What we plant in the spring, bears fruit in the autumn. It is a rhythm as old as life, as new as the face that will be greeting us from the pulpit next September. Our finances at First Parish follow the same pattern. The pledges you make this spring will be spent on the joyous possibil- ities of the church year that begins next August. Salaries for the new Minister and all our staff; treasured programs like Music, Social Action, and Community Life; and the nuts and bolts of utilities and insurance for our lovely new facilities – everything we envision for next year will be funded by this year’s Stewardship Campaign. An early and strong Stewardship Campaign is especially im- portant this year because March is the month our Search Committee will have in-depth discussions with the three or four finalists they choose from our list of ministerial applicants. It will be very important for our team to be able to show these finalists that we are a financially sound and committed community. Your pledges, and only your pledges, can make this happen.
Stewardship will have a Celebration Sunday format this year, as we affirm our vision for next year and the financial commitment that is required to achieve it. Financial information will be available before and after the service. By the end of the community-wide lunch that will follow the Celebration Sunday service on March 2, we hope that most of you will have made your pledges, so our Ministerial Search team can have those critical fiscal discussions with certainty and confidence. Our Stewardship team –Keith Sims, Beth Cliff, Mary Kay Peacock, the Lay Ministers, Suzanne Tiberii, Andrea Case, and others – are planning a program as special as the year. Come celebrate the community that attracted more candidates than any other parish in search this year! Come invest in the hopes we will fulfill together next year! Our future begins … with you!
Penny Wilson
for the Parish Committee