classic Saturday

This year, I've been reading and sharing weekly through Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith. There are 52 devotions offered from a variety of devoted followers who have written in order to encourage the faith of brothers and sisters in Christ.

This week's author is Elizabeth O'Connor (1921- ) and her quote is on the topic of money. O'Connor was a part of a radical faith community called the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., founded in 1947 by a movement of the Spirit that had the rest of the world taking notice.

"As we become exposed to the poor and their needs, the rich young ruler and the widow and her mite lose the storybook quality of our childhood faith, and become figures in the counter-culture literature of a revolutionary leader-the very one whom we call Saviour. The First Commandment and all the Scriptures on the worship of idols begin to lay bare our own primitive selves. Some of us have looked into the face of our idols and found that one of them is money.

Though we along with millions of other churchgoers are saying that Jesus saves, we ask ourselves if we are not in practice acting as though it were money that saves. We say that money gives power, money corrupts, money talks. Like the ancients with their molten calf we have endowed money with our own psychic energy, given it arms and legs, and have told ourselves that it can work for us. More than this we enshrine it in a secret place, give it a heart and a mind and the power to grant us peace and mercy."

A question by Foster/Smith: Jesus preached that we cannot serve God and wealth, because he perceived that Mammon (the spirit of wealth) functions as a false god for many. How has money tried to gain your allegiance? What struggles have you encountered in trying to "serve two masters"?