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by
Kevin Cashman
(Left to right) Vana Edmond,
Scott Bass (Beyond Borders board
member), Kevin Cashman (director
of Ministry of Money) and Sarah Roche
(former teacher with MCLC in Haiti), participate
in a discussion at the Beyond Borders annual meeting
in September. Photo by Dave
Fonda. |
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“Money
is power.” This mantra is proclaimed again and again
by businesses, politicians, and marketers. Most of us would
have to admit that we give a certain amount of power to
money. And if we are honest, most of us would admit that
we find it nearly impossible to detangle money and power.
So maybe we would do better to focus our energy on how we
can make positive use of the power of money. One question
to consider is, “What power to lead and influence
others can spring forth from a more godly use and management
of our resources?”
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Minstry of Money and
Beyond Borders Invite you to a Money and
Faith Retreat, April 8-10, 2005 at the
Temenos Retreat Center, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Join
us for a time apart to explore and better understand
the spiritual dimensions of money and the role
it plays in our lives. This retreat will provide
opportunities to explore feelings about money;
to think about the role money plays in our lives,
culture, and world; and to reflect theologically
on the place of money in our personal and collective
spirituality. Worship, silence, small and large-group
discussion, presentations, thinking about “next
steps,” and other experiential activities
will help participants examine the place of
money in their lives.
The
cost of the two-day retreat (all inclusive):
$240. Register by March 1, 2005. For more information
or to register, please contact Ministry of Money
at (301) 428-9560 or by e-mail at office@ministryofmoney.org. |
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U.S.
society can encourage us to comply with policies and actions
that strengthen our own position, wealth, or security—and
that also, whether consciously or not, hurt God’s
children who are materially poor. This isn’t new to
our time. The prophet Isaiah warned:
Doom
to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims…
What
will you have to say on Judgment Day, when doomsday arrives
out of the blue? … What good will your money do you?
(Isaiah 10:1,3, from The Message)
What
will we say on Judgment Day if our society makes laws that
victimize—laws that make misery for the poor, rob
destitute people of dignity, exploit the defenseless, take
advantage of innocent children?
Speaking
out of the same prophetic tradition in the context of Judgment
Day, Jesus provides an alternative way to experience the
power of money in Matthew 25:31-40. Jesus shows how the
power of money and resources can be used to do good for
others:
I
was hungry and you fed me,
I
was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I
was homeless and you gave me a room,
I
was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I
was sick and you stopped to visit me,
I
was in prison and you came to me.
Whenever
you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored,
that was me—you did it to me.
Money
and power, power and money: Maybe they can’t be detangled,
but that isn’t all negative. Instead we can listen
to Jesus’ words and use the resources we have—as
organizations, as families, as individuals—for the
good of others.
Kevin
Cashman is director of Ministry
of Money, a Christian organization that encourages people
to become free from their attachments to cultural values
regarding money and to joyfully live out God’s call
for their lives and resources.
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