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Perspective:
Please let us know a little bit about the work
of Harvest Time. What do you do?
Rosemary
Feerick and Bryan Sirchio:
Harvest Time companions persons of wealth—millionaires
and beyond—who want their lives and personal
resources to become instruments of God's justice
and love. That companioning takes a variety of
forms. We visit with people in person or by phone
or email. We share articles and readings about
money and faith. We call together and nurture
small groups of wealthy (or formerly wealthy)
disciples. We take people who want to have their
hearts broken open by the painful realities of
injustice on trips of "reverse mission"
to Haiti or elsewhere. We also invite people to
share their wealth with grass-roots organizations
we are partnered with in Washington, D.C., and
Haiti.
In all of
this, we seek to create in-depth relationships
with and among wealthy Christians so that we can
deal with the underlying issues that lead us to
hold onto far more than we need and so that we
can find the courage to engage in radical experiments
with money.
P:
How do your circles of ongoing support and accountability
for wealthy Christians re-order their affections
related to money?
Rose
and Bryan:
First, we are very clear that we do not
reorder anyone's affections. Only the Holy Spirit
does. Harvest Time creates contexts where wealthy
Christians can listen to the voice of the Spirit
and where, as Parker Palmer puts it, "the
soul can show up."
One of the
most powerful things that we can do is bring our
money issues out of the shadow and into light.
Most people who join Harvest Time circles come
because they feel isolated, stuck or judged. They
know they are wealthy. They care about responding
to poverty. They long to follow Jesus. But typically
they do not know anyone with whom they can share
their struggles around these issues. In Harvest
Time circles that isolation is broken and we have
a chance to bring the details of our faith and
money into community and into the light of Christ.
P:
Can you tell us more about the Harvest Time reverse
missions to Bosnia, Haiti, and Washington, DC
How do you spend your time during them and what
lasting impact do they have upon people?
Bryan:
Our reverse missions are brief trips, usually
3-5 days, during which we bring a small number
of persons in our network to meet and sometimes
work with our friends among the poorest of the
poor. The primary purpose of these trips is to
give wealthy Christians an opportunity to develop
personal relationships with some of the poorest
people on earth. Our experience has been that
these relationships help to personalize the issues
of poverty and injustice with which we are wrestling.
Those who participate in these trips are also
invited, though not expected, to consider helping
to fund some of the ministries with which we are
involved. A good deal more information about these
trips is available on Harvest Time's web site.
In a nutshell, these trips are one of the most
powerful ways we know to help folks move into
deeper levels of compassionate response to the
brokenness of the world. They help us move from
our heads to our hearts.
P:
What Scripture passage/story has been most helpful
for you personally in your journey with money,
and how has reflection upon it made a difference
for you?
Rose:
The story of the Anointing in Bethany in John
12. Before coming to Harvest Time, I spent much
of my life feeling condemned by the Gospel passages
about money. But a powerful experience I had with
Mary of Bethany and her example of responding
to Jesus with extravagant, sensual love, helped
me to connect two parts of my being that had not
previously been in conversation—namely the
way I experience God's love in my body and my
desire for justice. Now I see that turning my
money over to Jesus is not about passing some
test that the rich ruler in Mark 10 failed, but
responding to the love of Christ.
Bryan:
Having grown up primarily in wealthy circles,
I have always been deeply challenged by the story
of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. This story
challenges me both as an individual who has lived
"in the big house" and as a U.S. citizen.
I see the US as the country that has "feasted
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sumptuously"
while many of the poorer nations of the world
have been at our gate. I'm also very challenged
by 2 Cor. 8, in
which
Paul uses the manna motif to argue for a "fair
balance between the abundance of some and the
need of others." Finally, Matt. 25:31ff,
in which Jesus says, "I was hungry and you
fed me, etc." is ever before me as I reflect
on how to use the resources to which I have access.
P:
Thinking back over the last few years, can you
give us a story or evidence of your own changing
attitude towards money?
Rose:
When I came to Harvest Time, I experienced
my inherited wealth and the financial decisions
I had to make as a burden. These days, I see that
having the opportunity to give, invest, and spend
money in ways that create just structures is a
privilege and a source of joy. For instance, a
few months ago, I attended a conference on community
investing and learned that money that would otherwise
be sitting "in the bank"—or supporting
companies I don't—can also be used to make
loans to people who are impoverished or to provide
capital for businesses that are sustainable and
just. I was thrilled. I am now in the process
of moving the money that I still have to invest
(though I have less than I used to) to these kinds
of institutions and vehicles.
Bryan:
To sum it up, I no longer have a negative attitude
toward money at all. I now feel free, as long
as I am part of a community which will help me
stay on track, to be a channel through which huge
amounts of money can flow where God wants it to
go. In other words, whereas at one point I felt
that money was a dangerous and almost essentially
negative thing, I now welcome its free flowing
into my life, because I know that it will primarily
pass through me to where it is most needed. I'm
actually quite surprised to find myself stating
this so clearly!
P:
How can we value money and yet not be mastered
by it?
Rose:
We are all aware of the ways in which money can
become an idol. But it can also be icon. That
is, it can become a window through which the power
and love of God is made manifest. In my work at
Harvest Time, I am often privileged to witness
the miracles that happen when wealthy people let
their faith direct their financial life. Last
month, for instance, two white, wealthy landowners
gave a farm they owned in Mississippi to the Harvest
Time community of which they are a part. That
community is now engaged in conversations with
grassroots organizations in the South that are
working for justice and racial reconciliation,
trying to discern where God would have that farm
go.
How does this
happen? How do those of us with "storehouses"
become free enough to let go and let God direct
the flow of our surplus? The usual ways—prayer,
Christian community, relationship with people
who are on the margins. But first we have to let
go of our assumption that money is bad or something
separate from our faith.
P:
What spiritual disciplines have been especially
helpful to you and other folks as you have addressed
your own challenges with money and material wealth?
Rose
and Bryan:
Years of working with Christians of wealth have
taught us that we do not "think" our
way into freedom when it comes to money. It's
more about relationships—with God and each
other—and engaging our entire beings. Harvest
Time gatherings, therefore, typically involve
both traditional disciplines—like silence,
prayer, biblical study—and others designed
to awaken our bodies and imaginations—like
massage and sacred play.
Another discipline
we encourage is Sabbath. Many of us who are wealthy
or who have been programmed by the culture of
wealth live at a frenetic pace. There are a variety
of reasons for this, but mostly it's the result
of the addictive dimensions of our culture that
we have internalized. Those of us who desire to
let God get at our wealth can begin by getting
out of the way—that is, by creating time
and space for God and our own souls—to show
up. Not once. Not for a weekend. But on a regular
basis. Like once a week. There is nothing quite
like the joy and humility that comes from honoring
Sabbath— from letting God love us—to
help us get our priorities in proper order.
— Lyle
SmithGraybeal
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