Why I Pledge to Trinity
By Ross Wisnewski
I dearly love Trinity Church, so perhaps a quick answer as to why I pledge would be for me to tell you how deeply I love Trinity and why I do so. But as I search for words to adequately convey the depth of that message, I find that the truth is larger than just my love for Trinity.
I was brought up in the Episcopal Church, but in my early adulthood my path wandered from church for about 10 years until my fretful middle-of-the-night musings compelled my return to church. I needed for my life to be both grounded on and elevated by something larger than me, something larger than my family and circle of friends and my job and civic responsibilities. So I walked into St. Mary’s, a small Episcopal church in New Jersey, where before long I found that my church too needed to be a part of something bigger, a part of a Diocese, of a Province, of The Episcopal Church, of the Anglican Communion. It always inspires me to say the Nicene Creed where we proclaim membership in one holy, catholic church. Each and everyone of us, a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.
My relationship with Trinity began over 50 years ago when my parents moved to New Orleans and became members of Trinity. As my parents’ time here was drawing to a close, my husband, George Reeves, and I bought a home here to extend their time in the city and in the church they loved so dearly. For the past thirteen years George and I have been spending the 6 wintery months of the year comfortably here in New Orleans as members of Trinity. The remaining 6 summery months are spent in the cool northwest corner of NJ’s tiny mountains where we continue as members of St. Mary’s.
All of which brings me to now being a member of two churches. At each church George and I gather in beautiful, inspirational surroundings with both dear friends and with some whose faces are perhaps only vaguely familiar, but nevertheless comforting in their very presence. On Sundays we celebrate together the various passages in our own lives and in the life of the church itself, with the fervent hope that it will ever be so. A dignified, inspiring setting, a caring community, the constancy of a familiar liturgy, an inspirational message delivered by a priest who knows our names, the clatter of children’s feet as they return to church from Sunday School, the swell of uplifting music, and maybe a bit of social interaction over coffee or iced tea afterwards. I love this imagery of church at both Trinity and St. Mary’s.
But it is the commitment each church makes to the community beyond their doors that most deeply fulfills my need to be a part of something bigger than myself. And at each church, it is the exhortation at the end of the worship service that always moves me:
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
As I walk out of the church on Sunday mornings, through the doors and into the ordinary times of life, I envision the mission of the church and the role I can play in that mission. Here at Trinity our surrounding New Orleans community is well served by TEEP and TLF, and other groups invested in feeding and clothing and reaching out hands to those in need. Groups gather to read, to study the Bible, to have coffee together, to support each other and those they encounter. In my daily walks about the French Quarter, I am presented with innumerable opportunities to love and serve. In meaningful ways, Trinity prepares me to respond to those opportunities.
For those of you who knew my parents, you may recall that every single year on the anniversary of their marriage, they renewed their wedding vows at whatever church they belonged to at the time. They did this seventy times! My mother told me that it was their opportunity to look back upon the previous year, seeing the challenges, the joys and the sorrows; seeing themselves and each other anew. Then looking forward to the next year with renewed faith, determination, and love.
It is through this marital lens that I see a pledge drive. Together the church and I pledge to each other to walk in love, and do all such good works as God puts in our path year by year for all of our days. Each year during the pledge season I have found it deeply beneficial to reflect on the past year, on the ways in which I have spent myself – not just my money, but my time and my energy and what talents I have remaining. What have I learned about myself, about my faith, what might I do differently, do better, do more of, in the coming year? How have I grown, how have my gifts changed? How might I better serve the Lord? And as I renew my pledge each year, I am secure in the knowledge that the vestries of Trinity and of St. Mary’s will be doing the very same thing.
