Our Money Story


Every faith community and organization has a money story. Perhaps your story is shaped by influential leaders and charitable saints who have left legacies of inspiring generosity. Perhaps your story holds trauma of mismanaged funds or unmet expectations. Perhaps your story has been revised due to budget cuts and economic recessions. Perhaps your story includes hopes and dreams you are eager to live out faithfully. What money story accurately reflects the values and practices of your community? What money story can help you develop more faithful practices of stewardship? How might God’s money story intersect with your own?

October 10

16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’” 17 The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. 

-Exodus 16:16-18 (NRSV)

We begin our series by looking back at what our spoken and unspoken money stories have been and how those stories have impacted our practices of stewardship. In these texts, we remember God’s steadfast relationship with us throughout time and trials. We remember that Judas betrayed Jesus in exchange for money but was still invited to the table. We remember that the Israelites complained in the wilderness but were met with manna. Even in stories of desperation and deep betrayal, we are gifted with God’s provision—of the feast of enough, and the holy meal of remembrance.

October 17

15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.

-Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 7-8 (NIV)

This week we practice releasing shame, anxiety, guilt, greed, or anything that keeps us from freedom and wholeness. We release the elements of our money story that prevent us from fully living into God’s story. In Matthew, we see a man grieved to let go of his wealth. In Deuteronomy, we find the radical social mandate of cancelled debts, a communal release that is practiced for the good of all. Releasing is a spiritual practice that frees us from ourselves and liberates others.

October 24

41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

-Mark 12:41-44 (NRSV)

Scripture calls us to reimagine a world where our social and economic systems are not built to disparage or impoverish, but instead to provide for and benefit all. This week we revisit the story of the widow’s mite, a scripture that begs for reimagination and reinterpretation from the harmful ways it has been used. Instead of commending the widow’s giving practices, perhaps Jesus is condemning the economic system that created her poverty. The Jewish practice of the Jubilee year invites us to imagine leaving the edge of the harvest for the poor and immigrant to reap; in the fiftieth year, the harvest is shared and disparities are rebalanced. In light of these stories in scripture, we are called to reimagine our own money stories.

October 31

As we have practiced remembering, releasing, and reimagining, we conclude our series by focusing on restoration. Ultimately, practicing faithful stewardship heals us as individuals and helps us restore right relationship with one another. In Genesis 33, Jacob and Esau experience a surprising reconciliation after years of strife and estrangement. In the final chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples and fills their empty fishing nets. Even after death, Jesus restores our hope and provides an abundant feast.

2022 Commitment Card

Please complete your 2022 commitment card and bring it to worship on All Saints Sunday, November 7, when we consecrate our commitments for the upcoming year. You may also complete it online at https://AsburyUnitedMethodist.org/2022-commitment-card/

Our Money Story Playlist

Our YouTube channel offers a specially selected playlist that reflects the themes of this worship series. You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/