What Does Your Money
Say About Your Life?

A sermon delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Blacksburg, VA), April 9, 2006, by the Reverend Christine Brownlie.

Reading: The Task of the Religious Community

The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own olives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice.

It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own, but as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.

Mark Morrison-Reed

Sermon

Money talks — that’s what my mother told me when I was a child. I didn’t really understand what she meant, but the idea was intriguing. “What does it say?” I wondered. “Spend me? Save me? Give me away?” My parent’s didn’t believe in giving children an allowance — we had to earn our money by weeding the garden, taking care of our youngest sister, or other extra household chores. We were encouraged to save our money, not spend it on something “foolish,” which was the label my mother gave to anything she thought unnecessary or inappropriate. We were often reminded that “money doesn’t grow on trees,” and that it didn’t buy happiness — something I knew wasn’t exactly true. I’ve bought things that have brought me a lot of happiness. I’ve also spent money on stuff that turned out to be a total waste. I’m glad my parents also liked the phrase “live and learn.”

And they were right: Money does talk. It speaks to us of who we are, or who we’d like to be. Twenty years ago, Olivia Mellon wrote a book entitled Money Harmony. She developed a profile of nine “money personality types,” and tells the reader that none of the nine is “ideal.” She says, “Every one of us has a personality blind spot when it comes to money.” So take heart! Money is a tricky issue for everyone. I hope that’s a comfort to some of you who are listening to me and feeling a little more anxious than you normally do during a sermon. It’s OK. At some level, this topic is difficult for everyone.

So what type are you? I’ll run down the list quickly and we can imagine what money says to these people:

• There are Hoarders and their money says, “Remember that rainy day that’s bound to come!”

• There are Spenders who hear “Come on! You only live once!”

• The Bingers’ money winks and purrs, "You’ve been sooo good! Go ahead and splurge. You deserve it!"

• The ascetic Monks hear their money declare that it’s the root of all evil, and they want as little as possible of the nasty stuff.

• Avoiders hope to hear “Think about me tomorrow Scarlet.”

• Amassers’ money boasts "You’ve got my power-go out there and use it!"

• Then there are the Worriers, whose money whispers to them about all the scary mistakes they might make — no matter what they do.

• The Risk Taker hears “Let me tell you about this great new stock I heard about.”

• The Risk Avoider’s money says, “Just put me in the bank where I’ll be nice and safe You won't earn much, but I'll always be there for you."

Most of us are a combination of two or three of these types. I’m a combination of a hoarder, and an avoider — a miserable combination. I’ve been working on a more rational and less stressful approach, but it’s tough. As I said, we all have issues with money.

Something that helped me, was to explore what is money is and what it means. A couple of years ago I found a definition in a book titled Your Money or Your Life that spoke to me. Here it is:

Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for. Our life energy is our allotment of time here on earth, the hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs, we are trading our life energy for money.

This definition gave me a new sense of the importance of money. It’s much more than a means of exchange for goods and services, which is the way that I’d looked at money for much of my adult life. Money is a metaphor or a tangible symbol of the value of my time, my energy, my life. So if my money really does talk, what does it say about my life?

My money talks to me about taking care of my own needs in a reasonable way. I live on a modest scale. I save for the someday when I can’t work. For me, retirement is not something I plan to do unless I have to. I give about 10% of my money away: about 5% to this congregation and 5% to causes that are important to me.

I feel deeply privileged to be able to do this, and I choose to do this because my money, as an expression of my life energy, talks to me about changing the world. I know that this sounds like a very grandiose idea, but I believe what anthropologist Margaret Meade said — that even in the face of the enormous problems that seem to be overwhelming and unsolvable, a few committed and determined people can change the world. Indeed that is how it has always been.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the potential of our own small group, this UU congregation, to change our little corner of the world. I think we underestimate ourselves in terms of our importance to this community and our power to make a difference in the New River Valley and the larger world.

Over the past couple of years, people have told me how much they appreciate our presence in this community. They tell me that they cheer when we stand up, loudly and proudly for unpopular cause — issues and concerns that their own congregations can’t discuss because to do so would create too much dissension and conflict. They tell me that they envy our freedom of thought and belief, our open acceptance and affirmation of those who are not really welcome in their congregations. They tell me that they are glad that we are here, bringing our values and our viewpoints to the community.

These days, as the religious right becomes more powerful, more vocal and more outrageous, I feel that it is ever more urgent for our voice and values and presence to become stronger, more widely known, so that folks in the NRV know that there is an alternative to the fear, the hatred, the demeaning and degrading rhetoric that drives the politics and the social policies of our state and our nation. There must be a place of refuge and loving acceptance for those who are cut to their very souls by the spiteful condemning words that come from the mouths of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

I wonder if any of you saw the article that was published in the Roanoke Times a few days ago about Pat Robertson and his supporters. We wonder why someone doesn’t tell Rev. Robertson to moderate his language. I’ll tell you why. The article reported that every time Rev. Robertson lets fly with some hateful statement about Muslims, liberals and homosexuals, his supporter reach into their pockets or checking accounts, and they send him money! Their money says, “Go Pat! You speak for us and we’ll help make sure that your voice is heard.” What truly frightens me is that these voices of hatred and arrogance are heard more and more as the voice of my America — not just here at home, but throughout the world.

That hasn’t always been so. In the history of our nation, the liberal voice — the voice of reason, justice, freedom, and tolerance — has been a strong presence and often a force for change that really made a difference, not for just a few people, but for our nation — and yes, the world. We hear our values in the Declaration of Independence, in the fiery words of the abolitionists, in the cries for equal rights for women, people of color, people with physical challenges, and in legislation that protects right of the individual to make important choices for their own lives: decisions about family planning and end of life care, without government intrusion. Our voice was not the only voice, but often it was the leading voice, a daring voice that literally risked life and limb and fortune for the values and ideals that are the very ground of our shared life. Often this leadership meant that those who were the most committed — those who gave much of their time and energy to their cherished cause — also dug deep into their own pockets and gave of their financial resources too.

I’d like to ask you to consider what you will reap by a generous gift to our beloved congregation. First, by making a financial contribution to our congregation, you are supporting an extension of yourself and an expression of your values. I know that you also do that when you give to other organizations like the Sierra Club, the ACLU, NOW, Planned Parenthood and all the other organizations that we love and support. But there’s an important difference between the UUC and the ACLU and those other organizations. They depend on millions of people all over the country to help them and they have the resources to conduct year-round fund raising. We ask for your pledge once a year, and we have only 121 families or individuals who support our congregation. This makes everyone’s contribution that much more important and appreciated.

Your contributions keep this community alive and growing so that we aren’t out there alone, doing the hard work of bringing reason compassion and justice to a struggling world. We have a community that stands with us, a community that strengthens us an enlarges our vision of the options and the opportunities before us, as we work together to make a better world.

Your contributions insure that we have a place to gather with others who may not share our theology, but who do share our values and our dreams, other kindred spirits who accept us for who we are, who comfort us when life is difficult and who celebrate with us when life is filled with joy. You dollars ensure that the people who walk through our doors and discover their spiritual home can make a home with us and bring their children and their friends, keeping us vital and alive. There is room for them—we don’t put out a “no vacancy” sign.

When we join together and support this beloved congregation, we each have more influence, greater strength, compassion, understanding, and wisdom than if we face life alone. Together we can grow our best selves, feel the warmth and assurance of many hands working together, the beating of many hearts filled with compassion for the needs of our own community and our world. We are enriched, encouraged, and enlivened and maybe even enlightened.

What does your money — your contribution to this congregation — say about your commitment to our way of the spirit? What does it say about the value you place on this congregation and all that you and your family receive as a result of your participation in our shared life? Only you can hear your money talk. But I’ll tell you what I hope it says to you:

Give from your heart, not your fears. Give from your joy in being a part of this amazing congregation. Don’t withhold because you don’t agree with everything that goes on here. Give from the deepest, most real sense of who you are as a full, free, loving human being. Give from your life’s energy—to sustain yourself, your friends, and our shared commitment to the values that bind us together as a people of faith and hope.

May it be so.

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