Speaking of money

Last Sunday I preached about money. I talked about how placing our offering of money on the altar makes it holy, and makes us holy by extension.

I find it hard to preach about money. As soon as the topic comes up, you can see the entire congregation begin to stiffen up. We're all wary about other people reaching into our pocketbook, and for good reason. If there is ever a quagmire for a pastor, money is it. The topic has to be addressed delicately.

Jesus talked a lot about money. He talked about the poor being blessed, about how life does not consist of the possession of money, he talked about how it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. You'd think money would be part of the vocabulary of the church, but it's not.

We're about to begin our stewardship campaign where we ask for our members to make a pledge for next year. A pledge is not a contract - it's just a good faith estimate of what we'll be able to give in the coming year. And yet it's hard for us to talk about pledges. In every church I've been in, a person's pledge is a deep dark secret.

I don't know how we can make it easier to talk about money. Our bishop Greg does a remarkably good job by simply being open and honest about the topic. That's probably the best place to start.
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