church – of the friends that they made, the pageant, the Christmas Eve service, Ingathering Sunday, and of course, Ferry Beach. Last night, without my prompting, Danielle was telling me that she had just been thinking about how much those church years meant to her. We went to church together, she watched Charlie and I volunteer on committees, involve ourselves with things like Monday Night Supper and small group ministry, while she made wonderful friends and later on actually persued the ministry. Jennifer and Chuck both benefited from the About Your Sexuality program, which is now referred to as OWL.

What does all of this have to do with stewardship? I believe everything. I look back at all I have received from my connection to this church and I see that what I have given has everything to do with what I have received. I look at what I offer in my pledge much the same way. What I give financially all comes back to me. It’s sort of like giving a gift: You spend a lot of time thinking about the nicest possible gift you can give to someone you love. When you offer that gift you feel proud and the person receiving the gift can feel that. I can say that Charlie and I have put a lot of thought behind our financial gift to First Parish this year. Our financial situation in the past 2 years has been stressed due to Charlie losing his job. During that time we needed to reduce our pledge and it hurt us to do so. He began working again last November, but we lost a lot of ground during that year and a half. It would have been easy to keep our pledge where it was for another year. Our discussions led to reflecting on how grateful we are for that first step we made into First Parish 35 years ago. Today we are very excited at the new energy we see in Kelly’s ministry and all the new faces we see here on a weekly basis. The decision was clear – our pledge will increase – not a fortune for the church, but a gift that is a stretch for us and something we are proud of. In this case, the gift we give to the church – we also give to ourselves.

Thank you.