The pastor was off in another world one Sunday morning before worship began. You see, he was thinking about the most effective way, at the end of the worship service, to ask the congregation to pledge additional money to cover repairs to the church building, repairs that were costing significantly more than anticipated.
On top of all that, the regular pianist was sick, and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. Having received no direction from anyone, the substitute wanted to know what to play.
“Here: Take this copy of the bulletin. The hymns are all listed,” the pastor said impatiently. “However, you will need to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances.”
As the end of the service, the pastor made the difficult declaration. He said, “Brothers and sisters, we are in great financial difficulty here at church. The roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need an additional $4,000.”
As the end of the service, the pastor made the difficult declaration. He said, “Brothers and sisters, we are in great financial difficulty here at church. The roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need an additional $4,000.”
The preacher paused for a long moment before he made the ask. “Any of you who can pledge $200 or more, please stand up.”
There was silence. Parishioners looked down at their bulletins or intently picked pieces of lint that were invisible to the human eye from their jackets and sweaters.
There was silence. Parishioners looked down at their bulletins or intently picked pieces of lint that were invisible to the human eye from their jackets and sweaters.
It was at that very moment of deep discomfort that the substitute pianist broke the silence and launched into “The Star-Spangled Banner” – and the money problem was solved.
That is a joke – unless, of course, you take a knee when the National Anthem is played. But really, joke or no joke, money is not a laughing matter in most churches nowadays. The story we tell is that there is just not enough of it.
That is a joke – unless, of course, you take a knee when the National Anthem is played. But really, joke or no joke, money is not a laughing matter in most churches nowadays. The story we tell is that there is just not enough of it.
And so, particularly around this time of year, we talk about money in church. Part of the reason, I suppose, is because in many churches – ours included - the stewardship season is unleashed in the fall. And so, similar to those outdoor folk who hunt for deer and turkey and moose, here in the church, we hunt for money .
However, there is more to this money talk in church. You see, Jesus spoke about money during his ministry a lot. In fact, more than 25% of the 40 parables he told had to do with money or used the concept of money to point to a profound spiritual truth.
Jesus spoke about money more than he spoke about prayer and faith combined. What is more, congregations and leaders of the early Christian church followed his lead. And so it should come as no surprise that the author of this first letter to Timothy focuses in the verses we just read on money, wealth, material possessions, riches - and the impact all of them has on each one of us.
One blogger I read this past week had this to say about the background of the author’s advice to Timothy. Do you remember Timothy? He was the young and still wet-behind-the-ears pastor who had been left in charge of the small church in Ephesus. He was currently having trouble with false teachers.
The blogger writes, “One thing that characterized these false teachers was that they thought they could get rich from their teaching. They were first-century versions of televangelists; they were people who said, ‘If you give me your money, the Lord will bless you with whatever you want!’
This kind of teaching was appealing to people then, just as it is appealing to people now, because it is a half-truth. Sometimes God (seems to) reward us financially. But (God) never promises to do that (and certainly not that all the time) because that is never the point. The point is we should be more interested in the Giver/God than in the gifts (the Giver) gives.”
In addition, Timothy had to contend with the close association between wealth/money and politics at the time in the Roman Empire. As university professor Christian Eberhart writes, “For the most part, riches could only be acquired through continuous cooperation with the Roman administration. Those who were rich, therefore, usually supported a system that oppressed the vast majority of the population for the benefit of only few at the center of the Empire. Being a counter-cultural movement, early Christians opposed this system and envisioned a more equal distribution of material resources.”
Money wove a tangled web back in Jesus’ day and in the early church – and that web is no less tangled today. Our personal relationship with money goes way back. For each one of us, it has a history as big as our family tree and as expansive as the culture in which we were raised.
Perhaps we were brought up believing that we were poor with no choice but to live paycheck to paycheck, and consequently no room existed for generosity and compassion. Perhaps we were taught early on the 80-10-10 rule (spend 80%, save 10%, give 10% away).
Either way – or somewhere in between – money and how we use it is part of our persona, part of who we are as human beings. Where we have come from is so important as we develop spiritual practices for dealing with money going forward. You see, in the end, our values and our fears define our relationship with money.
Methodist worship consultant Marcia McFee reminds us that Jesus preached that the choices we make about money have profound spiritual implications. How we navigate the web of the money system we find ourselves in deeply affects our sense of Christian call and our ability to use that money for good.
And so this coming week, I encourage you, as Christians, to think about and talk with whomever you are closest to about your money web – its history, the values it reflects, and the spiritual practices you have, up to this point, developed around it. It will be a difficult conversation, to be sure, because here in the church, we simply do not like to talk - even to ourselves - about money.
In their book, Money and Meaning: Practices for a Heart-Centered Life. authorsMaggie Kulyk with Liz McGeachy, write this: “We want to be honest and engaged with our money but also spontaneous and trusting; involved but fluid; living in the present moment but not in denial about the future. Balance is possible in relationship to this thing we call money, but it’s not easy to attain. If fact, working on these issues is like holding a knife by the blade. Money will bring out some of the best and the worst in us, but this is of course what makes it such a rich and important spiritual practice.”
In his ministry, Jesus embodies God’s dream for the world – that it be fully immersed in mercy, compassion, and justice. And so he rails against economic inequality, exclusion based on health and welfare, and looking the other way in the face of poverty and injustice. Likewise he calls us as his followers to create a “courageous vision” for ourselves and for our churches, a vision that cannot help but, as McFee states, “transform our money practices to align with our values.”
And so we come full circle to those verses in the letter to Timothy and the brief words of advice the author provides about wealth. The advice is not just about the dangers of money either. It is also about that better path we are called to take, the path that reflects the Gospel message and lies at the heart of Christianity.
First, the author writes, do not place your hope for the future in your finances, which are so uncertain. Now, any of us who watched big chunks of our 401Ks evaporate in 2008 or who today carefully listen to NPR’s Marketplace, hoping to glean any economic signs that might point to recession: we know about financial uncertainty. Instead, the author advises, rather than putting your great high hope in the vagaries of the stock market, put that hope for the future in God’s dream for the world. Put your hope in justice, in compassion, in radical hospitality. Put that hope in a courageous vision.
Second, the author of this letter to Timothy advices, be generous and share with others. Pretty straightforward!
Third, do numbers one and two (place your hope in God’s dream and share generously), and your life will begin to be as God meant for it to be. If you intentionally do numbers one and two, you will understand what living a wonder-filled life is like. You will experience a life overflowing with love and grace and peace.
What the author of the letter to Timothy is trying to tell us is that a wonder-filled life will not be found in an obsession with wealth and possessions. It will only really be found when we are pursuing God’s dream, when we are looking outward in faith rather than inward with fear, when we open our hands, our hearts, and our wallets – and live trusting that there will be enough to go around.
OK – I know what probably some of you are thinking. It is along the lines of what one Presbyterian blogger I read this week wrote, “It's very tempting for us to say, ‘Well, (the author) must be speaking to someone else other than me, because I'm not rich.’”( Did that maybe cross your mind?)
The blogger goes on to say: “We (imagine) some secret boundary which we have not crossed in terms of personal wealth that constitutes ‘rich.’ But let me just remind you of one thing: the one in our midst (here today) who has the least has more than the wealthiest person who first heard this letter read in his own congregation.
We live in the most affluent society, the most affluent culture, in the history of the world. And we are among the wealthiest Christians in the history of the world, and the least of us has more than those who had the most in this congregation when (the author) first wrote to Timothy.
So God's words are for all of us, no matter how little we relatively have in comparison to some others in our community, or even in this congregation. Paul's words are for all of us.” Enough said!
Where and how we spend our money says volumes about our priorities and values. Not sure what those are for you? Look at your checkbook register or your bank statement. There you will find that your priorities and values are all listed.
As blogger Kevin Pierpoint stated, “ Chances are if you hang on tightly to a small amount money, you’ll do the same if given a larger amount, and if you’re careless with what you have you’d be careless with a lot of money.”
In the next few days, you will be receiving that annual stewardship letter. It will ask you to prayerfully consider your role in the courageous vision emerging at our church here in Raymond.
What is that vision? That we will maintain a building that is accessible to all and so can welcome all people. That we will both encourage the arts and feed the hungry. That we will enhance communication and programming among community groups. That we will support the aging and elderly. That we will worship a God that is still speaking in our world today.
As you decide how you will support – not this church’s budget – but rather its ministries and its programs, ask yourself these questions: Do you give out of obligation or because you believe your gift serves this church’s courageous vision? Does this courageous vision serve the wider community? Do you give freely or with hesitation? Does giving make you feel joyful or afraid? To what extent is your giving about gratitude – gratitude for this church, for the transformative power of Jesus’ message, for all the blessings God had bestowed upon you? To what extent is your giving simply an act of sharing what you have because that is the right thing to do?
As many of you know, I admire Presbyterian pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner. And so I will end this sermon with his words about money:
“The more you think about money, the less you understand it. The paper it's printed on isn't worth a red cent. There was a time you could take it to the bank and get gold or silver for it, but all you'd get now would be a blank stare.
If the government declared that the leaves of the trees were money so there would be enough for everybody, money would be worthless. It has worth only if there is not enough for everybody. It has worth only because the government declares that it has worth and because people trust the government in that one particular although in every other particular they wouldn't trust it around the corner.
The value of money, like stocks and bonds, goes up and down for reasons not even the experts can explain and at moments nobody can predict, so you can be a millionaire one moment and a pauper the next without lifting a finger. Great fortunes can be made and lost completely on paper. There is more concrete reality in a baby's throwing a rattle out of the crib. There are people who use up their entire lives making money so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.
Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Maybe the reason is not that the rich are so wicked they're kept out of the place, but that they're so out of touch with reality they can't see it's a place worth getting into.”
Maybe the way we begin to untangle this web of money is by first looking inward at the ways it has strangled us – and then looking outward at the ways it can lay a strong foundation for making God’s dream for the world and the courageous vision for this church a reality.
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