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Dear Friends: I’ve been asking myself what an appropriate salutation for this New Year might be. “Happy New Year” isn’t working for me. After living through a rather difficult 2005, a trite 'happy' greeting doesn’t seem to fit. For as personally burdensome as last year was, it was one of the most significant and life-changing times of my 46 years; and certainly one that stretched me spiritually in ways I could have never imagined – bringing insight, balance and clarity along with the discomfort. But it wasn’t 'happy.' It may feel a bit strange to wish people an 'uncomfortable' 2006, but in reality that is what I am wishing for us all as we begin this new calendar year: a year free of status quo thinking, complacency and rationalizations, and a year filled with the courage to look at ‘truth’ – without justifications, without the film of fear and self-interest masking the realities of our lives. I do, of course, wish you great happiness in this coming year, just not the ‘cheap’ kind that comes without an expenditure on our part. Telling ourselves and others the truth as we see it, as we know and experience it, is one of the most challenging and enlightening things we can do – not out of arrogance or a belief that we know something that others do not, but as a starting point for honest dialogue. We at Ministry of Money have been asking ourselves a lot of questions lately, the kind that stir things up both internally and externally. Questions about how political we as an organization feel a need to be, how challenging to be to our constituency, how we define prophetic and how far to put ourselves out there in a more prophetic way – these are questions that will make some in our constituency uncomfortable. But they are questions that need to be asked – of ourselves as an organization and of each other. In our culture, and throughout the world, money has become a God. And as spiritual as we believe ourselves to be, as pious or as godly as we strive to be, we cannot live in this culture and not be entangled in this deception. And it will take more than a one-time slight nudge to grasp this truth – I know it does for me. It often takes a sharper poke now and again, not to create a wound or to cause undo pain, but to jolt us into looking more honestly at ourselves and our world – to take us off auto-pilot and into greater awareness. You may not agree with a writer or speaker, in fact, you may vehemently disagree with his/her premise, but that's a wondrous thing because it's forced you to think about what you really believe and why! Jesus asked a lot of questions and challenged the status quo thinking of his time, not to inflict discomfort but out of his great love for his people. Jesus knew that adopting the beliefs of others without making them your own or being on automatic pilot did nothing to further God's reign here on earth - and left our souls dry and brittle. So you may be reading more varied kinds of materials in future MoM publications, broader strokes than just ‘money’ that will address more of the root issues that give rise to our unconscious beliefs and attitudes about, and behaviors with, our resources. Examining our money lives has been the vehicle with which MoM begins a deepening spiritual path along side its constituents, but it isn’t the destination or the final goal. Living with freedom and giving freely of the resources we have access to is a tremendous blessing to ourselves and others, but it is only one path, though an important one, toward understanding our relationship with God and what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. So let’s begin this New Year with spirited dialogue – asking questions, challenging answers, not believing our perceptions are the only ‘right’ perceptions, and accepting the place each of us finds ourselves on this spiritual path. May 2006 kick the foundation out from under us all a bit! Blessings,  Jan Sullivan Dockter, Editor and Director of Programs and Communications
- by Stephanie Strom, The New York Times, November 14, 2005 Across the country, nonprofit leaders who battle poverty saw hope in Hurricane Katrina, which starkly illustrated how even something as evenhanded as a natural disaster can discriminate against the have- nots. "Suddenly, everyone was talking about poor people," said Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, a former nun who has devoted herself to the poor as a public official and is now a charity executive. "It seemed to dawn on everyone that we didn't win the war on poverty." Yet, among the many who had been turning away from Americans most in need of charity was the philanthropic sector itself. Last year, the share of giving going to organizations most directly related to helping the poor hit a record low, accounting for less than 10 percent of the $248 billion donated by Americans and their philanthropic institutions. Adjusted for inflation, gifts to health groups have almost tripled over the last four decades, and those to educational institutions have risen almost fourfold, while donations to human services groups are up only 28 percent.
The Dominican Republic occupies nearly two-thirds of the second largest island in the Caribbean, Hispaniola - which it shares with the country of Haiti. It is famed for being the place where Columbus first landed in the Americas, pronouncing it to be the ‘most beautiful island’ he had ever seen. The country now known as the Dominican Republic has faced an often turbulent history since that time; though the image of a tropical paradise is still very real in some areas of the country, the DR also suffers from severe poverty, particularly in rural areas. To add to its challenges, the relationship between the Dominican Republic and its neighbor, Haiti, has long been characterized by racial and political tensions which have given rise to a deep anti-Haitianism within the Dominican Republic. This prejudice has both historical and political roots, and provides the context for widespread abuse and profound insecurity endured by the Haitian and Dominican-Haitian populations living within the DR today. Currently, both the Dominican Republic and Haiti are deeply affected by population migration patterns stemming from the realities of globalization, poverty and the lack of remaining resources on the island of Hispaniola. Join us on this Ministry of Money pilgrimage to the Dominican Republic to explore the issues affecting its people, the depth of their spirituality and the programs and organizations attempting to encourage and assist its population in need. The focal points of our DR experience will be both in urban and rural areas of the country - Santo Domingo, the capital, and Dajabon, an agricultural area near the Haitian border. A primary focus of an MoM pilgrimage is to create opportunities for direct contact with the poor and marginalized, and exposure to programs that address the misery of their condition, both through direct service and from a systemic change perspective. MoM trips include visits to social development projects and other community-based groups - such as Jesuit Refugee Services, providing services to Haitians living in sugar cane bateyes (labor camps) near the border and in urban slums; and the Missionaries of Charity - providing nutritional care and services for children. There will be numerous opportunities to fellowship with the Dominican people we meet over meals and in joint worship services. We will also have an opportunity to visit beaches on both the Caribbean and Atlantic coasts. This MoM pilgrimage is limited to a maximum of 10 participants. Jan Sullivan Dockter and Kevin Cashman are the scheduled trip leaders. The $1,950- $2,200 trip fee (depending on airfares) includes: round-trip airfare from Miami to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; all transportation, lodging, meals and gratuities within the DR; and all administration expenses (e.g., $50,000 international traveler’s insurance, country entrance and exit fees, trip guides, translators, reading materials, etc.). The fee also includes a small contribution for the projects visited in the region.
Manna and Mercy is the name of a book written by Daniel Erlander. Using Erlander’s book, Alan Storey, South African pastor and retreat leader, will take us on a journey from Genesis to Revelation over the course of the weekend, with sensitivity to the contexts in which the scriptures were written and of our present day. The Bible is meant to be an instrument of God to enable abundant life for God’s creation. Yet sadly through the ages it has been read and interpreted in such a way that it has been used as an instrument of human domination and death. It has been used to cheer on the crusades, support slavery, advocate Apartheid, glorify genocide, sanction sexism, bless war and worship prosperity in the face of the poor, to name just a few horrors of our human history. During the Manna and Mercy retreat, we will take a fresh look at scripture through the interpretive lens of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and God’s overall call for each one of us to partner with God in mending this fractured world. The hope is that after we have done so, our interpretations and use of the scriptures will be truly liberating and life-enabling. Alan Storey is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and senior minister of Calvary Methodist Church, Midland, situated halfway between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Alan’s faithfulness to the peacemaking Christ was tested early in his life when he faced conscription into the apartheid regime’s military. After spending a year of discernment working as a laborer in Australia, he returned to South Africa, declaring he would never fight in the apartheid army - or any army. He was arrested and faced trial, with a six-year prison sentence as the likely outcome. Alan’s trial was surprisingly abandoned midway, and he became the last conscientious objector to be tried in apartheid South Africa. During his theological training at Rhodes University, he was involved in the Gunfree South Africa Campaign that was launched at the time of transition to democracy. After University, Alan was sent to Welkorn, which is known as a conservative mining town that lies in the very center of South Africa. It was here that Alan started the Banna Na Modimo home for destitute children and the Banna Ba Modimo Clinic for people who are homeless. Alan received Rotary’s Paul Harris award as a result of this work. Alan was ordained in 1996 and sent to a small white congregation in Midrand. He built a new church named Calvary and the congregation has quadrupled in size; but more importantly, it has engaged deeply with dwellers in the informal settlements (shanty towns) in the area. Alan himself lived in one of these settlements for two years to identify more deeply with the people there. Calvary has become the most multiracial Methodist congregation in the denomination and is on the cutting edge of reconciliation and justice ministries. The church staff practice a radically different approach to salaries and sharing. This event will take place at Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown, Maryland. The cost is $250 Please register by April 7, 2006.
"At times America reminds me of a jungle. There, everything alive is allowed to grow according to nature's laws. Lush and unruly, the environment gives rise to every kind of flower and weed. There is life at every level: snakes along the jungle floor, monkeys in the thick lower branches that twine into one another, and large birds in the singular reaches that form the tops of trees. And after centuries, the taller trees have formed a canopy. By sheer growth, they have secured the right to drink from the sun's light first, leaving the smaller vines and plants to twist and slink in odd directions to grab their sliver of light. Some of the smaller plants are choked from any light and simply die. Still, the land is so lush and brilliant that all forms of life want to migrate there. At times, it seems that America and its people, with the best of intentions, have grown in this way. For freedom is a different experience for those twisting for their sliver of light than for those privileged trees that form the canopy. Still, accepting how precious a thing freedom is, the question before us, as before the Founding Fathers, remains: What is freedom for? What does one do with complete freedom? Produce and consume? Or root and care for each other?" - Mark Nepo, Deepening the American Dream: Reflections on the Inner Life and Spirit of Democracy "Perhaps it's the belief that we shouldn't have any problems, any discomfort, any pain, that makes modern life seem so distressing. Life doesn't match our image of how it should be, and we conclude that life itself is wrong. We relate to everything from that narrow, fearful perspective of "I want" - and what we want is to feel good. When our emotional distress does not feel good, we recoil from it. The resulting discomfort generates fear, then fear creates even more distress, and distress becomes our enemy, something to get rid of. Let us instead examine our basic requirement that life should be comfortable. This one assumption causes all of us endless difficulties." - Ezra Bayda, Saying Yes to Life: (Even the Hard Parts) "No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and likewise a society with many sores will twitch when someone has the courage to touch one and say: 'You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that.'" - Oscar Romero "I no longer pray for God to be present, or God to give me guidance. What I pray for is openness to God . . . God is always present. We build the walls that separate us from God. It is our responsibility to tear them down and open ourselves to God." - Mary Kay Sauter, "Unmasking the Holy"
- by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for peace. This article was published in Truthout, December 29, 2005. As we close this year, a year in which we were pummeled by the Iraq war, attacks on our civil rights, and Mother Nature's fury of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, there is no shortage of reasons to feel bruised and beaten. But to start the New Year with a healthy determination to keep on fighting, we need to reflect on the good things that happened. And there are plenty. One continent alone - South America - could provide more than ten examples of wonderful progressive victories, but I'll just list some of the highlights. 1. Hugo Chavez has shown how an oil-rich nation can use the country's wealth to provide education, healthcare and small business opportunities for its people - and we here in the US have discovered an oil company we can feel good about buying gas from: Venezuela's CITGO. 2. Bolivians have, for the first time in their history, elected an indigenous president, Evo Morales. The former llama farmer and coca grower has fought against "free trade" and the privatization of his nation's resources, and has brought new hope to indigenous people throughout the continent.
- by Tyler Mathison, CNBC Evangelicalism is one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the United States, and now this ardent form of Christianity is starting to flex its economic muscles. In Corporate America, the religion’s growing status is seen in all kinds of businesses. From health clubs to Hollywood movies, and from publishing companies to pizza parlors, firms around the United States are now saying they have Christian values at their core. “Jesus is big business in America,” explains Laura Nash, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at Harvard Business School. In fact, Jesus has always been big business in America says Nash. And while the message of the Bible has been constant over the years, today’s Christian messengers are very different from those of days gone by.
On Atlanta's New $200 Million Aquarium “Pharaoh’s Crumbs! Pharaoh’s Crumbs! These are just Pharaoh’s Crumbs!” he muttered as he walked in for breakfast early one morning. His dreadlocks hung around his face as he kept on complaining and grumbled his way right into the dining room. We’ve received an occasional cursing before, but they are few and far between the generous blessings we receive from our friends who come to share their meals with us. So we were all disturbed by this brother. “Pharaoh’s Crumbs! Pharaoh’s Crumbs!” is all he would say as he glowered into our breakfast kitchen. The next day he was back again. As he took a glass of orange juice, he muttered, “Pharaoh’s crumbs, Pharaoh’s crumbs, you are feeding us Pharaoh’s crumbs.” I replied, “These aren’t Pharaoh’s crumbs man. We’re working for freedom, we’re people of the Exodus. Pharaoh is out there, but we’re not Pharaoh!” He kept walking and sat down at the table to eat his grits and sausage. After the breakfast was over, I pursued him in the yard. “Why did you say these are Pharaoh’s crumbs?” I asked. “Because you are just feeding us so we won’t rise up. You give us just enough to keep us from having a revolution.”
In This Moment - A Journey Begun: a new CD by MoM musician and friend, Wiley Beveridge. A special treat for MoM retreatants who've spent a weekend retreat worshiping God with Wiley's musical talents. A deep spiritual awakening through song that is meaningful to anyone. You can order the CD from Wiley by contacting him at (214) 534-4740 or by email at wileyjb@swbell.net. One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All by Mark Robert Rank; Oxford University Press; 2005 The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler; Vintage Books; 2004 Deepening the American Dream: Reflections on the Inner Life and Spirit of Democracy; Mark Nepo, Editor; Jossey-Bass, 2005
Watch for the upcoming MoM printed newsletter with a theme of Globalization. It will arrive in your mailbox toward the end of February. The next MoM ezine will be sent to your email address in mid-March.
Retreats March 1-4, 2006Business, Faith & Money Retreat Walla Walla, WA Cost: $290 March 24-25, 2006 Special Money & Faith Retreat with Alan Storey Wellspring Conference Center, Germantown, MD Cost: $250 September 15-17, 2006 Money & Faith Retreat St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Newport News, VA Cost: $TBD October 20-22, 2006
Pilgrimages Dominican Republic Pilgrimage May 10-24, 2006 Cost: $4,100 Registration Deadline: March 24, 2006 Israel/Palestine Pilgrimage November 2-16, 2006 Cost: $4,100 - $4,500 Registration Deadline: September 1, 2006 For information about any of these events, please contact Ministry of Money at (301) 428-9560 or by email at office@ministryofmoney.org
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