Pastor: Financial crisis time for reflection

As religious denominations and organizations try to figure out how to respond to the financial crisis that is roiling the world's markets, the top official of the largest Protestant denomination in Massachusetts has issued a pastoral letter urging clergy to refocus on non-material abundance.

The Rev. Jim Antal, president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ, titled his letter "Abundance in a time of Scarcity,'' and urged pastors to offer "leadership in the area of money that is confessional, transparent, candid and joyful." Antal wrote:

"Abundant life has nothing to do with bank solvency or market health. Jesus' invitation to lead generous lives of sharing does not hinge on personal, corporate or national financial security. The present crisis opens the door for us to accept Jesus' expectation that as pastors, we are called to build beloved communities whose life together centers on trust, sharing, justice and sacrifice."

Antal said he expects the economic crisis to affect the financial health of congregations and their congregants, and urged the pastors to carefully consider their sermons on the subject, writing, "We have entered a time of great testing - and as with every test, we have before us a great opportunity. How each of us frames the present crisis within our congregations is of critical importance. What is your role as pastor when our society takes a plunge into the cold waters of financial anxiety?"

The United Church of Christ, by the way, is not only the heir to a variety of congregationalist traditions, but is also the denomination to which Sen. Barack Obama belongs.

The full text of Antal's pastoral letter is below; if you don't see it, click on "full entry."

"Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20

We have entered a time of great testing - and as with every test, we have before us a great opportunity. How each of us frames the present crisis within our congregations is of critical importance. What is your role as pastor when our society takes a plunge into the cold waters of financial anxiety?

I suggest that we make our first response self-examination. What have you been praying for? What spiritual resources have you mustered in response to the anxiety-stampede that has stirred up a cloud of choking dust? What scriptures have you turned to? What have you said to the people closest to you? What regrets do you have regarding the decisions you have taken (or those you failed to take) over the past year? What anxieties do you have about your material security and your job security? Squarely facing these and other questions will add authenticity and credibility as we respond to the questions of our parishioners.

Having examined our own lives, we must decide how we will frame this crisis. As your congregation's spiritual leader, this is your choice. Most of our congregants will come to church with heavy hearts and narrowed horizons. Many already assume that these circumstances will trigger a fiscal crisis for the church as members may be unable to fulfill their pledges for 2008. A similar assumption will likely be advanced as you shape your 2009 budget. Another reality is that members will be more likely to openly share with you their financial troubles, some hoping that the church might help them with direct financial assistance, others looking for forgiveness if they can't fulfill their pledge.

It is easy to adopt a framework of scarcity under these conditions. The truth is that scarcity is what guides the views of many in our congregations when it comes to money, giving and budgeting. The present crisis only amplifies their view, and many will expect you to join them.

I believe that Jesus provides a different framework. Jesus promises abundant life! Abundant life has nothing to do with bank solvency or market health. Jesus' invitation to lead generous lives of sharing does not hinge on personal, corporate or national financial security. The present crisis opens the door for us to accept Jesus' expectation that as pastors, we are called to build beloved communities whose life together centers on trust, sharing, justice and sacrifice. (For more on this theme, please link to the address I gave on September 27, 2008 to "Stewardship University" entitled, "The Promises of Our God of Abundance Are Beyond What We Now Imagine."

In a recent pastoral letter, the Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite urged pastors to turn to two UCC resources as we shape our sermons on the relationship of faith and economics. A group of pastors, teachers and economists labored for nine years to produce the UCC pronouncement on the economy, "A Pronouncement on Christian Faith: Economic Life and Justice", passed at the United Church of Christ's General Synod 17, in July 1989. The eleven page document can be found here. She also mentions the thoughtful study book by economist and UCC layperson, Rebecca Blank, "Do Justice: Linking Christian Faith and Economic Life." This 168 page PDF document includes a more recent piece by Thistlethwaite called, "God's Economics."

And I am grateful to Prof. Thistlethwaite for reminding us of what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in "The Strength to Love": "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

I don't know what our forebears preached on Sunday, October 27, 1929 - sandwiched as it was between "Black Thursday" and "Black Monday and Tuesday" - but it would be good to look back in your files or ask a colleague what he or she preached on October 25, 1987. Twenty one years ago, in a single day, the U.S. stock market lost 22.6%. On a percentage basis, this is over three times what was lost on Monday afternoon.

The good news that we offered then is available to us now. Indeed, having called us to lead our congregations, Jesus calls us to proclaim good news in every circumstance and setting. Today, and in the weeks and months ahead, we have an opportunity to invite our congregations to live into what for many will be a new understanding of the role of the church. By offering leadership in the area of money that is confessional, transparent, candid and joyful we can create a community of trust and sharing that will continually refocus on the abundance God has given us. And as we do, when we see people in our congregation and town who are suffering, we will reach out to them so that they might also share in God's abundant blessing.

Faithfully,

Jim Antal"

(Photo at right, by David Ryan of the Globe staff, shows workers repairing the steeple at a UCC congregation in Hanover this summer.)