What a challenge...

Our stewardship drive ended today - well, in reality we will still be doing follow up well after the first of the new year - and my chair tells me we are 12% ahead of last year. Given careful investments and prudent use of our endowment, we are likely to NOT serious spend down the endowment for the first time in decades! And with pledges up... hmmmm.

I know from experience that it is important NOT to draw too many conclusions from these things. At the same time, it is clear that our small congregation has turned the corner; where once we were struggling and afraid of failing, now we sense our small part in God's bigger mission and have enthusiasm for being a part of it, too. What's more, not only are the historic members embracing the direction of this renewal, but we have lots more new friends and supporters who are choosing to be a part of the experiment, too. Today, for example, in a worship celebration numbering 100+ I counted more than 14 folks who have cast their lot with our faith community over the past few years: not only are they supporting our ministry with their presence, but they are pledging financial support and active participation, too.

And just to underscore this reality, this afternoon - after our thanksgiving luncheon to thank everyone who made this year's stewardship effort a blessing (including a smokin' little clarinet and guitar player) - a friend of a friend help me set up our Thanksgiving Eve sound system. He isn't part of the fellowship, but he support our work in music, the arts, beauty and social justice. I spent two hours with him getting things in shape for this week's rehearsal. Which was confirmation to me that building deep and compassionate relationships - without a whole lot of energy given to the institutional survival questions - is the way to move forward in these strange and challenging times.

BTW I am really getting excited about this year's Thanksgiving Eve show: not only are the group songs beautiful and powerful, but we have some of the BEST local musicians in the area coming forward to donate their time and talent towards our commitment of raising funds to help Berkshire residents with emergency heating fuel this winter. On Tuesday, Ani DiFranco will be in town so some of our bandmates will be away boogie to her groove. But the rest of us will be pumping up the volume and getting the BIG numbers into shape. Damn, I can't wait!

There is much more to be said - and I don't want to celebrate prematurely - so I will keep you posted as this unfolds, knowing that today feels like the challenge of the past few years is being embraced and supported at a DEEP level.