Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

December 2007

What does money mean to you? I was among about 10 people from our congregation who were asked that question at a Leadership Workshop in October at the Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville, Tenn. We learned that people answer that question in many ways.

Some people worry or obsess over money all the time. They worry about what they have, what they can afford. They agonize about every penny that leaves their pockets. Others are kind of mindless. They don’t think about where their money goes. They lose track of bills and don’t bother to save. Some grew up feeling they deserved to be taken care of. They spend too much and look to things they buy to fill the emptiness in their lives. For a few, though, money is no big deal. They live within their means, pay their bills on time, save enough and are reasonably generous. Money is not the focus of their lives.

Money is something that most of us don’t talk about much, and certainly not in church. Financial matters, we say, are private and personal, and of course that’s true. But how we think about money also can affect our deeper attitudes toward our lives. It’s hard to live in a hopeful way when we’re worrying about clutching every nickel. And if we’re clueless about how we spend our money, aren’t we a little clueless about what values matter to us most?

This year our church is working as one of seven UU congregations across the country to test a new way of approaching money. In part, this work is aimed at improving our internal systems: how we budget and raise money for church activities. But perhaps even more important, it is intended to help us all think about the role money plays in our lives, and how we can use it to serve what we most care about. Ultimately, it is about creating a culture of generosity, where we give not only of our purse but also of our hearts to that which makes us most alive, to that which serves life and love.