We are well into the “giving” season, and I hope you are planning to include May Memorial in your holiday “giving” plans.

There are plenty of worthy causes out there that deserve your support and generosity—and not just around Christmas. MMUUS is a worthy cause that also happens to be the religious home and spiritual beacon for its members. MMUUS does good work in the community and beyond that deserves your support.

The church depends on its members in these times of rising utility bills to keep the lights burning, to keep its sacred spaces warm in winter, cool and inviting in warm weather. The splendid building needs plenty of attention—and dollars—to stay clean and in good repair. And the rich variety of programming—from worship and religious education to social justice and the Green Sanctuary, adult education, the Memorial Garden, music and arts, denominational affairs and so on—doesn’t just run on the energy and resourcefulness of committee members and volunteers. Finally, more than two-thirds of May’s annual budget is devoted to staff salaries and benefits—fair compensation for the minister, music director, RE director, office manager and bookkeeper.

At last month’s meeting of the Board of Trustees, Treasurer Joan Weiser pointed out that while 33 percent of the church year has passed, only 27 of income pledged by members has been received. In October, pledge income was more than 11 percent behind the same month in 2006.

November and December traditionally are high-pledge months, and I’m counting on that pattern to hold to help MMUUS catch up. (By the way, Treasurer Joan recently mailed out updated pledge statements to members. If there’s a disparity between your records and ours, we apologize—and please let us know right away.)

As you may recall, MMUUS has a deficit budget for the third straight year, which requires dipping into the Capital Fund to cover shortfalls. That’s the bad news. The good news is that at the end of the last church year, through prudent spending, faithful pledging, healthy growth, strong fundraising efforts, building rentals and other factors, we managed to whittle down a projected $38,000 deficit to around $17,000. This year, the annual budget of $332,422 anticipates a deficit of just over $14,000. Joan and my fervent hope is that a “culture of abundance” together with a “culture of responsible fiscal stewardship” will erase the red ink by June.

Balancing the budget may seem like a pretty mundane task. But dispelling the deficit “cloud” can provide a lift for the church and its leaders, energize May Memorial’s liberal religious mission, attract new members and encourage MMUUS to take on a larger role in the community and the wide world. That adds up to a bright future for May Memorial.

An essential step toward achieving that goal is for members to keep up with their pledges. Please do your part between now and the end of the year.

~ Fred Fiske