Giving Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022
Give and Be Set Free
Chris Sieve
Giving Tuesday is an annual day of giving nation-wide. If you are someone who is considering where to give this year, please remember your church community. We depend on your gifts to create our annual budget and operate our programs. When you give, you're amplifying the light St. John's brings to the world.
Good morning. My name is Chris Sieve. My husband Brad Lown and I have been attending St John’s since 1994, so about 28 years. When we first got here, I remember people getting up to speak in support of stewardship. This was new for me to observe as a Catholic. I had never witnessed stewardship campaigns. You know, there was Rome.
I remember in one talk, I think it was Art Parrott, who said his family had attended St John’s for 30 years. I thought wow. That seemed like forever. And now, look at us, members of the longevity set.
In our early years, we rocked our babies in the pew until we felt comfortable leaving them in the nursery. I sway in church to this day… I looked up longingly at the choir. We were attending church and putting money in the plate.
One day, Rhett Austell, a devoted member of St John’s, asked to meet with Brad and me downstairs in the Philbrick Room. He said that if we had been sitting in his living room in Kittery Point, he would have plied us with a glass of sherry, so I made a mental note to go visit him and Carol.
Then, in his sonorous baritone voice, with the dignity and gravitas of a man who I’m quite sure had pledged to every church he ever attended in his life, he asked us to consider making a pledge to St John’s. He said it didn’t matter how much, and that our sense about the right amount was a very personal choice, but he was sure we would be generous.
Now honestly, Rhett could have asked me to jump right into the Piscataqua, and I probably would have done it. I don’t think he knew that, and I’m glad that he didn’t, but his ask was pretty timely and we began our pledging journey then.
When we started to pledge, our feeling of connection to this place deepened. It was really when we started to pledge that St John’s became our spiritual home. Rhett died in 2021 at age 96. I was so sad that we lost him, and that I had never officially thanked him for asking us to pledge. He may not know how it changed our life.
Brad started teaching Sunday school around that time. I was also asked to sit on search committees for a music minister and an associate rector. I joined the choir. We were whole heartedly in. No longer attending church, we became participants, members sharing our time and resources, and felt like a part of the community. We knew people’s names, their joys and sorrows, their kids, and started to feel known and at home. When we are away, we hate missing church.
Like paying our mortgage, we invest in our spiritual home when we pledge. There is no monthly investment that I am happier to make or that pays me the dividends I receive from being a part of this assortment of faithful people trying to find our way together in this complex and stressful world.
Members of healthy faith communities report a greater overall sense of well being in their lives. The statistics on the mental health benefits of singing in a choir are also wild, but if I start to geek out about singing in the choir we’ll be here... for a long time. There are a thousand reasons to pledge, being set free the most important among them.
Deciding how much to give confronts you with all the conflicting beliefs you have ever had about money, and if you grew up in, or have lived any length of time in the United States, trust me, you are at risk of developing a neurotic relationship to the stuff. Having it, not having it, paying taxes, pledging to church. It’s nearly impossible to have an emotionally healthy relationship with money in this culture of fear and scarcity.
But, low and behold, pledging to our community where I get to sing and pray and cry with people who are walking this crooked spiritual path with me has helped me check my fear of money at the door. This is why I pledge, to set myself free from the silly worries that money can generate. Really Chris? We have so much. We have enough. Fear not.
So, if you have not pledged to a church or this wonderful church, beware of doing so unless you want to let go of your fear, unless you want to be set free from worrying whether you belong, unless you are ready to be wholeheartedly in, making food for Crossroads, singing hymns, writing checks to liberate yourself of needless worry. There is enough. Look around. It’s right here. It’s a lot of abundance to take in, so watch out. When the worry clears away, the love swoops in.
If you do pledge, consider asking someone else to pledge who might wish to be asked. It could change their life, and your own, like Rhett changed mine and I dare say his. I really miss seeing him at church. Thinking of him reminds me that I am whole heartedly here. If you join me, buckle up. There’s a lot of joy where that fear once lived. Thank you Rhett! And thank you for considering making a pledge to St John’s. I promise you will not regret it.
Join us today on Giving Tuesday 2022 to make a financial gift of any size to St. John's, and release yourself into the loving arms of your church community!