“If you try to be kind and good, you will be blessed with life and goodness and honor.”  Proverbs 21:21 (The Poverty and Justice Bible) My father-in-law believed it was important to tithe, that is to give a tenth of his income to the church, but that wasn’t all he gave.  He could not let a collection plate go by without putting something in it.  After retirement, with a more   [Read More …]

 “Let us give according to our incomes, lest God make our incomes match our gifts.” Rev. Peter Marshall, U.S. Senate Chaplain 1/4/47 – 1/26/49 Realism, I suspect, is the secret to actually making a New Year’s Resolution you’ll keep, especially if it deals with losing weight or giving away more money. If you find yourself wanting to be more generous, the likelihood is very high you can   [Read More …]

“Let everyone give as his heart tells him, neither grudgingly nor under compulsion, for God loves the man who gives cheerfully.”                        [Read More …]

“Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.”             Reverend James Forbes Over 2,000 verses in the Bible wake us up to issues of poverty and justice.  How we respond to them is our option and our responsibility. December, the don’t-miss-this sale, buy-it-now time in this country, is actually   [Read More …]

“When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear.” . . . “Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me.”    Matthew 25:35-36 and 25:40. There is no way any gift could   [Read More …]

“Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.”  Reverend James Forbes We feel sure that a very big stack of letters of reference from the poor had already been received in heaven by the time Bob Hadley arrived there a few weeks ago.  Hadley, a long-time member of the Faith & Money Network’s Board of Directors illustrated what it means to be God’s   [Read More …]

“What does sufficiency mean for a planet that is nearing exhaustion?  Cultivating a sense of enough has become a biological and ecological imperative.” from What About Our Money? A Faith Response by Susan K. Taylor Ouch.  Sometimes the truth hurts. More often “ouch” is an appropriate comment when you’re faced with an undeniable truth you would rather ignore. In 1992 a book   [Read More …]

“I commit myself, regardless of the expenditures of time, energy, and money to becoming an informed, mature Christian.”* What does it take to be God’s hands and feet in the world today? Since the first nine members of the Church of the Saviour recited the pledge quoted above on October 19, 1947, that small congregation has had an impact beyond anything they could have imagined. The   [Read More …]

“Let us say right here that our class found most writings on prayer made it sound too easy.  It isn’t.  Those who use it as a spare tire, only when an emergency arises, are very apt to be disappointed in its results.”  From Prayer Can Change Your Life by Dr. William R. Parker and Elaine St. Johns The book quoted above is another one that has had a major impact on my life.  I   [Read More …]

“Let me get this straight.  You want to borrow $10,000 so you can give it away.”    J. T. Richardson, a banker About 1975 my beloved father-in-law gave me his copy of Call to Commitment, Elizabeth O’Connor’s book detailing the early history of The Church of the Saviour.   I read it because I trusted his judgement, never dreaming as I did so the major impact it   [Read More …]