This article is printed in the May Tidings.
Things change.
It doesn’t take long for one to realize the truth of those two words. Return to your hometown after months or years away and you’ll see things are not exactly as you remember them. Pull out a photo album and it will soon become clear there was a time when your parents did not have gray hair. Rent a favorite movie from years ago and you’ll likely discover that while the plot is vaguely familiar its impact upon you is not identical to the first time you saw it. In every aspect of life, there are circumstances that do not remain the same. Things change.
On May 16th, we will formally recognize that truth in our financial lives as part of the day’s worship services when our Anniversary Celebration will occur. Twelve months ago, members and friends dedicated commitments for the “Bridging the Generations” capital campaign totaling $3.6 million. Those pledges were designed to be spread out over a three-year period of time and each was offered as a faithful estimate. Yet because things can and do change, on the third Sunday of May during our Anniversary Celebration we will ask you to dedicate your plans for the remaining two years of this campaign. We are taking that step because we know that in this part of life, too, things can change.
Some of you who were part of Celebration Sunday realize now that the economic uncertainty of last May caused you to hold back on making a pledge or to offer a commitment that was less than what you wanted to do. Perhaps now, though, with the passage of twelve months, your financial circumstances are a bit clearer and you feel ready to make a pledge or increase your goal for the remaining twenty-four months of our effort. If that situation is yours, our Anniversary Celebration will provide a simple way to express that intention.
Others of you stepped forward in faith last May and made a pledge that is no longer feasible. Perhaps a job has since been lost or unexpected expenses have depleted your savings. Maybe you are now caring for aging parents or your college graduate has moved back home and neither of those circumstances was part of your thinking twelve months ago. If the goal you chose twelve months for “Bridging the Generations” is no longer realistic, our Anniversary Celebration will offer an opportunity to reduce your pledge for the final two years.
Maybe you had not joined DPC at this point last year or perhaps were a member, but still wanted to see if the renovation plans would be approved before making a financial commitment. If those circumstances describe where you were last May, our Anniversary Celebration will be your time to join fellow members in making a pledge for the final two years of this effort.
For others still, the goal you set last May is still the one God has placed on your heart and you remain comfortable that it is a realistic commitment for the next two years. If so, our Anniversary Celebration is an opportunity for you to formally declare you are still on target toward that goal as you present a new commitment card with the same total on it.
Things do change. Yet on May 16th, we will gather for worship and then assemble for our ground-breaking as a clear reminder of things that have not changed; namely that we have been blessed and continue to be led by a loving God. For that gift and the certainty it will never change, we remain a grateful family of faith ready to move ahead together.
John
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