How to Earn a Better Return on Your Investment

The parable of the talents makes its face known in the lectionary readings for next Sunday. Knowing that I'm in the middle of stewardship season makes this a natural lesson for those of us who aren't sure what the market will do next. At last week's Finance and Stewardship meeting, one of our members expressed that he had lost 40% of his money in stocks which would effect what he would be able to live on in the coming 12 months . . . in other words, his pledge will reflect the stock market. And I think that is sad. While I don't have a clue about taking a loss in stocks because I've not had the opportunity to invest anything in stocks, I know that the church has lost $10,000 in their conservative investments, so I'd guess that the pain of loss is very real for some people.

Strangely, the parable of the talents seems to demonstrate how the stock market is supposed to work. Make your money work for you and you'll get a good return on your investment. And it seems even harsher realizing that so many people thought they were doing the wise thing by investing in the stock market and then the manager comes in and chastises the one who did not earn a good return on his investment. It's like the kingdom of heaven is about a ruthless rich guy who is willing to take apart his Merrill Lynch securities investor . . . is it really HIS fault? Surely the manager should take some responsibility for even suggesting that these guys do anything with his money, right?

A story comes to mind (!) about a couple of churches. One held onto every penny they had for fear that they might need it someday. They wanted to be considered wise by not spending their money on ministries in the present so that they could have ministries in the future. Little by little they stopped doing ministry altogether, and as a church they died before their money ran out. No one saw them as a community willing to give all they had for the benefit of others. No one saw them for their love. A second church was about to die. They had four women left. All of the husbands had passed away and their children went to larger, more vibrant churches. The women rotated preaching every week and began to respond to the word of God that had been planted in them. They sold their church building and began meeting in each other's houses, and then they asked -- what can we do to live out a life of faith with what we have? And they established a fund to feed the hungry and assist the poor. They gave it all away before they died. Which of these two churches was the wise church? Which understood what it meant to invest their lives in the kingdom of God? Go and do likewise.