In God We Trust

by the Rev. Kate Atkinson

There’s an old Arab saying: “Loving money is like inviting a camel into your tent.”  If you’ve ever been a tourist in the Middle East, and had your picture taken sitting on a camel, you’ll know that camels stink!  They’re notorious for it.  So the nomads of the desert don’t want their camels anywhere near their tents when they camp for the night.  But they can’t tether them too far away because they might be stolen.  Well, Camels may be smelly but they are not stupid!  Escaping their tether, or stretching it to its limit, they have a habit of creeping up on their owners’ tents and pushing their nose under the tent flap.  If nobody notices, they push the rest of their head through, then their neck, and finally their whole body.  By this time the camel’s owner would be aware of his unwanted guest, but it’s too late!  Camels are smelly, smart and stubborn.  There’s no room for anyone or anything else once a camel has moved in.

The Arab saying tells us that the love of money is equally all-consuming.  In the worst cases our bank accounts, our investments, even visible evidence of our wealth, become the most important thing in our lives – to the extent that there’s no room for anything, or even anyone, else.

Jesus came to live among human beings, knowing all our flaws and failings, to teach us that the most important thing is the love of God and of one another.  And he uses our obsession with money to help us discover that alternative.

Jesus never speaks about wealth as something to strive for.  Rather he urges us to turn away from the temptations and preoccupations of money and to depend on God for the abundant life God longs for us to experience.  And he encourages us to be similarly inspired when we make choices about how we spend our money.

“Give … to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, “Jesus says, “and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)  As long as we inhabit this land, we’ll be required to give to the emperor – or, in our case, Uncle Sam – a portion of our wealth.  As long as we keep the camel out of our tent, God will inspire every other decision we make about how we use our money, and how we share all our gifts that come from God.