About Money

I speak to you in the name of the Source of ALL Life,
whom we know in Creation,
in our Redemption in Jesus Christ
and in the Eternal Spirit that enfolds the whole world in Eternity

My text this morning is taken from the words of Dolly Madison, star of the Broadway hit musical Hello Dolly who said, "Money is like manure , it needs to be spread around to do the most good." Well Dolly, whether you know it or not, your comment upholds a basic Christian teaching about money albeit in somewhat more earthy language than that found in the bible.

The bible has more to say about money, wealth, and poverty than about any other social issue. In a biblical word book - known in the trade as a concordance -you will find 60 references to sex, adultery, and fornication, in fact there is no use of the word sex; however, you will find 430 references to money, wealth and poverty. It is the single most discussed societal issue in all of scripture

Jesus' ministry and sayings deal extensively with the issue of money, wealth and poverty. A major theme of all three of the synoptic gospels is wealth and poverty while there are only a couple of references to sexual misconduct.

And yet most Christians grow up with the impression that there are two things which a Christian must be careful not to have too much of: money and sex. Too much of both will lead you to perdition. Now this word- weighting formula is hardly a sophisticated theological analysis but I can assure you that a deeper analysis bears out how important the use and abuse of money is in the bible. This word formula would suggest that we should be talking about money in our churches seven times more often than we talk about sex.

But judging from the debate presently preoccupying much of the church here and abroad sex wins the popularity contest. In my mind this speaks volumes about our collective paranoia. As one commented, "people today are more willing to talk about their sex lives than their bank accounts".

Well, I guess, sex is more interesting than money. Speaking of which - sex that is- our own choir member Dustin Vye is one of the star performers in the current Orpheus Society production of Grease- all performances completely sold out, I hear. Thanks to Dustin, four of us from St John's went to see the full dress rehearsal last week. Kathleen sat beside a seven year boy who is the son of the choreographer for the event. During one scene a couple are engaged in an prolonged kiss in the background. The little boy asked Kathleen "how long can they do that?". As we laughed about this on the way home Bea Robertson commented, "Give him another few years and he'll know the answer!" .

By the way, Dr. Bea can be reached at 5555-sex! Now Dustin, I noticed that you got roughed up, pushed around, and knocked down but never kissed - you need to speak to your agent about that.

Money and sex have one thing in common in that they are both about the worth that comes from status. In our highly sexualized and consumerized society sex and money are about worth and identity. They have power because so much of who we are and where we belong is bound up in our sexual and fiscal worth.

Just in relation to two liberation movements of great interest in this parish - the feminist movement and the gay rights movement- both are about social worth based upon gender and sexual orientation. And certainly the feminist movement has been about access to money: who earns it and how, who spends it and how, in the family and in the nation.

I'm speak of money this morning because of the annual vestry meeting last week. Most people present at the meeting recognized, by voting to accept a deficit budget, that our problem here at St John`s is not overspending; rather it is undergiving. And so we will be embarking on a year long money-training program. You will hear more about money in 2003 than in any year you can remember. But remember, nothing is ever just about money: how we use money says who we are and what is important to us. Who we are and what is important to us are deeply spiritual matters.

It is usually seen as unseemly to talk about money from the pulpit. Preachers don't talk about money we talk about stewardship. Stewardship means "to attend to" and therefore it is a word which aptly describes the Christian understanding of money. Stewardship is about how we think God wants us to use what God has given us. But sometimes in our talk about stewardship, a wholesome idea, we don`t communicate clearly what we really want from people.

If I were to summarize what Jesus attitude to money is I would say these two things:

-First, for Jesus, money just like everything you have and you are, is given to you in trust by God who rejoices in getting gifts as much as you do. God delights when you respond with a reciprocal gift. In short, the idea that we actually possess anything of our own that is outside of our relationship with God is idolatrous (pledging loyalty to something not worthy of it). Money as something to be hoarded and kept for one's self is the problem to which Jesus referred when he described money as the root of all evil. Truly, God wants the commitment of our lives and God wants our time, our talent, and our discipleship. But what we do with our money simply cannot be left out of this commitment.

-Secondly for Jesus, money is so important that its use requires special attention. In the non-capitalist agrarian societies of biblical antiquity money was not the primary commodity of wealth; rather it was land and animals, wives and children ( usually in that order of priority!). Even so, the bible weighs in heavily on the issue of wealth and poverty. Jesus advised those who would follow him to count the cost before declaring themselves to be his disciples: the cost in terms of their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even life itself. So there is no way that this cost counting cannot include your bank account. In business circles they would challenge us to "get to the bottom" line, a phrase, no doubt, referring to the bottom line of an amount-owing column.

So what does St John's want? St John' wants three things:

1. We want you to give because God loves you and you see God's love at work at St John`s. We do not harp about money here nor plead "needy institution" at every opportunity. Far from it. We want you to give because you are keen on what you see. And you do. So many people say how important St John's is to them. But this works only so far.



2. We want you to see your contribution not as one to bail out a sinking boat but one that will add more fuel to its engines to go faster and further. We have the passion and people in this parish to do so much more if we had the financial resources. This is most certainly the context in which the whole building renovations scheme is being proposed.



3. Finally, we want you to take a serious look at how much you give. If you have seen the yellow sheet you will agree that many of us could do a lot better. The place to start with that improvement is ourselves. We want you to look carefully at where you are on that scale and ask yourself the question "what does this say about me?"

In fact, a small monetary offering, may mean a lot for those who have little. I have no idea what anyone gives in this parish because access to member giving is confidential. However, I know that there is at least one person here on minimum wage giving $30 a week. This is a fulfilment of the biblical ideal of tithing or giving one tenth of after tax income. Also, I suspect that there are more than a few of us who easily spend much more on our personal entertainment than we give to St John's. It may be that some spend more on designer coffee in a week than they put in the offering plate. Is there something wrong with this picture?

We clergy would not be truthful if we said that we would not measure a member's commitment based on what they give of what they have - and that is presumably the reason why the clergy have no access to member giving. However, if your giving is a measure of your spiritual health, as Jesus taught when he said "Where your treasure is, there your heart is also" (Matt 6:21), then depriving pastors of this information is like preventing a physician from seeing a patient's chart. Your doctor makes a diagnosis of your physical help based on a whole series of indices provided by tests, ultrasounds, x-rays and the sort. A few of us would now be dead if our doctors were deprived of this vital information.

Someone to whom you entrust your spiritual care also needs a chart of indicators to determine your spiritual health. Your spiritual caretaker may need to say to you one day "your pocket-book index is seriously low and needs to be raised to restore you to spiritual health."

The fact is, most clergy don`t want to know the financial contribution of church members because to have that information would add a heavy burden of responsibility and motive to what they do. But it seems to me that the analogy with the medical profession is not entirely without merit. I don`t know the answer to this dilemma for a spiritual leader.

The fact sheet in the bulletin will appear for a while. A fact sheet cannot take into consideration everyone`s situation. I hope that you find it a useful guide to you as you consider your giving to St John's. A couple of people looked at this sheet and made some helpful comments. If you have questions or suggestions about how this can be clearer and more useful, please let me know and I will amend this insert each week.

We are a vibrant and growing community with remarkable people who give remarkably in so many ways. Our aim is to increase this resource pool and to build upon our strength. Every hour given, every dollar given, every prayer offered, builds up all of us.