by Warden Rebecca Maines
It’s way too easy to see filling out a pledge card as signing up for another weekly or monthly expenditure, but I invite you to rethink that. As I’m fond of saying: it’s not transactional, it’s relational. Let me be clearer about that.
A pledge is a promise. It’s a commitment to something, because it’s important and you believe in it and value it. It’s about putting yourself out there in support of something.
A pledge is a promise made out loud. A couple years ago I went to Oxford University’s Bodleian Library to do research. It is a requirement to use the Bodleian, dating back to its founding, that you must pledge proper care for the books and materials—you have to say the pledge out loud, in front of a witness. It may sound silly, but, let me tell you, speaking the words gave me all the feels. I was taking on personal responsibility for the care and protection of the materials (in my case, Mary Somerville’s handwritten diaries from the eighteenth century) I would be using. You can bet I was extra careful.
When we fill in the pledge card at the cathedral, we’re making a promise—out loud, as it were—to take personal responsibility, to take part in sustaining this community of faith. Part of that, of course, is financial support, and we’ll be talking more about where the money goes, because in a cathedral congregation, that’s different from other churches; but it’s every bit as important to commit our time and talent. There are lots of opportunities to do that, and if you are still searching for the right one(s) for you, clergy, staff, and council members would be delighted to help you find the right fit.
I invite you to join me in speaking up and making a pledge.