Money. It's the thing married couples argue about more than anything else. It's the thing Jesus talks about most in the Gospels. It's a taboo topic in polite conversation, as much as sex, and more than politics. We're desperate when we don't have enough money, and may feel guilty when we have more than we need. Most perplexingly, we are often bad at knowing how to relate to money in ways that will make us happy.
Money is an almost spiritual topic, of immense if not ultimate worth in our lives, and it seems valuable to spend time exploring our relationship to money in a spiritual setting. I'll be co-leading a discussion of the wonderful book The Generosity Path: Finding the Richness in Giving by Unitarian Universalist layperson Mark Ewert. The book begins with the notion that every one of us is generous in some way, whether with money, time, energy or all three. Starting from an understanding of our own generosity, how can we become the kind of givers we want to be? How can we align our values and our relationship to money?
My generosity has looked different at different times in my life. Sometimes I've felt poor; sometimes I've felt worried about whether I had enough money or time to meet my family's basic needs. But whenever I have been able to give of my money or my time, I remember how good it felt to be generous at the level that was right for me. It has always felt good to give to my church. Whether that gift had two digits, three digits or four digits, it felt good to give. At different times in my life I've had different means, but giving always felt good. I felt like I belonged; I felt like I was helping support a mission I cared about. As a layperson, I gave a great deal of time to my church, and my pledge made me feel like I was helping support all the staff and programming that allowed me to give my time. I was grateful that the church gave me the opportunity to be generous in the way that was right for me.
Sometimes we worry about our giving. We worry that our financial gift won't be enough. We worry that we're not giving enough time to a beloved project. We worry that our financial gift is too much, that we're suckers for giving more than others give. We worry that our gift of time or money isn't appreciated. When I hear those worries as your pastor, I like to remember that no one gift can create the ministry of the church. It takes all of us-all our contributions, all our passions, all our desires for justice and beauty-to make the church. Even if one person could give a gift to meet the entire pledge goal, that person alone could not be the church. We are the church together, and our gifts joined with the gifts of our spiritual ancestors create the ministries we share.
I'm grateful to each of you who has made a pledge to support First Unitarian Church for the coming year. If you haven't made your pledge yet, take a look at this chart to find the amount that's right for you. Thank you for your generosity of time and money to our church.
To explore generosity and your own relationship to money, I invite you to a discussion of The Generosity Path starting Tuesday, October 27 at 7:30 in the Landers Room. You can order the book here. The discussion group will meet weekly to work through the book. My co-leader is the Rev. Tom Bozeman, Interim Minister at the UU Society of Grafton and Upton, and members of that church will join us for the discussion.
In faith,
Rev. Sarah C. Stewart
