Community sense

Moneywise Meditations 2.0

Mark R. Wenger

I met John Rudy in 1985. This was right after I got married. Kathy and I were renting an upstairs row-house apartment in Lancaster, Pa. We didn’t have much money. I heard John give a stewardship talk at a church conference. He said some things about money that I hadn’t heard in seminary. “I’m here to make a reckless confession,” he said. “I like money. And no one has ever challenged my confession.” My ears pricked up.

“Now of course,” he continued, “I hope I don’t love money, because the Bible warns that such love lies at the root of all evil. I know money is dangerous but it can also be extremely useful. It allows us to seize opportunities for good. To share with others. To extend the kingdom of God.”

Not long after, John and his wife Lucy moved back to Pennsylvania and began attending the church where I was associate pastor. I continued to listen when John talked about money. Kathy and I sought his counsel about money management, life insurance, and financial giving. He was wise and sensible. As a former corporate executive and former pastor, he knew finances and he knew faith.

In 1989 John had a book released with the title Moneywise Meditations. The book contained a collection of short magazine articles that John had authored over the years. I discovered something else about John: “I am a charity case,” he wrote. “I am. I am totally dependent on a loving, benevolent God. All I am and all I have comes from another. . . . I am in constant need of God’s help, his resources, his guidance, his people” (Herald Press, 1989, p. 27).

Fast forward twenty years to the economic crisis of 2009. John Rudy is now 85 years old. I wondered—What does John have to say about the current national economic mess we’re in? So I sat down with him recently over a cup of coffee at his dining room table. I asked a few questions and then listened. A lot. You see, John remembers the Great Depression as a boy. In light of that perspective, one of the first comments out of his mouth had the ring of truth: “The thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”

Such as: Housing and real estate values don’t rise forever like some optimistic economists claimed. Banks and businesses will fail from time to time, even big ones. Debt is risky. In addition, John is not very confident that the government will be able to solve the root problems. It’s almost impossible to preserve jobs when no one is buying. “Is this the time,” he asks, “to do some old-fashioned budgeting, saving, and downsizing?”

Very close to John’s heart is his Christian faith and his wish for faith communities to live up to their commitments as followers of Jesus. “I am concerned,” he said, “that too many people of faith, like the rest of society, began to live affluently without being wealthy.” The ease of consumer credit coupled with more sumptuous lifestyles and paltry savings have left many people unprepared and vulnerable for the lean times.

With a chuckle John wondered aloud how much good all his years of teaching and preaching on stewardship had done. “Maybe the economy will teach us more than the pulpit ever did! Maybe this is how we will really learn to live as good stewards, to honestly adjust our lifestyles to our Christian values, and to expect less.” And maybe congregations as faith communities can step up to the task of pooling resources to take care of needs within their circle and beyond.

John recalled the days in the 1930s when unemployment was 25 percent and tramps or hobos, as they were called, rode the railroads and walked the highways. His boyhood home sat alongside U.S. Route 30, a national highway. Almost every day his mother fed tramps that came to their back door. She never turned them away. And within Stony Brook Mennonite Church, the ordained deacons coordinated congregational care for the financial and material needs of members.

John believes the current crisis can be an opportunity for faith communities to reclaim a voice and role in mutual aid, money management, and in modest lifestyles. Stewardship training should focus on more than learning how to give generously, however. It should offer help on budgeting, spending, lifestyle, and savings. John also wonders about reviving the role if not the position of deacon: persons officially appointed to look out for the financial needs of members in the congregation.

But faith communities are important in more ways than material aid during times of job loss, business failure, and economic adversity. When the abyss of personal financial ruin threatens, it is reassuring to be knit into a network of ongoing relationships of support and respect. When the bear is growling, a congregation can be a safe place to find shelter and to be reminded that God is the owner of all.

“Congregations can help us not to get too pressured or frazzled,” said John. “I don’t want to be simplistic, but when things are going bad, we need to look up. We can rejoice in our faith in God in the company of other believers.”

The bad economy can be a good teacher if we let it. This theme appeared a number of times during the coffee conversation with John. Trouble will only get worse, he said, if people “keep on barreling along without considering the current environment.”

This is true for individuals and families. It is also true for businesses and for church institutions. Church organizations “may need to do some downsizing, and not just keep asking for more money. They can’t assume they will stay the same size. They can’t budget without taking the economy into consideration.” John doesn’t think there is anything immoral about congregations or church organizations developing reserve funds.

I asked John what he’d tell young adults who are starting to live independently. Here is the gist of what he said: “I’d talk with them about the virtue of saving for difficult times. I’d caution them about borrowing to spend. I’d counsel that they maintain a careful budget. But it shouldn’t be too tight, because they also need to celebrate.

“I’d talk with them about life insurance as a good thing. I’d also speak about tithing and the joy of sharing generously with others. I’d tell them that a reasonable, modest lifestyle is also beneficial. And I’d say, keep looking up, having faith in God. Become part of a good strong faith community. In times like this, people at church become crucial.”

Here’s what seems to sum up John’s sage counsel: Strive to manage finances carefully, embodying simplicity, frugality, and generosity modeled on Jesus’ values, while living in community. It’s really nothing new. I had heard essentially the same thing when I first met John about 25 years ago. It’s also what I’ve read in his book, Moneywise Meditations. Such wisdom doesn’t get old and may be truer than ever today. It sounds strangely contemporary, relevant, and fresh.

All too many of us have been jarred awake from a sugar dream that the stock market and real estate values will always go up. And let’s face it: too many of us have been living well today but planning to pay for it tomorrow. We are being forced to confront hard facts; we wince at an uncertain future.

But perhaps this difficult season can also be an opportunity. Perhaps the bad economy can be a good teacher. Perhaps this can become a springtime of faith in God and a blossoming of the relationships which bind people together. Perhaps this can be a time of pruning—call it “right-sizing”—for greater fruitfulness in another season. Perhaps.

—Mark R. Wenger, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is Director of Pastoral Studies for Eastern Mennonite Seminary at Lancaster.