Moolah for the mo?

LCMS president Matthew Harrison must be deeply into crucifixes if the backdrop to his recent video is anything to go by. But it's not plaster Jesuses nailed onto pieces of pine that Harrison had on his mind as he sat in an overstuffed leather chair and talked to the camera for twelve long but relentlessly positive minutes, but synod finances. The details are in the Lutheran Witless Witness; but first the text of the day: "God loves a cheerful giver."

Uh oh!

Next there's a little tale about the collection Paul made for Jerusalem. Paul, it turns out, is using a "sacred, sacramental term" (koinonia) for moolah. Well, who'd have thunked it!

Now to the main point: "We face tremendous challenges." Restructuring is the reality. Jobs have been cut. "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly." Harrison doesn't apportion blame, but an apparatchik is less hesitant: "After many years of increasing financial difficulty and shifting funds around between various accounts, effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul, we are getting a very clear and honest picture of the financial mess our Synod is in..." Translation: it was the previous administration.

Well, at least it's all fairly subtle, or more subtle than some tithing sermons you'll hear in certain other churches. I'm willing to respond to the call by putting the first dollar into a Matthew's Mo account. The idea is to sponsor Harrison in shaving off the luxuriant growth on his upper lip. The synod could raise millions!