If Not Now, When? If Not Us, Who? Forward in Faith!

by Thom Haines, Stewardship Ministry Team

How we earn our money and what we do with it after we earn it are clear indications of our values. The money I spend on a bottle of wine is not money used to feed a hungry child. I always have a choice, and that choice is driven by my faith when I am at my best. This is the time of year that Diane and I decide how much we value Mayflower and the work we do together to create a just, compassionate world. By the time you read this, Diane and I will have gone into Realm and made our pledge for 2025. It will be a 10% increase over 2024. On Sunday, November 17, we marched with you to the front of the church singing Marty Haugen’s “Let Justice Roll Like a River” and join our pledge card with yours.

More than any other year in the 30+ years that I have been a member of Mayflower, the world needs to know what we can offer. “PROTECT MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRACY” proclaims the banner on the front of our church. The climate crisis becomes more and more threatening. Love for the stranger is a concept not even addressed by some who share the name of “Christian.” If not now, when will we commit our financial resources to the work that will save the planet? If not us, who will make this commitment?

And we need Mayflower. Mayflower is our sacred community who sees the best in us, fights by our side for what we believe, and fights for us and supports us when we need help (thank you Valerie Kaur for this framing).

When my grandchildren (or their grandchildren) wonder what we did to confront the existential threats we face in 2024, I will be able to say: “We invested a significant portion of our financial resources in making the world what God wants it to be. Was that enough? You tell me.”

On November 17, pledge Sunday, we opened our hearts and minds to the words of our guest preacher, Rev. Dan Smith from Harvard Divinity School. A former colleague of Rev. Susie Hayward, Rev. Smith has spent decades working on racial justice and led his Massachusetts church through a process of reckoning with the church’s historical complicity in enslavement. We ask our Consecration Sunday preachers to challenge us, and it looks like we won’t be disappointed.

We can do so much more together than we can do alone. Being with you in this work, with our bodies and our money, brings me deep joy. Forward in Faith is where we will go together.

How we earn our money and what we do with it after we earn it are clear indications of our values. The money I spend on a bottle of wine is not money used to feed a hungry child. I always have a choice, and that choice is driven by my faith when I am at my best. This is the time of year that Diane and I decide how much we value Mayflower and the work we do together to create a just, compassionate world. By the time you read this, Diane and I will have gone into Realm and made our pledge for 2025. It will be a 10% increase over 2024. On Sunday, November 17, we marched with you to the front of the church singing Marty Haugen’s “Let Justice Roll Like a River” and join our pledge card with yours.

More than any other year in the 30+ years that I have been a member of Mayflower, the world needs to know what we can offer. “PROTECT MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRACY” proclaims the banner on the front of our church. The climate crisis becomes more and more threatening. Love for the stranger is a concept not even addressed by some who share the name of “Christian.” If not now, when will we commit our financial resources to the work that will save the planet? If not us, who will make this commitment?

And we need Mayflower. Mayflower is our sacred community who sees the best in us, fights by our side for what we believe, and fights for us and supports us when we need help (thank you Valerie Kaur for this framing).

When my grandchildren (or their grandchildren) wonder what we did to confront the existential threats we face in 2024, I will be able to say: “We invested a significant portion of our financial resources in making the world what God wants it to be. Was that enough? You tell me.”

On November 17, pledge Sunday, we opened our hearts and minds to the words of our guest preacher, Rev. Dan Smith from Harvard Divinity School. A former colleague of Rev. Susie Hayward, Rev. Smith has spent decades working on racial justice and led his Massachusetts church through a process of reckoning with the church’s historical complicity in enslavement. We ask our Consecration Sunday preachers to challenge us, and it looks like we won’t be disappointed.

We can do so much more together than we can do alone. Being with you in this work, with our bodies and our money, brings me deep joy. Forward in Faith is where we will go together.