By 1883 the standing liberty five-cent piece was a bit long in the tooth and the Treasury retained engraver Charles Barber to design new coinage. The revised five-cent piece, commonly known as the liberty nickel or "V" Nickel, had a lovely portrait of Lady Liberty on the obverse, and on the reverse a large Roman numeral five, with the name of our country above it and our motto -- E pluribus unum -- below it. The coin design was identical to that of the new five dollar gold piece.
An enterprising young man named Josh Tatum acquired a batch of V nickels and proceeded to gold- plate them. He then took them around to various businesses, buying one five-cent item, and getting back $4.95 in change. Thus he acquired a nice nest egg at a time when a typical worker made $2 a day. Soon Tatum was arrested but the Court acquitted him because he was a deaf-mute and did not represent the coins as gold pieces. The merchants had failed to verify; the loss was on them, Tatum got off scot-free with his hoard. The lesson I want to make here is not that crime pays (apparently sometimes it does, though usually for the wealthy), rather I want to say: don't settle for gold-plated nickels. Insist on the real thing!
That is certainly true in matters of faith. I believe that much of contemporary Christianity falls into what I would characterize as resume Christianity and formula Christianity. The former sees faith communities as good places to be members of, for networking and entertainment. Many are "un- denominational" or "non-denominational," meaning the congregation's beliefs depend on what the pastor had for breakfast that week. We rely on two thousand years of Catholic teaching and life. Formula Christianity is the bargain-basement variety. Just sign a statement acknowledging that your beliefs about Jesus are orthodox and you have a straight ticket to heaven. That does not track well to the Jesus who said he will reward each of us according to what we have done, by how we have lived.
Let me suggest instead that we be faithful to Jesus, rather than serving the interests of religious entrepreneurs and cons, and our own selfish motives. In the Jewish Testament reading today, God is depicted in a burning bush, talking to young Moses about becoming a liberator of the Jewish People. He makes the usual excuses, too young, too inarticulate. God isn't buying that line and tells Moses that he will be with him, so get with the program. Moses does and, with God's help, liberation succeeds. We see by the results that Moses' faith and message were genuine, were of God.
Today is the feast day of a newly-minted Saint, Prudence Crandall, who lived in the nineteenth century in Canterbury ,Connecticut. In 1881, she started a school for girls at a time when educating the female population was considered inappropriate. People argued that women were not suited to serious schooling and needed only to prepare to keep house, have babies, and satisfy husbands. In 1883, a young lady named Sarah Harris applied to the school and was admitted. Sarah was black, and became part of the first integrated classroom in our nation. Soon addition black girls were also admitted. The local population went totally berserk. Many white parents withdrew their daughters from the school. Merchants got together and announced they would refuse service to any black student. Townspeople ostracized the African- Americans and passed a town resolution in an attempt to close the school. When that failed, arsonists tried to burn it down and, in 1884, fearing for the safety of the students, Crandall shut the school down. But the spark she lit burnt on, leading to the opening of education to females and people of colour around the country. She was a force for good during the Civil War in opposition to slavery. And in 1890 Connecticut named her their official "state heroine,"
We in our own time are called to hear God's word for us, which comes to us at various times and in various ways, and what we know in our hearts, and live out in our lives, will bear the fruit that is true testimony to God's action. Insist on true religion, don't accept the popular cheap substitutes, don't take any gold-plated nickels!
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