Somehow we’ve lost our way and our sense of values. I say this because there is absolutely nothing in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States of America that declares the 4th of July, our Independence Day, shall be henceforth and forever more a holiday for shopping.  Yet we are inundated with ads that would have you believe otherwise. The one that said,   [Read More …]

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.                                           1 Timothy 6:7 (KJV) Did you ever see a Brinks truck following a hearse to the cemetery? Or to put it another way, what does that say about the way you’ve invested your time and your money? If all you did was worry about making more and more and more, you’ve missed   [Read More …]

Jesus said to him, “ ‘ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 37-39  On remittance day the line at the bank stretches half way down the block. When a mother’s cell phone rings she hands it to her little girl   [Read More …]

 “ You won’t become poorer, you’ll become richer by giving” Fr. Henri Nouwen Twenty years ago I didn’t know that philanthropy meant “Loving humankind.” I just thought it meant giving a lot of money away. Today my husband and I have just returned from our 29th trip to Guatemala which keeps drawing us back. Why? Because it was there we found ways that we can make a big difference in the lives of   [Read More …]

The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. From The Message, Proverbs 11:24 When we were newlyweds I told my husband that he had better be good to me or I’d run home to his mother. Why? Because his mother was one of the kindest and most loving individuals I have ever encountered.   Mary Elizabeth was the epitome of generosity with her   [Read More …]

“Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know that I am moving from fear to love.”    Henri J.M. Nouwen                                                                                             Thursday, May 17th, the Faith and Money Network will host a workshop titled, “Justice Giving: An Opportunity for Reflection.” Our presenter, Mark V. Ewert , is the author of a book   [Read More …]

Language is interesting because of what it reveals and conceals. Some people have an awful struggle with themselves when it comes to saying, “I’m sorry.”   Others simply cannot make themselves say “I love you” even to the most significant people in their lives. It took me more years than I care to admit to be able to say, “I can’t afford it.” Because I’ve never heard anyone else acknowledge   [Read More …]

What does it take to wake you up America? I don’t mean coffee or alarm clocks. I mean the firing of Andrew McCabe the day before he would become eligible to collect his pension. Did he deserve to be fired? I do not know. What I do know is that it was morally wrong to fire him the day before his pension was due to vest. That intentional timing of his dismissal denied McCabe the retirement   [Read More …]

 “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” Was Mark Twain bothered by what he understood because he chose to ignore it, or because he found the Bible’s teaching on money so hard to follow? Just what does the bible say about money, anyway?  I don’t know whether Twain ever went to Sunday school or not, but if he did I feel   [Read More …]

You may find this hard to believe, but Jesus didn’t say when you have everything you want you should give a buck or two away. What he said was, “You have been treated generously, so live generously.”* Or to put it another way, “Freely you have received; freely give.”** For many years I have had sitting on my desk a wooden bell from Haiti. Carved around the base of it are the words, “No one   [Read More …]