I'm clearly not very effective. Every church I have served has sooner or later -- and often both -- bumped up against the hard reality of financial limitations. Our missional aspirations outpace our fiduciary obligations. We tighten our belts, we eliminate staff, we do more of the cleaning ourselves; chastened, we rein in our field of vision.
We are in good company. Every non-profit I know -- food pantries, counseling services, after school programs, emergency assistance agencies -- struggles to navigate the monthly journey from hand to mouth -- often failing in the endeavor. Non-governmental Organizations working in war-torn or draught-stricken or AIDS-crippled or hurricane-bludgeoned regions experience the same: too much to do; not enough with which to do it. An abundance of" will"; a scarcity of "way."
I ponder that sad and perennial reality as I read the report in today's Wall Street Journal about political fundraising. The first quarter reports are beginning to trickle in from Presidential candidates, and so far the indications are that the candidates are doing well. There are many more to be released, but what we know so far is that Hillary Clinton has set a record for early fundraising, taking in $26 million in the first three months of the year (and hopes to raise $70 million by year's end). John Edwards, while financially far behind, has nonetheless recorded more than $14 million in the same 3-month period, and Bill Richardson has drawn a respectable $6 million. We haven't yet heard from Barak Obama, but his campaign hopes to raise between $15 and $20 million. On the Republican side, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani each hopes to raise about $20 million. Assuming they are all successful, that amounts to $126 million raised in three months. Pretty soon, to paraphrase the late Senator Dirksen, you are talking about real money.
I don't begrudge the candidates their "war chests." I suppose I have different feelings about those who have filled them. Think of all the other things that we, as a people, could do with that money -- even a tithe of it.
We have evolved an odd set of financial priorities. Which is to say that I'll have a hard time nodding my head the next time someone -- a politician, a Board member, a congregant -- tells me "we just don't have enough money." The truth is, we have plenty of money. We just have some screwy ideas about where to put it.
We are in good company. Every non-profit I know -- food pantries, counseling services, after school programs, emergency assistance agencies -- struggles to navigate the monthly journey from hand to mouth -- often failing in the endeavor. Non-governmental Organizations working in war-torn or draught-stricken or AIDS-crippled or hurricane-bludgeoned regions experience the same: too much to do; not enough with which to do it. An abundance of" will"; a scarcity of "way."
I ponder that sad and perennial reality as I read the report in today's Wall Street Journal about political fundraising. The first quarter reports are beginning to trickle in from Presidential candidates, and so far the indications are that the candidates are doing well. There are many more to be released, but what we know so far is that Hillary Clinton has set a record for early fundraising, taking in $26 million in the first three months of the year (and hopes to raise $70 million by year's end). John Edwards, while financially far behind, has nonetheless recorded more than $14 million in the same 3-month period, and Bill Richardson has drawn a respectable $6 million. We haven't yet heard from Barak Obama, but his campaign hopes to raise between $15 and $20 million. On the Republican side, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani each hopes to raise about $20 million. Assuming they are all successful, that amounts to $126 million raised in three months. Pretty soon, to paraphrase the late Senator Dirksen, you are talking about real money.
I don't begrudge the candidates their "war chests." I suppose I have different feelings about those who have filled them. Think of all the other things that we, as a people, could do with that money -- even a tithe of it.
We have evolved an odd set of financial priorities. Which is to say that I'll have a hard time nodding my head the next time someone -- a politician, a Board member, a congregant -- tells me "we just don't have enough money." The truth is, we have plenty of money. We just have some screwy ideas about where to put it.
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2 comments:
A truth we all need to recognize and do more prodoctive things with our money. CD
In an interesting juxtaposition of this and the previous blog entry ("April 15"), my mind ponders the use of "mammon" in our culture ... the money which is worshipped as an ultimate God. (No wonder that Jesus preached the dichotomy of choosing to serve God or money, not both.)
Our prevailing US culture wants our money to buy us as much as possible in the way of consumer goods. The Me-First mentality forgets the true cost of those goods and services. We are not the keeper of the ones who originate what we consume.
"One-Another" is not the first priority in our spending habits -- even (generally) for people of faith. Whether it is a case of tithing off the top of our income, giving our first-fruits rather than our leftovers; or whether it is concern for the "least of these" "our" money is first and foremost ours.
For the first time in a decade, the minimum wage has been increased. How many of us could afford to live today on what we were earning 10 years ago? Yet the news reports mention in passing that this rise in wages for low-end workers will slightly ease their tight budgets. And then brings up the big concern: this will increase the prices for the consumer goods and services produced by these low-wage workers.
In other words, our ultimate concern is not for the welfare of the workers, but for how far we can stretch our own income. The whole point of our cost-of-production mentality is to keep consumer prices low. Never mind the animals living in inhumane conditions, the farmers or industrial workers exposed to dangerous chemicals, the air and water pollution, the exploitation of third-world laborers, etc., etc.
I'm just as infected with this disease as everyone else, so I preach to myself. How do we inoculate ourselves against (or heal ourselves from) the pervasive approach of treaating everything and every one as merely an end to satisfing our own materialistic hungers? How do we move from being served to serving?
Will there ever be a time when every one earns a living wage in healthful working conditions ... and when the humanitarian agencies are better-funded than the entertainment industry?
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