“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, iii)
Whether it is the advice that Polonius gives to his son Laertes, or the Proverb that reminds us that “borrowing leads to obligation and loss of freedom (Pr. 22:7),” it is not hard to find admonitions about going into debt in a broad range of wisdom literature. Whether we are the lender or the borrower, what is clear is that when debt is involved in a relationship the cloud of money darkens the atmosphere in which the two parties’ dwell. Openness and equality are harder to come by when the expectation of something owed is introduced into the chemistry of a relationship. So, when we are released from a debt, we feel the air clear and the lightening of our load.
In this season when we as a congregation have just paid off our mortgage, I am thinking a lot about the role of debt in our world. My thoughts often go to matters concerning interest rates and credit scores, borrowing capacity and reports of foreclosures, discussions of forgiveness of student loans and bank failures. These things are a part of the atmosphere we breathe. They are familiar companions, at the forefront of our daily consciousness, reported on with minute-by-minute market updates and in command of much of both what motivates us to go to work and determines when we can retire. So, experiencing this little bit of freedom as a result of our mortgage payoff, is like being released into the “broad and open space” that the psalmists celebrate.
But all that said, I am reminded that this feeling of freedom is not merely rooted in the truth the building is now fully ours, that we now own it free and clear, or that the absence of that $4000 from our list of monthly payments has somehow made all things new. In one world, I suppose, this mortgage payoff changes a lot, but in another world, it changes nothing. In many ways our mission and ministry with respect to this land on which we have constructed these buildings is the same now as it was when we first occupied this space in the mid 1960’s. We are still called, and always will be called, to love our neighbors. And I suppose the most prominent question before us in the wake of paying off our mortgage is: in what ways are we being called to express this love in such a time as this?
The eradication of a debt has the potential of eliciting two opposite responses. It can invite a sigh of relief that says: “Ahhh, now we’re safe. Now we can rest. Our house is secure.” Or it can inspire the deep breath that one might take at the beginning of a new adventure. We can stop and celebrate a job well done or we can come around the bend, look at the road in front of us, inhale and ask, “I wonder what awaits us down this road?”
The accomplishment of paying off our mortgage is something we need to celebrate. And we will celebrate and thank God for the resources to do this. But instead of putting up our feet now that we are out of debt, I’d rather that we kick up our heels in joy and find in that joy the strength to embark on a new adventure to explore territory that we haven’t yet imagined.
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.
Acts 2:17
David Rohrer
Pentecost 2023