a matter of value

1996-10-01·Sermon

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FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHICAGO 17 ~19

JoHn M. BUCHANAN, PASTOR

Naw, bar

THERE IS A WONDERFUL TELEYISTON

COMMERCIAL THAT MAKES ME LAUGH EVERY

TIME I SEE rt.\ THE LATE Gack Benny 2s
==

BEING musceD. \ BENNY, A GREAT COMEDIAN
== ‘gooey

Qs
OF A GENERATION AGO, WAS KNOWN FOR HIS
LEGENDARY TIGHT-FISTEDNESS. \ some OF US
CAN REMEMBER SITTING BY THE RADIO ON

— a
SUNDAY EVENING AND LAUGHING AS BENNY
a —s

USED, OVER AND OVER, THE RUNNING. GAG OF

HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO PART WITH A PENNY

+++ THE CREAKING DOORS ON HIS MONEY
vauLt,\ Hrs EMBARRASSING, RELUCTANT

CHANGE —PUR
FUMBLING WITH HIS SE TO DIG

OUT A wxcxee. \ THE CURRENT TELEVISION
ay ae

VERSION, IT’S A RAIN

IGHT, A MUGGER

YOUR ie THERE IS AN UNEXPECTED,
[Sema

PREGNANT saya "I SAID, YOUR MONEY OR

YOUR LIFE, ") THE IMPATIENT MUGGER BARKS.
seein 7
BENNY pevures:("t' THINKING IT over". )

THERE IS TRUTH AS WELL A HUMOR XN
TH _HUMO

THAT. \ THERE IS ALSO CONSIDERABLE

DISCOMFORT. Money talk Males us
vnommtborbela be,
JtmMy DEAN USED TO TELL THE
el
WONDERFUL STORY OF THE TENNESSEE

——e FE
MOUNTAIN CHURCH WHOSE MOST VOCAL MEMBER

WAS AN ELDERLY WOMAN WHO WAS IN EVERY

WAY A SAINT --\EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT
ae

SHE ENJOYED USING A LITTLE| SNUFF, A
Bie

TOBACCO PRODUCT, ON occasion. \ ON A
ae -

SUNDAY MORNING A VISITING PREACHER WAS
————

AILING AGAINST THE SINS..OF.-THEELESH,

AND THE WOMAN WAS RESPONDING WITH HER

NORMAL_V R.\ HE TURNED TO rHk Evin, OF
= —_——

Crank, \ ano SHE BECAME EVEN MORE SPIRITED
IN HER Capens”, ano PPreac-r1-

BROTHER'S" / AND THEN HE TOOK UP THE
—————— as 2

TOPIC OF TOBACCO AND THE NASTY.HABIT

SOME HAVE OF USING snurr. \ THE OLD WOMAN
So .t ee Seto
SAID, LOUD ENOUGH FOR ALL TO wean, Ge

JUST STOPPED PREACHIN’ AND WENT TO

MEDDLIN." > = |

MONEY ra as pensouah, \ MEDDLING, yo 2 |

THERE WAS A LEGENDARY INCIDENT ONCE
ee

IN THE COUNTRY." } ROCKEFELLER RESPONDED,
RESP

Sire

"Do YOU THINK TH LE WILL

FTACKZE. YOU ON ACCOUNT OK GHEALTH,

COUNT OF

THAN WILL

I GREW UP IN A HOUSEHOLD WHERE
— ee

THERE WAS NO PUBLIC TALK ABOUT TWO

SUBJECTS :\ SEX AND HOW MUCH MONEY PEOPLE
_____—

MADE, ALTHOUGH THE TOPIC WAS AN EVER-
—— ——— =

PRESENT_REALIF¥, LURKING ALWAYS JUST
’ [antl RR ree ti

Mess |

UNDER THE sunrace. \ HE GENERATION OF
er eS

PEOPLE WHO GREW UP IN THE DEPRESSION

NEVER STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT HAVING
Sa

ENOUGH MONEY \\BUT WHAT WE HAD AND WHAT

THEY HAD WAS NOBODY'S BUSINESS BUT OURS

AND ruezns. \\ SOCIAL COMMENTATORS NOTE
———

THAT MQNEY IS THE LASL.BASTION OF” os fe 2
Ge ICS
PRIVACY _IN Auenzca: \ruat Amex canSoufuL epee a
“s ale Show Wer
REVEAL-EVERVTHING ABOUT THEMSELVES, iceman

INCLUDING THEIR SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, BEFORE
BGS

THEY WILL TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY THEY
SS

GA. OMSL
HAVE.\ PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR JACOB
me a

NEEDLEMAN WREFES? ObServes

"TIME WAS IN OUR

SOCIETY, WHEN IT WAS

THE CLERGYMAN, THE
_=—

PHYSICIAN, THE

PSYCHIATRIST WHO WAS

MOST PRIVY TO PEOPLE

SECRET LIVES, THEIR

—.

FEARS, DESIRES,
ae SE
ANXIETIES, THEIR
SHAMES AND mrsvEEDs. |
BuT NOW THIS ROLE IS
——
OCCUPIED MORE BY THE
ACCOUNTANT AND TAX
Seer coy
PREPARER." | [MONEY

AND THE MEANING OF

LIFE, P.104]

MONEY TALK ss-pensonat || It IS ALSO
al Fe eniieroail

ABOUT MORE THAN MONEY.\ It IS ABOUT
=e Ci‘ —7
H ND \ Ir IS ABOUT HOW WE
ISABT-AND_SOUL. WWE SEE
OURSELVES AND THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES.
=a ——— =z,
IT IS ABOUT, ABOVE ALL ELSE, VALUES AND

perogEtaes.\ MONEY, IN FACT, HOW WE

Cote

THINK ABOUT rr, \acourre, yin USE IT, IS

VERY CLOSE TO THE ESSENCE OF WHO WE ARE.
— A P renl
ONE COULD ARGUE THAT TO AVOID THE TO Ic
ee

FOR WHATEVER oftiASON IS NOT THEOLOGICALLY

AND SPIRITUALLY RESPONSIBLE.
aaa an

—

Jesus Cc : \ SOMEONE
HAS CALCULATED THAT HE HAD MORE TQLSAY
——EE

ABOUT MONEY THAN HE DID ABOUT EITHER SIN
Sa —.

OR HEAVEN. -_
ONE TIME HE TOLD A_YOUNG MAN THAT

“HIS” GIVING

AWAY A S WEALTH, ADDING THE

|
EDITORIAL COMMENT THAT IT WILL st EASTER
Eo Se

FOR A C(MEL_TO-GEx_THROUGH THE EYE OF A

NEEDLE THAN FOR A_RICH MAN TO ENTER THE

—

KINGDOM OF GoD.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT THAT

ae
MAKES ME VERY Poormease. \ MAY NOT

ETE

BE A BIG CAMEL, BUT T'ylace TED A

LITTLE_LOAD
we

GEORGE_CARLIN, THE COMEDIAN CALLS IT..

OVER THE YEARS: \ AS
“

ALL THE STUFF I LOVE AND E WITH ME.
— —eonn fee
<< (LV z

Books, CDs, A FEW PICTURES, SOME -SiemitGR
AND CRYSTALEROM QUR FAMILIES, A LITTLE

BANK ACCOUNT. | 1 GET NERVOUS WHEN JESUS
at ERVOUS WH

TELLS THE_YOUNG MAN TO CUNLOAD—IT IF HE
a

WANTS TO GET IN THE KINGDOM.
Se

THERE HAVE BEEN SOME VERY
el
IMAGINATIVE ATTEMPTS TO GET US OUT FROM
UNDER, THAT one. \ tn FACT, THE TEXTUAL
SCHOLARS WHO SPEND [HEIR TIME EXAMINING
—_- pe er pe!

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS UNDER A MICROSCOPE

SAY THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THIS
eS ees

TEXT HAS BEEN TAMPER EPEATEDLY.
= ——
r
WE AREN'T THE FIRST_ONES, APPARENTLY, TO

WISH HE DIDN'T SAY IT OR MEAN IT.
EE ——

LATER SCHOLARS WOULD TRY TO HELP BY
POINTING OUT THAT THE GREEK WORD FOR
eee
ROPE QUITE SIMILAR TO THE WORD FOR

CAMEL AND THAT WHAT JESUS PROBABLY SAID

oe a

WAS THAT IT IS r A

a 2 GO THROUGH THE EYE OF

A NEEDLE.\ AT LEAST THE IMAGE IS

CONSISTENT. | THE TASK_ISDIEFICULT, BUT,
gee a —)

IN A SENSE, DOABLE.
eae)

THE MOST IMAGINATIVE EFFORT IS THE
pec

SUGGESTION THAT ANCIE ALLS HAD
Se =

SMALL OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH LATE
[cere ee

ARRIVERS MIGHT SAFELY ENTER THE CITY ~-
— ean Ss

WITHOUT THE DANGEROF.OPENING THE GATES.
qa ee oe

THIS -ORENING,. THEY CONTEND, WAS CALLED

THE "EYE OF THE “NEEDLES par COULD

GET THROUGH - ON HIS KNEES, WITH HIS
TR

OWNER PUSHING AND PULLING. | Ir’ SA

WONDERFUL _IMAGE . PREACHERS ON

STEWARDSHIP SUNDAY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO
rr"

SUGGEST THAT LOADED CAMELS,
—— EI

PARTICULARLY, ARE GOING TO HAVE
&

ee
DIFFICULTY, AND THAT THE WAY TO SQUEEZE
Ses ee
IN IS TO UNLOAD SOME OF THE GOODS - AS

IN A PLEDGE TO THE cwurcn.| | tr IS AN
— ES
APPROACH TO FUND NOT TO BE TAKEN
a

LIGHTLY \ S€HOLARS TR
|

INTERPRETATIO NINTH CENTURY AND

SADLY CONCLUDE THAT THE WHOLE MATTER IS

“runs. quite e=:
‘ & rE ve
aan WHAT WE REALLY MUST DO IS GO BACK

_—s

AND LOOK AGAIN AT THIS INTERESTING,
a 1
WEALTHY YOUNG nan. \ WHAT ACTUALLY WAS
—-——— aS a ST,

\ IN FACT,

PRIGHT, GENEROUS
mes ——
AND HE IS THEOLOGICALLY oa \ He's
Ee

GOT COURAGE AND cuaracTeR.\ WHAT'S WRONG
ee, ST ee gl —
?

were? \ WHAT ABOUT HIM CAUSES _HIM TO MISS

THE GRACE AND LOVE OF JESUS Curist? \ HE
ee SR.

IS, BY THE WAY, THECO! IN THE

'
ee

GOSPEL OF MARK, WHO JESUS CALLS AND WHO
—————S eee

DOES NOT RESPOND B e\ HE
( WHe's TO. \ That's WHAT
NOL_EREE a

IS WRO E'S IMPRISONED, I THINK, BY
eof

HIS possesszons. \ HE'S EVEN SORRY ABOUT
nied a

r1.\ THERE'S A SENSE IN WHICH HE KNOWS

WHAT'S wronc.\ IN POINT OF FACT, WHAT

JESUS TEACHESSHIM IS THAT
A THIN TUALLY
POSSESSI s\n SERVICE TO THEM,
DEPENDENTON THEM FOR HAPPINESS,

SECURITY AND JOY.

= i=

It IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO RESOLVE

THE TENSION IN THIS TEXT TOO QUICKLY OR
—— a,

EAsILy|\ I BELIEVE IT WAS feu TO MAKE
————

US UNCOMFORTABLE AND REELeCTIvE | BuT IT
je qa quae,

IS FAIR TO OBSERVE THAT JESUS _DID_ NOT

gS SD CELLET LL TT TT
SAY GO -- SELL -- GIVE, TO EVERY WEALTHY
ae ee ee eens
PERSON HE ENCOUNTERED. |HE HAD WEALTHY
a | —— je
FRIENDS; TCQDEMUS, AGHEUS | JOSEPH OF

ArrnaTuea.|\\ He DIDN'T TELL THEM TO SELL

IT ALL.\ WHAT HE SAID TO THIS YOUNG, MAN

WAS HIS PERSONAL P IPTION FOR

eg RE TIME JESUS IS/SPEAKING
ABOUT LIVING LIE! she Eek IN HARMONY WITH Gop’s
GRACE AND HE SAYS SOME VERY INTERESTING
THINGS --

"Don' T WORRY -- LIFE IS MORE

THAN FOOD, CLOTHING" / i} we

TELLS HIS | FRIENDS. "Gop WILL

} ————

PROVIDE WHAT YOU/ NEED TO LIVE

FULLY. | MAYBE VBE NOT wun WHAT YOU /

WHAT YOU NEED. a STRIVING
— ea}

ce Simms

SO INTENSELY FOR SECURITY --

SALVATION, 2 meg .
— Ha

JESUS SAID re /@eaLtLy IS EXACTLY

THE POSIT "WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS,
[Ee

THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE n1s0,) WHICH IS
EE

TO SUGGEST, ATLEAST, THAT OUR
See SS

COMMITMENTS OF THE HEART FQLLOW OUR
See cee

BEHAVIGR, \OR, THE TRUEST AND DEEPEST
—_— —

Sei Maas OF OUR HEARTS ARE REVEALED,
Z "ssh

NOT BY OUR MORDS AND _AFFIRMATIONS AND

omer BUT BY WHAT WE DO. WITH OUR

Lod Qov like
poser? —
Olwr-

. WA Or

MONEY.

ara QuR PERSONAL CREED, LomEONE
eee

OBSERVED, IS NOT SO MUCH THE WORDS WE
\

RECITE IN CHURCH, AS IT IS THE=jw STUBS, IN
-——" Ga. Racine

OUR CHECKBOOK. \ taar IS EXACTLY WHAT
ee

JESUS SAID.\; YOUR MONEY, HOW YOU GET IT,

ili —— a) aiid
HOW YOU USE rr, (wna 22_poes FOR YOU,

AL Met pee

JacoB NEEDLEMAN TEACHES PHILOSOPHY
=

AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY AND

HAS WRITTEN A BOOK, Woney AND_ THE

MEANING OF LIFE. \) NEEDLEMAN MAKES THE

POINT THAT MONEY IS SO IMPORTANT IN OUR
eg eee

CULTURE THAT WE REALLY SHOULD BE

THINK BOUT IT, €or .
nn

LESS.

oe
"IN NO OTHER CULTURE OR

CIVILIZATION THAT WE KNOW OF 2

HAS MONEY BEEN SUCH A ee

PERVASIVE AND DECISIVE
INFLUENCE. IN THE WORLD WE
NOW LIVE IN, MONEY ENTERS INTO
EVERYTHING HUMAN BEINGS DO,

INTO EVERY ASPECT AND POCKET

IN HIS MEMOIR, DAYS OF GRACE, THE
i

LATE (ARTHUR ASHE WROTE (DIDLY ABOUT

MONEY AND VALUE.
———

Mone MAKES ME HAPPY ...

I LONG AGO DECIDED ON THE

wore. | I MUCH PREFER HAVING
MONEY TO NOT HAVING IT.|IN
THAT SENSE IT MAKES ME HAPPY.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I ALSO
LEARNED A LONG TIME AGO WHAT
MONEY CAN AND CANNOT DO FOR

ue. | FROM WHAT WE GET, WE CAN

MAKE A LIVING; WHAT WE GIVE,
HOWEVER, MAKES A LIFE.”

[p.176]

IT IS PERSONAL, FOR YOU AND FOR ME.

In STEPHEN CovEY’S BEST-SELLER, THE

SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY-EFFECTIVE PEOPLE,

HE URGES HIS READERS TO DO A_PERSONAL

Se SS

ACCOUNTING,.. OF HOW WE SPENDING OUR

resources. | HE SUGGESTS THAT WE WRITE A
zi se ED

PERSONAL _ MISSION STATEMENT AND IDENTIFY
Se EEE,

WHAT IS AT_THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES -~-
a

OUR CAREER, PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS,
———_ lle,

z=
—

FAMILY, INFLUENCE, MONEY.

q ae mma

“IF MY SENSE OF PERSONAL
—_— Ss

—

WQBIH COMES FROM MY NET

WORTH," HE CONFESSES, "I AM

Seem —

VULNERABLE ING THAT

WILL AFFECT THAT NET WORTH."
= eee

BE Tayler /

\ov Coumut aecept Gud ' 78
£ you Wen us

\wowe +o date he with
Mov Cawude Wale [OU for J

C your roow> ore cle cd) Wu,
'

Mov Canus| fol low te Uw

ok Gur. + \e-

AND, WE WILL BEGIN TO MAKE_BAD.,

PERHAPS TRAGIC DECISIONS, ABOUT HOW TO
=e

END OUR RESOURCE :|
SPEND CES: \OUR-TIME, OUR
ENERGY, \ OUR_MONEX, OUR_LOVE.

WE'LL MISS THE CHILD'S BIRTHDAY

ST, EST
PARTY BECAUSE OF A G AME WITH
ad GOLF GAY Ry

curewrs} Jor THE BECAUSE OF A

MEETING AT THE orrice.\ We"LL SUBSTITUTE
NGLAT TH Ee)

WORK FOR A VACALION.WITH FAMILY AND
FRIENDS WE'LL NOT GO_SEE SICK AND
an

AGING PARENTS BECAUSE OF

RESPONSIBILIT CH WE THINK ARE MORE
IMPORTANT THAN ANY E. | We’Le
SLEER,AND EQL-LESS, AND NOTSWISELY, STAY

A a
AT WORK TOO MUGH AND_.TOO.WLATE

THAT'S THE TEMPTATION St. PAUL WAS
Pa ce

rains apaur, | BUSY, STR
EXHAUSTED, DRIVEN_PROFESSIONS

AMONG US DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES

rensoyAityy JakPERZENCZNG THE TH OF
i ee

SCR}PTURE_ON THE_SUBJECT OF MONEY.
ae. pT

UT,

(AND WHO

You ang HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE. OLR
IT 1s A FINZTE-Resource. \ Ir 1s_MADE uP | ier
OF OUR TIME ~- MINUTES. AND HOURS AND

WEEKS AND MONTHS ayp years \ It IS MADE

UP OF OUR ENERGY, OUR INT ENCE AND
——

OUR LovE\ AND OUR..MONEY.

,
Gop’s INTENTIS FOR THAT LIFE TO BE

LIVED urty.\ oo WANTS US, IN ST.
EEE rns | Gr ee
PAUL'S MEMORABLE LANGUAGE, TO fence HOLD

OF THE LIFE THAT IS REALLY LIFE, ')BY
aa

RESPONSIBLY USING, SPENDING, PUTTING TO

WORK EVERYTHING WE HAVE » EVERYTHING WE

ARE.
Pa]

Money. \ It IS VERY PERSONAL -- FOR
mae aes

WHERE YOUR TREASURE, IS, THERE YOUR

ell
HEART... YOUR sout,| Your LIFE ITSELF, WILL
aman, | ¢ a
BE ALSO.
=

‘YOUR MONEY OR_YOUR LIFE." ) THINK

IT OVER. <ai>

alae

The Fourth Church Pulpit

SERVANTS AND STEWARDS

May 19, 1996

John M. Buchanan

The original message, the essential truth, of every religion is the sacred Mystery, the presence
in this world of a hidden Wisdom, which cannot be expressed in words, which cannot be
known in sense or reason, but is hidden in the heart —- the Ground of Center or Substance of
the Soul, of which the mystics speak — and reveals itself to those who seek it in the silence
beyond word and thought.

Bede Griffiths
Return to the Centre

FOURTH
PRES BY
TERIAN
CHURCH
A LIGHT IN THE CITY

126 East Chesmut Chicago, Ill. 60611
Phone: (312) 787-4570
John M. Buchanan, Pastor

Scripture
John 17:1-11
1 Corinthians 3:18-4:5

“Think of us ... as servants
of Christ and stewards of
God’s mysteries."

1 Corinthians 4:1 (NRSV)

A friend of mine, Eugenia Gamble, tells a story about learning an important lesson recently. Hugenia is a very
popular speaker, much in demand these days, and spends a lot of time in airplanes and airports. She lives in
Birmingham, Alabama, and after a recent speaking engagement in southern California, she and her husband stayed on
for a glorious few days of blissful freedom. It was wonderful, restful, restorative. When they went to the airport for
their return flight the ticket agent asked if they’d mind moving up to first class. They didn’t mind at all. Shortly
before takeoff, enjoying their spacious comfortable first class seats, they were served the best, biggest chocolate chip
cookies in the world and it seemed, she said, sitting there in first class, eating a delicious cookie, holding hands with
her husband, to whom she said she was still glad to be married, even after five full days together, it seemed that God
was in heaven, smiling on her and all was right in her world.

After takeoff the plane, which was climbing steadily through 20,000 feet, suddenly leveled off and seemed to start
a sharp descent. The captain came on the intercom and announced that there was no reason to be concerned, but
there seemed to be a minor engine problem and they were going to descend a few thousand feet and check it out.
Unsettling. The descent continued. Eugenia ate her second chocolate chip cookie. The pilot came on the intercom
again. In fact, there was an engine problem and they were tuming back to Los Angles. No reason to be concerned.

The descent continued. The captain’s voice came over the intercom. In fact, the nature of the engine problem was
such that it was appropriate now to find a place to land as soon as possible. No reason to be alarmed. Eugenia ate
her hushand’s chocolate chip cookie, now entertaining visions of an emergency landing on an interstate, or
somewhere in the desert or, of course, a much worse scenario.

Fortuitously the pilot found Las Vegas, landed safely, where they spent the night in a cheap motel outside of town.
The next day, a nightmarish sequence of weather and mechanical complications landed them in Florida, not
Birmingham, in the middle of a tornado, with very bumpy flying.

When, two days later, Eugenia was finally safely at home, she became really frightened, realizing that she had
been very fortunate. Looking at herself in the mirror the first thing that morning she says she heard an inner voice
and it said, “All right, Eugenia, you got a reprieve. Now what are you going to do with the rest of your life?”

There’s no more important question than that. And sometimes it takes a near miss, or some experience of life’s
vulnerability, fragility, or just plain temporality, its agonizing brevity, to raise the issue. Successful surgery, a positive
result in the lab, a harrowing flight ... a reprieve ... now what?

It is a question of management, of establishing priorities. We have this resource, our own lives: our bodies, our
minds, our imaginations, our dreams and hopes, and time. Maybe a lot of time, maybe not so much, but we do have
it and it is in our hands — to use, to spend, invest, or simply to observe it diminishing, dribbling away, slowly.
Sometimes it takes a close cali to raise the issue, but the most important question for each of us, each morning as we
look in the mirror and starl the day is, “what are you going to do with it, the rest of it, however much is left, You’re
the CEO of this project. The management is up to you.”

E. B. White said somewhere — and for the life of me I can’t find where (so if you know, please do let me know as

well so I can say this a little more confidently) — that the good thing about having a religion is that you have
something to do when you get up in the morning.

5/19/96 -1-

Christians have not always thought this way. Typically Christianity, from the middle ages right up to the 1990s,
has defined the vocation of a Christian to be the sanctification of the individual in preparation for spending eternity
in heaven. Professor Hall, in his most recent work, Professing the Faith, identifies and laments the fact that
Protestant theclogy insists on “reducing” the message of Christianity to salvation of the soul after death, or more
recently, and more fashionably, the happiness, contentment, selffulfillment, self-actualization, self-expression of tha
soul in the present. Protestant theology has either sanctified or psychologized the gospel, when the truth of the
matter is that the message has to do with being responsible for the world, beginning with your own life.

It’s a matter of life and death, Hall thinks. The life of the world just may depend on faithful people bearing
witness, doing the works of compassion, protecting life. Individually, it’s a matter of deciding to live faithfully, to
contend for the forces of life, beauty, goodness and truth, says Hall, or capitulating to the forces of death, retreating to
physical or spiritual enclaves, safely insulated from everything in the world that denies life, goodness and beauty.

There’s a lot of that going on in the world these days. We live in a very violent culture. The power of death is not
a metaphor, a harmless thealogical concept. The power of death is whatever denies life and beauty and goodness. It
is a teenager with a handgun. It is extensive, carefully organized gangs, based on and financed by the free market
principles of supply and demand, supported by our continuing collaboration with that market by assuring scarcity
and therefore the highest street value of the product of choice — crack cocaine. The power of death is a system that
arranges all that, and then crowds as many poor and unemployed people as it can into high rise buildings, takes away
all the incentives it can think of for encouraging families to stay together, slowly withdraws public support for life’s
necessities and then happily provides access to military style weapons, armor piercing bullets, called “cop killers,”
and when the subject is finally addressed by public officials, like last week by the President, it is in the form of
proposals not to deal with the problem at ail, but to get tougher and build more jails. That system is what the power
of death looks iike in America, in Chicago, in 1996.

And Christians, Douglas John Hall suggesls, cannot and must not follow the culture in retreating from the harsh,
almost unspeakable reality of that. But in the name of Jesus Christ, not anybody’s political or social agenda, in the
name of responsible stewardship, Christians must continue, with dogged persistence, to ask hard questions, tell hard
truths, and be willing as necessary to act responsibly.

it doesn’t’ seem like very much in the context of an enormous reality like urban poverty and violence, but the
Church of Jesus Christ sometimes keeps trying, sometimes long after everyone else has capitulated. It is what this
church tries to do with its educational outreach programs, tutoring, the Center for Whole Life at Cabrini-Green.

Corporately as servants of Christ.and stewards of God’s mysterious presence and, individually, my sense is that
you and I need the word of responsibility, the stewardship word, as much and as deeply as we need anything.

My conclusion after doing this job for three decades is that people turn to religion for two reasons: to figure out
who they are and to decide what to do.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we are, first, children of God, loved by God as strongly as a mother loves
her nursing infant, loved by Ged beyond our ability.to imagine or comprehend, loved with an everlasting,
unconditional love.

That is who we are. God’s beloveds. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that precisely because we are loved,
God has work for us to do, expects us ta be responsible managers, depends on us to live out our lives, spend the
precious resource of our lives — to God's glory and for the world’s care.

Servants and stewards. Do you know Oseola McCarty? She was in the news last summer actually. Eighty-seven
years old, she has lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi all her life, quit school in sixth grade, took in dirty clothes,
washed, ironed and repaired every day, all her life. She never travelled much, took one trip to Niagara Falls, never
spent money on herself, faithfully attended the Friendship Baptist Church, put every dollar and all the change she
made in the bank. And last summer, after discovering that she had $150,000, gave it all — every penny to the
University of Southern Mississippi for scholarships for black students. “I never minded work, but I was always so
busy, busy. Maybe ! can make it so the children don’t have to work like I did.” [New York Times, 8/10/95]

5/19/96 =

The Fourth Church Pulpit

MONEY AND MEANING

October 22, 1995

John M. Buchanan

Stewardship must be understood first as descriptive of the being — the very life -—- of God's
people. Instead of periodic efforts at conjuring up deeds of stewardship; instead of financial
campaigns and bazaars and garage sales aimed at making temporary stewards out of us; instead
of cajoling and harping and “bugging” people — we need to learn how to teach and preach the
gospel and interpret the Christian life as stewardship. The world is crying out for keepers and
tenders of its wonderful, frail beauty, and God desires to send us out as stewards into this
astonishing and unique creation. Until we have been grasped by that word and deed of God; no
amount of exhortation will alter greatly the image of the church or the course of the world.

Douglas John Hail
The Steward: A Biblical Symbol Come of Age

FOURTH
PRES BY
TERIAN
CHURCH
A LEGHT IN THE CITY

126 East Chestnut Street Chicago IL 60611-2094
Phone: (312) 787-4570
John M. Buchanan, Pastor

Scripture
Luke 12: 22-34
I Nimothy 6:6-19

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:34

There is a wonderful television commercial that makes me laugh every time I see it. The late Jack Benny is being
mugged. Benny, a great comedian of a generation ago, was known for his legendary tight-fistedness. Some of us can,
remember sitting by the radio on Sunday evening and laughing as Benny used, over and over, the running gag of his
unwillingness to part with a penny ... the creaking doors on his money vault, his embarrassing, reluctant fumbling
with his change purse to dig out a nickel. In the current television version, it's a rainy night, a mugger accosts Benny
and says, “Your money or your life.” There is an unexpected, pregnant pause. “I said, your money or your lifa,” the
impatient mugger barks. Benny replies: “I’m thinking it over”,

There is truth as well as humor in that. I’m going to take a big risk this morning. I’m going to preach a sermon on
the topic of money. I’m not going to disguise it. In a fine essay on the attitudes about money fostered by the church,
Loren Mead, a thoughtful commentator on the contemporary religious scene, says that lay people are universally
frustrated trying to “cut through the semantic fog about stewardship” they hear from the pulpit and read in their mail
every autumn. So I promise not to use euphemisms and cliches. This is a sermon about money.

The risk, in telling you at the outset that the topic is money, is that you'll leave, or simply not listen. Jimmy Dean
used to tell the wonderful story of the Tennessee mountain church whose most vocal member was an elderly woman
who was in every way a saint — except for the fact that she enjoyed using a little snuff,.a tobacco product, on
occasion, On a Sunday morning a visiting preacher was railing against the sins of the flesh, and the woman was
responding with her normal vigor. He turned to the evil of drink, and she became even more spirited in her “Amens”
and “preach-it-brother’s”. And then he took up the topic of tobacco and the nasty habit some have of using snuff.

The old woman said, loud enough for all to hear, “He just stopped preachin’ and went to meddlin.”

Money talk is personal. Meddling. I grew up in a household where there was no public talk about two subjects:
sex and how much money people made, although the topic was an ever-present reality, lurking always just under the
surface. The generation of people who grew up in the Depression never stopped worrying about having enough
money, but what we had and what they had was nobody’s business but ours and theirs. Social commentators note
that money is the last bastion of privacy in America: that Americans will reveal everything about themselves,
including their sexual behavior, before they wil] talk about how much money they have. Philosophy professor Jacob
Needleman writes,

“Time was in our society, when it was the clergyman, the physician, the psychiatrist who was
most privy to people secret lives, their fears, desires, anxieties, their shames and misdeeds.
But now this role is occupied more by the accountant and tax preparer.” [Money and the
Meaning of Life, p.104]

Money talk is personal. It is also about more than money. It is about heart and soul. It is about how we see
ourselves and the purpose of our lives. It is about, above all else, values and priorities. Money, in fact, how we think
about it, acquire, and use it, is very close to the essence of who we are, One could argue that to avoid the topic for
whatever reason is not theologically and spiritually responsible.

The two texts we heard this morning are relevant and direct. In the first, Jesus is speaking about living life in
harmony with God's grace and he says some very interesting things —

“Don't worry — life is more than food, clothing”... he tells his friends. “God will provide
what you need to live fully. Maybe not what you want, or think you want, but what you
need. Stop striving so intensely for security — strive, instead,.for God’s kingdom. Open your
hands; give.” And then, the surmmation: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.”

10/22/95 —1—

But money became more than that, almost immediately. Robert Wood Lynn, a fine theologian who used to work
for the Lilly Endowment, has collaborated in a paper on the giving habits of American church people and observes:

“Money has a particular power in American life. Lacking a landed gentry or titled
aristocracy, the primary indicator of status in American life is the amount of money a person
controls, Consequently, money has a symbolic place in our common life, that enables it to
fulfill a significant number of non-economic functions.”

Lynn points out,

“Money is the way many middle-class Americans keep score in the various competitions
such as career, that inform their daily life. For many contemporary Americans, money
represents the self and its value.” [U/nexplored Territory in Congregational Studies, Cultures
of Giving, Glenn T. Miller and Robert Wood Lynn]

Money is about value, the value we attribute to our own lives. The way to acquire money is to work hard and
succeed. It has been a formula that has created the most phenomenal economy and nation in the history of the
world, with enormous potential for doing good.

The shadow side is that because money is at the heart of our humanness, and because success produces money,
success sometimes, oftentimes, in fact, takes on the characteristic of a spiritual quest. In fact, Esquire said just that in
a cover article ten years ago:

“Success — the religion of the 80’s. Everyone pursues it. Only the most driven and talented
achieves it. Few know how to live with it or without it.” [February 1985}

But then in the 90’s, the elevation of the traditional American work ethic into a holy crusade to succeed and
acquire wealth began to show cracks in its shining veneer.

People not only got rich. They also got burned out. All at once everybody started discovering something Jesus
and St. Paul understood 2,000 years ago; and that is that your heart goes where your treasure is. And it kept feeling,
not like security, happiness, contentment, but ironically, a new kind of bondage, a new poverty, even. Jacob
Needleman observed that people who had lot, more than they ever imagined owning weren't particularly happy. “We
seem quite poor,” he observed.

Russell Baker, New York Times columnist, in his memoir Good Times, describes reaching the top of his career as a
journalist and still feeling, vaguely dissatisfied:

“I felt that success ought to bring peace of mind, maturity, serenity ... The hunger for success
was bred so deeply in {us} that we were powerless to stop chasing it long after we had
achieved it.” [Good Times, p.231]

And so a reaction has set in. Exactly ten years after the “Success is Religion” article, the May edition of Esquire
featured an article “What Makes Sammy Run” that describes a significant turnaround in the culture’s thinking about
success and wealth. It begins with an account of a support group in Seattle to help people deal with addiction, not to
alcohol, drugs, or sex, but to their jobs and their pursuit of success.

The article said that we are increasingly an exhausted and tired population. We have essentially destroyed any
notion of leisure time. We work all the time and when we're not working, we're thinking about work. “The material
progress that was supposed to free us has left us more enslaved ... For all the hype about going for the gold ... we’re so
weary at the end of the day that going for the sofa is as-good as it gets.”

That sounds like a lot of people I know. It sounds embarrassingly like the life we all live. Money talk is about
heart and soul and values and priorities. “Your money or your life” ... “I’m thinking it over.”

10/22/95 —3j—

Ob Whad iK Poet Moats Milas Leecllnt LOA wae by

INVOLVING JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. AND

HARRY EMERSON Fos i. \ ROCKEFELLER WAS

a a

THE WEALTNIEST PROTESTANT LAYPERSON IN

THE COUNTRY. \ He WAS A DEVOUT BAPTIST:

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS ALONE constzTuhte 12% >

OF THE BUDGET OF THE NORTHERN BAPTIST

DENOMINATION IN rk Qo205 >By 1960 HE
HAD GIVEN AWAY $552 MILLION. \n WAS A

LEADING LAYMAN ANDCHALRMAN OF THE

PULPIT COMMITTEE OF PARK AVENUE BAPTIST
—— Ea

CHURCH IN New YorK.

ROCKEFELLER HAD A VISION OF THE

CHURCH OF THE FUTURE - NON-SECTARIAN,
ie

RATIONAL, woRLD-eMBRAcrNG. \ HE WANTED
— - RR, 4 —

THE LEADING PREACHER OF THE DAY, HARRY
TNG_PREAG :
EMERSON FOSDICK, TO BE THE PASTOR AND HE

WANTED TO CONVINCE THE PaRK AVENUE
‘ |

BAPTISTS TO SELL THEIR NEW B DING AND
S$ T L R ULLDING
JOIN HIM IN A NEW VENTURE ON RIVERSIDE
DRIVE. (\Fosprck, IN THE MEANTIME, WAS
BEING THROWN OUT OF THE PRESBYTERIAN
Oe ee
CHURCH FOR BEING T

PROGRE VE.

ROCKEFELLER WAS SUCCESSFUL

ON ALL FRONTS.\ FOSDICK WAS CALLED.
RIVERSIDE.CHURCH WAS BUILT AND WAS, AND

IS, AN EMBODIMENT ROCKEFELLER'S

vrszou- \ Tre LEGENDARY INCIDENT OCCURRED
IN THE EARLY STAGES OF NEGOTIATIONS

BETWEEN THE WEALTHY ROCKEFELLER AND THE

PROGRESSIVE HER. \ tev LATER
. : a
\m

BECAME DEAR AND LIFE-LONG FRIENDS. )

ROCKEFELLER'S OFFICE, FOSDICK WAS

qubt
PROTESTING THAT \"HE DID NOT WISH TO BE
eS —_
e 1."
we

NOWN AS THE PASTOR OF THE RICHEST MAN
: Seem Nee ET

STRIVE, INSTEAD, FOR Gop'sS
ccwenon. OPEN YOUR HANDS;
—

———— ne,

GIVE." |\AND THEN, THE

SUMMATION: Qiiere YOUR
ec ee

aah ened TREASURE IS, | THERE YOUR HEART
= WILL BE ALSO."
ey

DID YOU NOTICE THAT FAMOUS VERSE IS

ACTUALLY , |THE OPPOSITE FROM THE

WAY WE ORDINARILY HEAR IT AND REPEAT IT?

Pn ia

It IS NOT - “WHERE.YOUR HEART IS, THERE
ee
eu
YOUR TREASURE WILL ee." rey IS TO SAY

-- YOUR HEART IS IN CHARGE OF STRATEGIC
eo

DECISIONS,| YOUR BEHAVIOR WILL FALL IN
a

LINE.

IS, IN A VERY REAL SENSE, THEREAL You.

JUST A FEW YEARS LATER, THE OSTLE
——_ i. ~~

PAUL IS WRITING TO A YOUNG COLLEAGUE BY
—

THE NAME OF Frvotix-Anp HE'S GIVING
TIMOTHY SOME DOWN TOSEARINADVICE, ABOUT

REAL LIFE AND REAL PEOPLE MIXED IN WITH

SOME GLORIOUS THEOLOGY.

"WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD
v-- WE WILL TAKE NOTHING OUT WITH us")

Sa,

PAUL TELLS HIS YOUNG APPRENTICE. | NOBODY
———
ARGUES WITH THAT, ALTHOUGH THE_NQTION
HAS NOT ALTOGETHER peaneo. | IN
PAUL'S DAY MANY PEOPLE AND MANY
-

RELIGIONS ASSUMED THAT YOUR EARTHLY
: pea

ACQUISITIONS WOULD pe (USEFUL-APTER DEATH.
bt

ANCIENT_TOMBS. HOLD FREASURES; JEWELS,

MONEY, CLOTHING, WEAPONS, FO OR THE
et — eet

sourney.\ I KNOW PEOPLE WHO ACT LIKE
THEY STILL BELIEVE cv. \r KNOW._PEOPLE
—Ee

eee ae

WHO REFUSE TO filha ee SENT; OUT
Td

OF AN OBSESSION. TO MAKE THE FUTURE
Sy —
secure. | I KNOW PEOPLE WHO DENY
a
THEMSELVES HEALTH CARE, AND BASIC LIFE
———e ee

NEEDS RATHER THAN TAP THEIR SAVINGS.
ee eadl

TWO ELDERLY MEN IN BUSINESS ITS
nS
ARE STANDING, LOOKING AT A TOMBSTONE

BEARING THE. NAME OF THEIR BUSINESS

MUCH DID HE weniets we

E OTHER RESPONDS.

THOSE WHO WANT TO BE RICH FALL INTO

——
TEMPTATION.| PAUL GOES ON A "THE LOVE
—— er
— =.

OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF
ee

OTE,A- THERE IS A DISCZPLINED SENSE OF

Bacance | IN PAUL'S TIME, AND IN OURS,

THERE ARE MANY WHO CONCLUDE THAT WEALTH,

MONEYITSELF, IS—6MIL:\THAT PQMERTY IS
Soar! a ——

ETHICALLY AND MORALLY BETTER. Pau
a a ———_ ca

DIDN'T SAY THAT. \ Pave DOES NOT CONDEMN
———s i

MONEY, WEALTH, PER SE. EI DID
a bl

JESUS, FOR THAT MATTER. ( T Is rk .ove
ee

=
OF money’ | THe VALUE, THE INTENT, THE
AFFECTION OF THE HEART_WHICH IS THE
ye — ;

SOURCE OF TROUBLE.
~

AND THEN, AFTER AN INSPIRING
a

CHALLENGE.TO TIMOTHY TO FIGHT THE GOOD

FIGHT, \AND A GLORIOUS DOXOLOGY TO JESUS
a ———

———————— a

PRACTICAL ADVICE TO WHOSE WHO HAVE
be

MONEY.

Curzst, \Pau. COMES BACK AGAIN TO SOME

"AS FOR THOSE WHO

ARE RICH -- DO GOOD,
ees,

BE RICH IN GOOD

WORKS, BE GENEROUS,

READY TO SHARE ...

ra ol
i,

SO THAT THEY MAY ~~

TAKE HOLD OF THE
er — eae SS

LIFE THAT IS REALLY
Rey

LIFE."

—_

OF LIFE. THIS IS SOMETHING

new." [p.2]

THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER MAX WEBER
a

SAID IT WAS JOHM CALVIN, THE FATHER OF
— ean
PRESBYTERTANISM, \ WHO FOREVER CHANGED THE
hee)
WAY WESTERN CIVILIZATION THINKS ABOUT

eee

weaLtH\\ At THE END OF THE.MIDDLE AGES,
eaters
A TIME WHEN THE CHRIGEEAN=E2FE WAS SEEN

IN TERMS OF WITHDR ROM THE WORLD

TO A MONASTERY..AND GOD'S KINGDOM WAS A

SPIRITUAL STATE UTTERLY DIFFERENT FROM
————

LIFE IN THIS WORLD, IT WAS JOHN. CALVIN

WHO RE-FOCUSED HRISTIAN

FAITH ON THI
a

POLITICS, INDUSTRY AND_COMMEBCE.

"PROTESTANTISM SANCTIFIED LIFE IN THE

cad

MILLER AND ROBERT

Woop Lynn]

MONEY IS ABOUT VALUE, TH WE
———> E_VALUE
ATTRIBUTE TO QUR OWN LIVES. WAY TO

ACGUIBE oe IS TO W AND

SUCCEED. \IT HAS BEEN A FORMULA THAT HAS
es

CREATED THE MOST PHENOMENAL ECONOMY AND
——

NATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, WITH

ENORMOUS POTENTIAL FOR DOING GOOD.

——__

THE SHADOW SIDE IS THAT BECAUSE

MONEY IS AT THE HEART QF OUR HUMANNESS,
Baal

Se
AND BECAUSE Eicggss,proouces MOMEY:

SUCCESS ENTIMES, IN FACT,
ete

TAKES ON THE CHARACEERISTIC OF A

Sromcunt_ou85 \ IN FACT, ESQUIRE SAID
F ee

eerecrcenn ete

coer
Coyne OL te W

JUST THAT IN A COVER ARTICLE TEN YEARS

AGO:

"SUCCESS -- THE
Oe

EVERYONE
PURSUES IT\ ONLY
THE MOST DRIVEN AND
TALENTED ACHIEVES
IT. FEW KNOW HOW TO
LIVE WITH IT OR
WITHOUT IT."

[Fesruary 1985]

But THEN IN E 90'sS,, THE ELEVATION
Sa
a)

OF THE TRADITIQNALAMERICAN WORK ETHIC
ed
INTO A HOLYCRUSADE, TO SUCCEED AND

ITS SHINING VENEER.

PEOPLE NOT ONLY esx fac. | THEY
ALSO GOT BURNED our | ALL AT ONCE

EVERYBODY STARTED DISCOVERING SOMETHING
ees ea

JESUS AND ST. PAUL UNDERSTOOD 2,000
YEARS Aso.,\ano THAT IS THAT YOUR HEART
Lie a

GOES WHE . | ANQIT
EEE \

KEPT FEELING, NOT LIKE-SECURITY,

HAPPINESS, CONTENTMENT, BUT IRONICALLY,

—

A NEW KIND OF BONDAGE, A NEW POVERTY,
ey

EVEN. [ tacos tesmuguyan. oasenven THAT

PEOPLE WHO HAD LOT, MORE THAN THEY EVER
haensienmeniiaiimaienll “iio

IMAGINED OWNING WEREN'T PARTICULARLY

HAPPY. \'WE SEEM OULLieRQOR, " HE

OBSERVED.

RUSSELL BAKER, NEw YORK TIMES

i Ce

COLUMNIST, —ZN HIS MEMOIR GOOD TIMES,

DESCRIBES REACHING THE TOP OF HIS CAREER
ee ee

AS A JOURNALIST AND STILL FEELING,

VAGUELY DISSATISFIED:
a

"I FELT THAT SUCCESS
OUGHT TO BRING PEACE
OF MIND, MATURITY,
SERENITY ... THE
HUNGER FOR SUCCESS
WAS BRED SO DEEPLY
IN (US) THAT WE WERE
POWERLESS TO STOP
CHASING IT LONG

AFTER WE HAD

ACHIEVED IT." [Goon

TIMES, P.231]

AND SO A REACTION HAS SET IN.
be ee

EXACTLY TEN YEARS AFTER THE\"SUCCESS IS

RELIGION" ARTICLE, THE MAyYEDITION OF
ESQUIRE FEATURED AN ARTICLE _ HAT MAKES
————

Sammy Run”
UN" THAT DESCRIBES A SIGNIFICANT
Cee)
r
TURNAROUND_IN THE CULTURE'S THINKING

ABOUT SUCCESS AND WEALTH. \ BEGINS

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF A SUPPORT GROUP IN
— a

SEATTLE TO HELP PEOPLE DEAL WITH

ADDICTION, NOT TO ALCOHOL, PRUGS, OR
————
poe BUT TO THEIR foss’ AND THEIR PURSUIT

OF cess.

cleat

THE ARTICLE SAID THAT WE ARE

INCREASINGLY AN EXYAUSTED AND TJRED

POPULATION. | we HAVE ESSENTIALLY

DESTROYED ANY. NOTION--OF.LELSURE LIME.
ee —_—

WE WORK ALL JIHE TIME AND WHEN WE'RE NOT

WORKING, WE" RE. THINKING ABOUT WORK.

“THE MATERIAL PROGRESS THAT WAS SUPPOSED

Fie aa

TO FREE US HAS LEFT US MORE ENSLAVED oes

FOR ALL THE HYPE ABQUT GOING FOR THE

GOLD ... WE'RE SO WEARY AT THE END OF
=. \ fr)

THE DAY THAT GOING FOR THE SQFAQIS AS

“hy *
avs a
AW OA,
GOOD AS_IT.GETS." ; i\' ~~

THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE I

1 | aaa
KNOW.\} IT SOUNDS EMBARRA THE
LIFE LIVE.) MONEY TALK IS ABOUT

HEART AND SOUL. AND VALUES AND

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