It can be very surprising to discover that the search for a deeply satisfying, wonderfully nourishing spiritual life has anything to do with our thinking and practices about money.
It may seem counterintuitive. How can spirituality have anything to do with something so mundane? But believe it or not, an open, honest, and faithful discussion about giving and stewardship may help us discover something beautiful, something freeing, something joyful, and something deeply spiritual. God has graciously given us a powerful tool for transforming ourselves and the world around us. That tool is an essential part of our faith. Yet Evil intends to rob us of that tool, to rob us of freedom and joy, by filling us with fear, guilt, embarrassment or shame.
We begin to break the hold of Evil whenever we begin to talk openly, honestly, and faithfully. As Jesus said, "the Truth will set you free." So here it comes: some open, honest, and faithful considerations about money -- for the purpose of gaining freedom, joy, and a deeper spiritual experience
First, to tell the truth, we must admit that the history of Christianity carries some embarrassment with it. The Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition are a couple of embarrassments that we'd just as soon forget. Long silences, or worse, sanctions of the pogroms, the Holocaust, slavery, racism, wars, invasions and other abuses are some other embarrassments. Honestly, it's pretty embarrassing that it has taken us so long to "get it" about a number of things. It makes one wonder nervously what other things we don't yet "get."
Other embarrassments attend our practices around giving and stewardship.
For example, one of the contributing factors to the Protestant Reformation was the reality about the Church's abuse of the poor and the corrupting of the Gospel of Grace around "indulgences." These days, we've all heard those embarrassing scandals involving money and televangelists.
These embarrassments are by no means the only reason why we're so hesitant to talk openly, honestly, and faithfully about money, giving, and stewardship. Admittedly, they do play a part. But the sad thing is that hesitancy to talk openly, honestly, and faithfully about money, giving and stewardship leads to two more embarrassments: Our embarrassing silence, and our embarrassing practices.
So in the interest of dispelling embarrassment, guilt, or fear of guilt, of discovering freedom and joy, and of deepening our spiritual lives, here are three ideas to consider: