First Parish Unitarian UniversalistMoney and Meaning
Rev. Cricket Potter
First Parish Unitarian Universalist - Canton
March 7, 2010
Reading
Our reading is by Rabindranath Tagore. Born in Calcutta in 1861, he was one of modern India’s greatest poets. He also wrote many songs, novels, short stories, and plays. Tagore was the Nobel Laureate for literature in 1913. Here is a short meditation he wrote on wealth:
I lived on the shade side of the road and watched my neighbors’ gardens across the way reveling in sunshine.
I felt I was poor, and from door to door went with my hunger.
The more they gave me from their careless abundance, the more I became aware of my beggar’s bowl.
Till one morning I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door, and you came and asked for alms.
In despair, I broke the lid of my chest open and was started into finding my own wealth.
Sermon
Here we are in Stewardship Month, and it is that time of the year for me to give what some ministers refer to as “the Sermon on the Amount.”
There are so many ways to ask folks for support or even intimidate them into making their pledge for the next year.
One Presbyterian minister shares this anecdote:
“One of my favorite stewardship chairpersons was a successful businessman and legendary money-raiser for many good causes. He wanted me to arrange to have “Amazing Grace” played by a bagpiper on Stewardship Sunday. “Presbyterians can’t resist it,” he assured me. One time he suggested that we reconsider the sale of indulgences – “the best stewardship program ever” (he assured me). “Couldn’t you just imply that they’re going to hell if they don’t raise their pledge?” he asked. (John Buchanan in Christian Century, October 31, 2006.)
Another minister, this one an evangelical minister, offers this account:
In the mid-1980’s I attended a church that still honored “Money Sunday,” a practice begun in the 1950s. Once a year, members of the congregation gathered to make financial pledges to support (the work of the church). As the pledges were collected, the minister would read the amounts aloud from the pulpit: “Here’s one for $50….Here’s another for $100 and one for $1,000!” Occasionally a pledge came in for, say, $10,000, eliciting all sorts of approving oohs and aahs from the congregation, and for the rare pledge of $50,000 the organist would leap from his pew and play a rousing fanfare of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” If the financial goal had not been reached by the end of the service, the minister would send the offering plate back around, shaming the members into emptying their pockets of everything except the subway token they needed to get home. (Daniel Harrell in Christian Century, June 27, 2006.)
I can assure you that there will be no bagpiper wooing us with “Amazing Grace,” and neither will there be any haranguing about the amount anyone should give.
We are here to reflect together about the possibilities we look toward for this community of faith and how we can each find our place – our joy – in making these possibilities come to life.
As companions on a faith journey, there is no contract that binds us.
As Unitarian Universalists, there is no rule of tithing that requires members to give 10 percent of their income.
Rather, we share in a covenant.
We make a promise every week when we come together in worship to:
seek the truth,
reach out to one another in the spirit of love,
and serve our fellows and humankind.
In essence, we engage in an ongoing exercise of trust.
We trust that folks will share their gifts as they can.
We trust that what you each value and seek here will be supported in turn by your own commitment of time, energy, and financial resources.
We trust that we will all be good stewards.
Steward at its root literally means “keeper of the hall.”
As members and friends — as stewards — of First Parish, you are asked to care for this place and this community loyally, lovingly, respectfully.
To do what needs doing so that this place of learning and hope is here for you, for the children as they grown, and for the many individuals yet to come who will be seeking a welcoming, liberal community of faith.
I am reminded of this story about Henry Ward Beecher (from Growing a Beloved Community by Tom Owen-Towle):
A person went to Henry Ward Beecher and said, “Mr. Beecher, I have a good horse to sell. He’s a good family horse, works double or alone, is gentle, intelligent, not easily frightened, will stand without hitching and is thoroughly sound and reliable.” Mr. Beecher replied, “I can’t buy your horse, sir, but I’d like to have it as a member of my church.”
Seriously though, Henry Ward Beecher has an excellent point.
Our doors are open to all regardless of tradition, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, ability, or financial status.
Yet, our doors cannot stay forever open, and we cannot continue forever as a community, without everyone’s help.
Ours is a shared endeavor that began in the roots of our Unitarian Universalist heritage some five hundred years ago in the Reformation in Europe and exactly 293 years ago in the first gathering of this congregation.
It is a legacy of community, caring, inquiry, openness, and engagement with the world that is now yours to nurture during your time here and then pass on for others yet to come.
The Rev. Tom Owen-Towle says this:
(Stewards) are simply the blessed recipients of a singular period in history. Stewards have been assigned a watch. They are entrusted with our Unitarian Universalist legacy in the place where it comes to them, to handle it with exceeding reverence and care, to shape it while allowing it to shape them, and then to keep the gift moving.
While I think that most of you have felt the fulfillment of being good stewards by serving in many ways at First Parish whether on committees, teaching in the religious education program, singing in the choir, helping with hospitality on Sundays, or helping in some other way with the programs offered here, where I think we stumble a bit is when we start bringing up money.
And perhaps we stumble because we don’t educate ourselves about money and how we can use it well in our lives.
Many of us grew up in families – and in communities of faith – where the topic of money only gets brought up when absolutely needed.
In other words, once a year for the pledge drive or when things are coming up short and there’s a conflict.
In preparing for this sermon, I read a lot about this “money problem,” and it is indeed a growing problem in this country according to those who research and write about it.
According to the folks studying this topic, Americans are in a dilemma about money in part because where we put our money does not align with what we care most deeply about.
We are pulled by our consumer culture to focus on superficial needs and instant gratification.
In turn, we are distracted from putting our money toward things that are less glitzy initially but which offer much greater fulfillment in the long run.
So we go along feeling guilty and powerless.
Money becomes almost dirty, a source of shame and frustration for us.
What financial educator Nathan Dungan suggests is that, first and foremost, we need to take the time to reflect upon our morals and values because spending as we have “robs of us in terms of our personal sense of being.” (From “Money and the Moral Balance” on NPR’s Speaking of Faith, November 30, 2006.)
And what philosopher Jacob Needleman asks in a fascinating book called Money and the Meaning of Life:
Is money only a problem…. Is there a way of looking at money, of educating (ourselves), and educating our children to look at money so that it is actually not dirty, so that it is a unifying factor?
What to do so that we make money a unifying factor?
Above all, we need to stop and think.
What matters most deeply to us?
Are we sharing what we have in a way that we feel good and purposeful about it and in a way that represents what we care most deeply about?
There are three basic categories for how we use our money: spending, saving, and sharing.
Could we shift some things around in these categories so that there is a healthier balance between these categories?
One perhaps that removes a little from the spending on things and adds more to the sharing?
Because our sharing, our actively contributing to causes we care about brings our values to life, and that helps us feel empowered.
As Dungan shares,
It’s not about throwing… the baby out with the bathwater (in the sense of our spending), but it is about…re-looking at the choices we’re making and the things that we’re doing, and perhaps how we’re teaching it or talking about it, and how do we allow that to sort of seep into our being.
Dungan speaks of our choices with money.
Needleman speaks of money as a potentially unifying factor.
The theme across both of these viewpoints is that money is a tool - a means not an end:
to use well so that it reflects our thoughtful needs and wants along with our greatest values.
Now, I recognize that these are difficult times financially and that some of you are struggling to keep your job, get a job, keep your mortgage payments and your health care payments going, or meet the many basic wants and needs of your family.
Remember, stewardship is a long and broad vision.
It’s a workhorse kind of reliability.
We can all steward this community in many ways with our time, our talents, and our financial resources.
And as people in covenant with one another, we trust that we share as we can.
We have faith that some will step up financially for others because they can and that in turn we will all give in the ways we can, in a way that feels right and responsible.
Because a big part of my message today is about taking the time to consider what we each value and wish for at the deepest level, I’d like to have us pause for a moment so that we can reflect.
Let’s think about First Parish.
Our time together on Sundays —
sharing, learning, singing,
finding comfort and joy in one another’s presence,
finding encouragement from one another to be our best selves,
feeling hope about our world and the part we can each play in bettering this world.
The many other ways folks can gather here to build relationship and build on their faith whether it is through a covenant group, an affinity group, or an adult religious education class.
Think of the life transitions celebrated and honored together -
marriages, child dedications, anniversaries, the passing of loved ones.
One of the greatest gifts I believe a faith community offers is how we mark time together.
We stop to acknowledge the passages in our lives and give meaning to all this is our lives.
Then there are the children with all that they bring to us in our time together and all that they receive —
affirmation about their own worth and dignity,
community and relationship across the ages,
a strong sense of their place and responsibility in the world,
a safe and welcoming home away from home.
Last but not least, how we nudge one another to make a make a difference in the world -
as we partner with Habitat for Humanity,
collect canned goods for the Canton Food Pantry,
help to support Womansplace Crisis Center and other causes that help those in need,
and do so much more as individuals.
And of course, there is so much more –
in the little moments shared among friends,
the comfort of knowing that this place is here for you and your family, the assurance that you are not alone and need not go it alone.
What matters to you?
How best can you reflect that as you consider your own level of support to First Parish for the coming year?
The Stewardship Team has asked that you consider a minimum portion of 2 ½ percent of your net income as your commitment to this community for the coming year.
I know that some of you give more than that with a pledge of 5 or even ten percent.
I thank you and hope that you will continue to do so.
Others of you may find the 2 ½ percent goal daunting.
It is absolutely a personal and private choice.
I only ask that you consider First Parish’s place in your life and the value it brings to your life.
Is it worth at least 2 ½ percent of your financial pie?
Does that percentage embody what you value, what you can be proud of as a member or friend of First Parish?
Stepping back, I think that we need to take the time as a community to educate ourselves more about money concerns here at First Parish.
There is strength in knowledge.
We also need to assess thoughtfully what matters to all of you and what we can do about it as a community.
First Parish treasurer, Tom Hanold, has started to put a Note from the Treasurer in the monthly newsletter to help us get up to speed with money concerns.
I hope that you will read his article and feel free to ask questions.
Money doesn’t need to be an awkward topic.
And definitely, we shouldn’t be talking about it only when we desperately need money or when we’re trying to fix something that’s broken.
Perhaps we can bring the topic of money out of the dark and make our conversations about money a time of learning and empowering.
The bottom line, as I see it, is that you as members and friends of First Parish are the heart and soul and lifeblood of this community.
My hope is that what you receive and give in this community offers you great sustenance and meaning.
My prayer is that what we do together within these walls, and outside in the larger world, makes a huge difference toward creating the world that we all long for.
Thinking back to the story I shared in our reading,
may we all break open the lid of our treasure chests –
however large or small they may be -
to discover the joy of sharing what we have and the sense of wealth that abides.
May it be so.
Amen.