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LETTER FROM THE RECTORY Link to Home page
LLYTHYR O'R RHEITHORDY

October 2009

Rector of Llandudno
We have recently passed the anniversary of the banking crisis which led to the ‘credit crunch’ and the recession. And although many commentators are now predicting that the recession itself may almost be over, the effects of the downturn are still very apparent: businesses continue to fail, factories are still closing, unemployment keeps on rising, jobs are very hard to find and credit for business projects or mortgages for first time buyers etc. are still very hard to get.

Not surprisingly those who are judged to have been the main cause of the crisis have come in for a great deal of criticism, in particular bankers and others involved in high finance. A hot topic at the moment is the return of huge bonuses for many at the top of the banking industry, despite all that has happened.

From a Christian point of view I think it is worth raising the question as to whether it is actually possible for a follower of Christ to be involved in the financial industry at all. The credit crunch and some of the dodgy practices it has brought to light are not the only reason for asking this question. The finance industry has at its heart the overwhelming desire to make money and this would seem to contradict the teaching of Jesus on the relationship that his followers ought to have with money and possessions:

Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too.’ (Matt 6:19-21).

No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’ (Matt 6:24)

And yet we have to admit that unless we wish to embrace a fully communist system bankers and financiers are a necessary part of the society in which we live and that if this is so then it ought to be possible for Christians to follow these professions.

Like many other professions bankers and financiers have a number of patron saints – perhaps the most famous being St Matthew the Apostle. Matthew’s life, before he responded to the call of Christ, was taken up with the business of extracting money from his fellow countrymen in order to pay the Roman occupiers the taxes they demanded. As part of this process he was allowed to keep a hefty slice of the proceeds for himself and so would have become a very wealthy man, justifiably hated even more than the bankers who are charged with causing the ‘credit crunch’.

No one is suggesting of course that everyone in the financial world is as bad as Matthew and the tax collectors of Jesus’ time. And as we have already noted, as bankers and financiers are essential to our way of life, we should not expect them all to follow Matthew in leaving their profession behind them if they become disciples of Christ. But the teachings of our Lord and the example of Matthew are a reminder to all in the financial sphere never to make the making of money an end in itself, and always to pursue their work with integrity and with a concern for the effect that their actions will have on society.

St Matthew is actually a very appropriate patron not just for bankers and financiers but for all of us who are living through this time of economic woe. We can all be susceptible to the desire to get rich quick or to have more and more possessions. Matthew, when he began to follow Christ must have taken to heart the teaching of Christ about possessions and money which is recorded in the Gospel bearing his name.

On the feast of St Matthew last month, the small congregation of around five or six who gathered to celebrate the Eucharist in the Memorial Chapel in Holy Trinity Church listened to the collect for the day which prays: ‘give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain and the possessive love of riches that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ’. This is surely a vital prayer for bankers, financiers and indeed for all of us as we struggle to be faithful to Christ in a world which inevitably depends on money to enable us to survive and to flourish.

Fr John

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January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
Aug 2009
Sept 2009
January 2008
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September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
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January 2007
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