The Opportunity in the Financial Crisis

"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."

The words come from the first century preacher and evangelist Paul and were originally addressed to a band of Christian believers in the Greek city of Corinth. Some of them evidently, were saying that Jesus' resurrection wasn't real. They treated the Easter story like a myth that anesthetized them from dealing with reality, bringing them happy religious feelings.

Paul gave them a reality check, though. He reminded them that Jesus' resurrection was no myth:
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...I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time...(1 Corinthians 12:3-6a)

Christian hope is rooted in an historical event on which otherwise undistinguished and less than courageous people staked their lives.

Not only is Christ's resurrection an historic fact, its significance goes beyond this life alone. Christ doesn't promise us easy lives. But He promises that those who build their lives on Him will be with Him for eternity.

This is important for us to remember in the current financial crisis and economic uncertainty.

The prime reason for this crisis is that people have staked too much hope in the finite rewards of the world. Our hopes have to go beyond this world.

Jesus once told a parable that bears looking at these days:
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“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-21)

For too long, we Americans particularly, have been, in Jesus' phrase, "fools." What do we win when we make financial success the object, the god, of our existences? Some comfort in this life. But the god of material comfort will bring us no comfort--and no life--in eternity. In the end, it's dumb to invest our biggest hopes in something guaranteed to stop paying dividends, which is what money does at the moments we die.

Actually, as I consider the financial crisis, I see great opportunity in it, opportunity for transforming us from a voraciously consuming society into something different, better. I'm excited by what it might teach all of us and how it might change us. My thoughts dovetail with those of Methodist bishop William Willimon, who recently wrote to members of his Alabama conference of congregations:

John Wesley famously said that the “people called Methodists” should “make all you can, save all you can, give all you can,” with the emphasis decidedly on the third part of that exhortation. Early Methodists dressed simply and lived simply. They founded societies for thrift, not in order to hoard but in order to give.

In a new book, The Decline of Thrift in America, historian David Tucker notes that throughout much of American history we saved up to 15% of our income. Thrift was an all-American virtue. Since the 90’s as credit got easy and borrowing became a way of life, there was a dramatic change. The average American now owes more credit card debt than at any time in history.

After one of the most tragic days in U.S. history, how did the President urge us to deal with our grief? “Go shopping.” Spending had replaced thrift as the chief American virtue. Those who had accumulated wealth for themselves and their families were lauded as representatives of the “American dream.” Our biggest trade deficits in history, along with unfunded spending on multiple wars are now bearing their bitter fruit. Reports from many of our pastors suggest that we are moving into a time of very painful recession.

Perhaps now is a good time to recover some Christian virtues that we thought we had outgrown. I pray that we will be given new moral direction that will point us back (or is it forward?) to...Christian values, like thrift. Times of financial crisis are good times to be reminded of what’s really valuable, from a Christian point of view.

I liken the credit binging that precipitated the current financial crisis to addiction. The whole economy became addicted to easy credit based on the chimera of ever-increasing real estate values.

Now, the whole economy is in detox. It's painful. Hopefully, it won't create innocent victims.

In the end though, we may learn the virtues of saving, thriftiness, appropriate spending, and sharing from this financial crisis.

It may also alert us, both those who already confess Christ and those who don't yet do so, of our common need of, as the Twelve Step movements put it, our "higher power."

Jesus Christ is the Lord Who has conquered our sin and conquered death and is able, because He has "in fact" risen from the dead, to give us a hope unaffected by the collapse of banking firms, the tightening of credit, or the decrease of inflated real estate values.

In this life, we have the promise that God stands by us. But our hope goes beyond this life, to a resurrection that all who believe in Jesus Christ will share.

Money is a necessity today. It need not be our god. In fact, it must not be. We can invest our hope elsewhere. When we put our hopes in Christ, the dividends will never stop paying off!