Reading Reading: From Money and the Soul of the World (p.25-29)
By Robert J. Sardello and Randolph Severson

         We are so used to perceiving money as a fixed thing exchanged for some other fixed thing that we can hardly catch the ritual flow going on. But it’s all in the attitude. We think that the thing we want to buy will give us pleasure. We do not realize that the pleasure is not to be found in the thing acquired, but in the flow; we disconnect the money from the thing, conceive of it as a purely functional relationship rather than the needs of the imagination expressing themselves. . . .

To be in the cash flow is to see, not to direct, to feel, not to control the course. (p.25)

....Money is imagination’s way of acting in the world… (p.29)

Sermon

         It is a few decades since I saw the delightful musical play “Hello, Dolly,” where Mrs. Dolly Levi, a matchmaker, talks of her adored late husband’s attitude towards money. She said, “Mr. Levi always said, ‘Money is like manure, it’s no good unless you spread it around!’” We probably enjoy plays and films that have a lighthearted attitude towards money because it’s such a serious subject.

Our relationship to money is complex, anxiety provoking, and sometimes just plain distressing! It raises up for us issues of safety and survival, of values and virtues. I’m sure you’ve noticed that all the money bills say on them “In God We Trust”? When I first came to America I thought this was just on the one, five, and 10 dollar bills as a way of comforting those who only saw these amounts! Are we the only nation with God on our money?

Perhaps putting God on our bills stems from the days when money was considered evil. So perhaps God is on our money for good luck! We can look to the Bible if we want some evidence for God’s interest in money. The Bible mentions “money” 138 times and “riches” 97 times. (Concordance pp. 713, 877, 878) I counted the number of times in a book called the “Concordance to the Bible”; it’s a sort of index to the Bible. Money and riches and the lack of these are part and parcel of life itself, in ancient times as well as modern.

The most famous part of the Bible concerning money is when Jesus is asked by people trying to trick him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Ceasar?” Jesus told them to bring him a coin and he asked, “Whose head is on this coin?” They responded, “Ceasar’s!” Jesus said to them, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” (from Mark 12:13-17)

We still have to render a goodly portion of all we earn unto our modern Caesar but fortunately, some of that goes to public and social services. Although we complain that federal and state governments sometimes do not handle our taxes to the greatest benefit of the people, we nevertheless are sometimes able to see our money for what it truly is: a source of power, energy, and creativity. Dolly Levi’s comment that ‘money is like manure’ is true in a crude way for money is useless if it is horded beyond what is necessary. Money, like all energy, must flow.

After we have paid Caesar and funded basic necessities and put a little aside for a rainy day it is time to consider another story of Jesus. This is it: “He sat down opposite the [Temple donation box] (the “treasury”), and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in a “mite”, two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in everything she had.’” (Mark 12:41-44) We can all contribute something, even if it is a mite.

We have always known that money is power because in history we see that he who has the money has the power. To an extent that is true today. But, because we live in a democratic society where people have equal rights (for the most part) and people with less money put their money together to become more powerful. I want to suggest to you that we all become more powerful together as a congregation and less powerful apart as individuals.

You might have guessed already that today’s sermon is actually a Sermon on the Amount! This is our canvass sermon that we give once a year to ask our people to consider the extent to which they can support our church programs. Now, unlike many churches, we do not ask you to tithe. To tithe is to give ten percent of your income to the church as people of the religious right are required to do. “Tithe” also appears many times in the Bible. It was the ideal amount to give to the temple or to the poor.

Have you heard the story of the two men who were marooned on a desert island after their boat capsized? One man became very distressed when they weren’t rescued after 36 hours. He looked at the other man and said, “Why do you look so happy and unconcerned?!?”

“Oh,” the other man said, “I’m not at all worried because it is Pledge Week at our church and my Pastor knows that I TITHE!”

I would come and get you, even if you gave the widow’s mite! Seriously though, we would be safe on a desert island because the whole congregation would turn out for the search and rescue.

Another way we are comfortable and safe together is because we hold the same religious values. For those of you who are new to our congregation, you might notice that we print our seven principles in our Order of Service every week; they are the ones with the box around them. We know that we all believe in the worth and dignity of all people, with compassion and justice in our relationships, that we’ll accept one another’s spiritual beliefs, that we’ll conduct our church affairs democratically, and that we’ll care for the earth and the world at large. Our principles are our values.

While we are diverse in our theological orientation (and we see this as a strength), we are strikingly similar in our values—repeated surveys confirm this for us. When we ask Unitarian Universalists what charities they give to, these, too, are somewhat similar. We are naturally drawn together for our love of spiritual and intellectual freedom and growth and for our desire to serve one another and humanity to the best of our ability. These are lofty goals. And today we must ask ourselves to what extent we are able and willing to fund what we have together. We must determine the worth to us of what all of what our community means to us.

I promise you that Leo and I will give generously, as we always do. Perhaps together we will do much better than the characters in the story of the “Stone Soup.” This is the story.

One day three soldiers were on their way home from the war. They were very hungry and planned to stop at the next village for food and a bed for the night. A little boy saw the soldiers coming and ran to the village to tell the people. The people hid all of their food for they didn’t want to share it with the soldiers. The soldiers went from house to house asking for food and a bed for the night but everyone had an excuse.

The soldiers were good natured fellows and guessed that the people were really afraid of them so they made a plan. They found an old cauldron. They put it in the village square and built a fire under the cauldron and poured water into it. The village people were curious and came out to see what they were doing. “We’re making soup,” they said. “Can you bring us three stones for our soup so that we can make stone soup?” The villagers had never heard of such a thing but one of them said that they certainly could find stones for the soup. While the soldiers stirred, the villagers watched and eventually asked, “Aren’t you going to put anything else in the soup?”

“Well, it would be nice if we could put a cabbage and carrots in the soup,” said one soldier. One villager said that she thought she might find some cabbages and carrots. Other villagers said that they thought they might find onion, barley, potatoes, salt and pepper, and then someone found a ham! The soup began to smell so good that the soldiers asked the people whether they would like to have some of the soup. The villagers thought this was very generous. Everyone became so excited. So they set up several tables and set them for the whole village. And they brought bread and butter and juice to drink. It felt like a party. And they never forgot how fine it was to gather and cook and eat and drink and talk and laugh together.

Yesterday morning, Tom Hesketh came here with a few of the men from the Men’s Fellowship. They set two cauldrons on our brand new gas stoves and cooked soup for us all. I’m not sure whether they put stones in them. Leo, my spouse asked me what we were having for lunch at church today. I said, “Stone soup!” You should have seen his face! Our Men’s Fellowship is a truly nurturing group. And they will be pleased to serve us all after the service. While we eat, drink, and make merry, Dwight Thomas, our Music Director will lead us in song. Little yellow pledge cards will be on the table for you to fill in so that we can make this year our very best pledge year ever.

If you are new to our congregation, we especially invite you to join us to see how we do things and so we can get to know you.

I want to paraphrase once again from a sermon that was preached by Reverend Minot Savage at the 1904 dedication of this building. He said that the church is the only institution on the face of the earth that exists entirely for the spiritual and psychological well being of the people who belong to it. That’s an astounding thing to realize, isn’t it, especially an institution that reflects who we are collectively and doesn’t try to fit you into a box of the institution’s own making. So when Jesus said to render unto God the things that are God’s. He was really saying that we should support our Temple, our church, the place where we nurture our spiritual lives and express our deep-down values. We are fortunate in that we don’t have to support our buildings, just our programs.

Our religion is like a dance that we do together. Sometimes one leads and the other follows and then we each take a turn leading and following. We also change the dance steps and invent new ones. Sometimes the steps are controversial and we have to discuss them, sometimes endlessly. But the important thing is that we stay in the flow of the dance. (Dear Reader, The final hymn was Hymn 311 “Let It Be a Dance We Do.”

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Brown, Marcia. Stone Soup, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,

Sardello, Robert J. and Severson, Randolph. Money and the Soul of the World, Dallas,

Texas: The Pegasus Foundation, 1983.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990.

The Holy Bible, NRSV.

Ungar, Lynn, Rev. “Your Money and/or Your Life,” a sermon in the Church of the Larger Fellowship monthly Journal, Quest, Vol. LX No. 9, October 2004.