Morning Meditation

 

On October 31, 1517, the Catholic Priest, Martin Luther, posted his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  Many view this action as the beginning of the Protestant Church, which the UCC is classified and categorized.  Luther didn’t want to break from his Catholic faith; he wanted to begin a discussion of the papal practice of raising money by charging for the forgiveness of sins.  There was even a popular saying, “As soon as the coin of the coffer (offering plate) rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”  While I love the fact that the saying rhymes, the reality is that this turns our relationship with God into a transaction and makes my stomach queasy as we begin our Stewardship Season here.

 

The church has had a complicated relationship with money.  On the one hand, we need financial resources to keep the lights on, the air conditioning running, the staff compensated fairly/justly for the faithful work each does, and to maintain our church campus.  On the other hand, the world is full of God’s beloved who lack financial resources that we could direct our dollars toward.  We walk a tight rope trying to be good stewards of your gifts of time, talent, and treasure.  We seek prayerfully to find ways to keep our church thriving and share God’s love beyond our walls.  The reality is that each member of our church has a financial autobiography.  You picked up lessons about money from your family and friends.  You caught cultural messages through advertising.  And we swim in a sea of messages about money ~ trying to untangle the string of thoughts and emotions inside us is difficult and demanding.  We have a past, present, and future with our relationship with money.  In the mail this week, members of our church received your pledge card.  I pray you take a moment before filling out the information to center yourself.  Remind yourself that you are held by the Holy, God has you, knows you, and all of you is welcome ~ from the top of your head to pinkie toe.  We live in a time where peace can be elusive, some of the stress and strain is around money ~ will we have enough, and what is enough?  I pray that our time of stewardship this year will be filled with honesty, peace, and hope for what God is doing here and now.  May the dream of God’s love be realized in us and through us for the sake of the world God so loves.  Amen.