Epiphany 8: A Limited Commodity, A Powerful Symbol

Isaiah 49:8-16a
Psalm 131
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34

It seems almost ridiculous to state that money is a powerful commodity in our culture. However, the power of money is such a given that sometimes the nature of its power goes unquestioned. So, I will say it again: money is a powerful commodity in our culture, and most importantly because it carries a symbolic value far beyond its ordinary power to purchase goods and services. For the hoarder, the miser, money symbolises security against dependency on others. For the spendthrift it may symbolise freedom to pursue one’s own desires without hindrance from others. When money takes on this sort of symbolic meaning for a person or a group, then their relationship to it is dictated rather by their addictions and anxieties, instead of its simple value as a commodity. Equally, when money is vested with so much meaning and value, one can lose sight that there are other repositories of both meaning and value.

At our retreat Fr Larry told us a story of a small church community in decline. It was predominantly an elderly congregation attracting very few new members. They attended a seminar on the future of small congregations and they were able to face the difficult truth the they were in fact dying; embracing that reality they decided to go out in style, doing something useful. They went as a group to the local primary school, met with the principal, explained their situation and offered their time and effort to anything the school might need. The principal was surprised, but welcomed them into the life of the school. Members of the church read to the students, helped out in art classes and worked yard duty. Eventually, others from outside the local community wanted to get involved in their efforts. These new people got excited about what they were doing, and became interested in their little church. Parents, too, from the school were attracted to the church which gave so much of their time and talents. In the end, the church did not close, but rather grew. Now, I don’t think this is necessarily a pattern we can lay over every situation, but the truth of the matter is that no amount of money could have bought the vibrant, living church community that eventually emerged. More money might have allowed the church to survive, but it would not have given it life; and surviving and living are two different things entirely. It is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that money is not the only currency.

Equally, at times our concern with money is not about money, per se, but, as I mentioned earlier, what money has come to symbolise for us – safety, security, independence, self-determination, power, even our own worth as a person. When money symbolises such key aspects of our well-being and identity it is usually the first and sole issue in making any decision or considering any new enterprise. It emerges as the only truth or currency in the conversation. Discussions then become incredibly loaded, because while we as group may be ostensibly talking “money”, we are actually speaking about the many things it has come to symbolise for us; and for each person it may be different. We all know how easily and quickly people can be debilitated and de-moralised, how easily things can fall apart, when money is the issue of a discussion or decision. I am told that disagreements about money is one of the leading causes of the break-down of a relationship. It is not that the couple cannot decide on how to use money, but instead that it symbolises different things for each of them and they can never get to that deeper meaning. Another anecdote Fr Larry shared with us while on retreat; he told us of a parish with which he was involved. The community, like so many Episcopal communities throughout the country, was not exactly flush, but the vestry felt that their discussions were always hampered by that the facts of their financial circumstances, and so they passed a resolution: at the proposal of any new initiative, project for ministry, mission or outreach, money was not to be a consideration until after the vestry had discussed the project’s merits and decided whether or not it was worth implementing. Only then could they begin discussing the “how” part in which the financial needs and implications would certainly figure. Even in somewhat straitened circumstances, this community’s vestry decided their mission and programmes were their most valuable asset; money was put in its place as one component in the process of implementing any project, along with facilities or people power. While in the end, the execution of the project might reveal itself to be impossible, it could be so for any number of reasons – finances among them, but not limited to them; and sometimes in the discussion of a project there might be revealed its absolute value to the community, firing up the vestry members’ excitement to make it work. For this vestry, money has ceased symbolising safety or security, for example, and was only a means to an end, one component in implementing their highest, most important priority and value, the Church’s mission.

I don’t need to tell you that the issue of money arose during our vestry retreat, both in our formal forums and private discussions. I don’t think we came to any consensus. However, as Jesus today specifically addresses the issue of money and our relationship to it, it seemed only appropriate to mention some of what we did share, and to mention it in light of Jesus’ words from the Gospel. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28b-29) Money is not the only currency in the world, and we lose something of life’s rich meaning when it is treated as the defining criteria of value. Think for a moment about our soup kitchen. No amount of money could buy the good-will many people have towards our small community on account of our soup kitchen; and our hall has become a focal point for various people of many faiths and none – both volunteers and clients – who through contact with me and other members of our community get to learn something about what we value here at the Church of the Saviour, and as Episcopalians generally. Money is not the only currency. Equally, we need always to keep an awareness of the meaning – symbolic or otherwise – we project onto money. It is a means to end, and a tool for acquiring goods and services. While to some extent it can keep us safe from all kinds of unpleasantness, in and of itself it cannot save in any meaningful sense; and we get safety and salvation confused at our peril: “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 5:24) When money symbolises for us a form of security, then safety overrides salvation and the mission of the Church suffers. We cannot have both safety and salvation driving, one of them must take the backseat. Certainly, along with the rest of the country, our community is hitting some hard financial times, but how pleased I was when our vestry voted – quite responsibly, I might add – that should the need arise and in order for the mission of the Church to thrive we would borrow from our small endowment fund; equally when it decided to make paying our assessment to the diocese a priority. I love it when salvation trumps safety.

At the end of the day, it’s not that money isn’t important, even crucial to our well-being, but that we sometimes invest it with too much meaning, too much power, at the exclusion of the all kinds of other realities which give life meaning. We invest a lot of worry in it too, undermining our power to discern other valuable aspects of our lives. Money is an important means of currency, but it is not the only currency; and equally, its importance should not fool us into attaching to it meaning it cannot and should not ultimately bear. Putting money in its appropriate place, frees us to do Jesus’ bidding when he tells his followers, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and let “today’s troubles be enough for today”. (Matthew 6:34)