I took this picture in Bethesda yesterday. Where do you think this banner is hanging? The local primary school, our town hall, outside a car dealership, a grocery store, a CVS drug store, or maybe a bank?
It is in the front yard of St. John’s Norwood Episcopal church. You probably guessed this from the picture.
St. John’s has an active community presence. My wife has volunteered at their Opportunity Shop for two decades. A group within the congregation holds regular fund raising efforts for Ukraine in partnership with nearby St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral.
Last week the two churches held an Easter bake sale that raised $8,600. The week before there was an appeal for 200 civilian tourniquets at $100 each. In three days they collected over $4,000.
Welcoming the stranger, you might say, is what churches are supposed to do. Right?
A Shared Value
That welcome is also one of the foundations of America as a land of hope and opportunity. For at one time in our family histories, we were all strangers to this land.
Americans by and large take pride in their roots elsewhere. In our family the kids trace their heritage back to the Scots-Irish, China, Africa and Missouri. Why Missouri? That’s where my Mom and Dad went to get married after Pearl Harbor because there was no required waiting period as in Illinois.
American businesses, such as Ancestry.com and 23 and Me, were created to help us trace our many heritages. Families sometimes refer to their Mayflower or Daughters of the American Revolution relatives. We are all immigrants for one reason or another.
However national daily events are undermining this core American ideal and strength.
Transactions Versus Values
Would your credit union put the above sign outside your main office? Some have sought to serve recent arrivals even using alternative identification numbers.
But credit unions compete in a capitalist society in which dominance and control are sought and celebrated. The deal maker is now as honored or more so than the entrepreneur.
Credit unions were designed as an alternative to this drive for power. The industry’s top public policy priority at the moment is to protect their tax exempt status. This was granted to reflect the non-profit purpose of serving those whose needs were unmet or taken advantage of by profit driven firms.
Values were core to this purpose. Individuals could find personal economic opportunity through a cooperative structure they owned and directed.
But market realities and personal ambitions have a siren allure that is hard to ignore. Here is the latest press release of this cooperative drive for market dominance headlined with the words: A Powerful Partnership
San Diego, Calif., (April 11, 2025) – In a move that would change the financial landscape of Southern California, California Coast Credit Union (Cal Coast) and San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) have announced plans to merge, pending regulatory approval and a Cal Coast membership vote.
Upon approval, the combined credit union will boast a powerhouse organization with assets totaling nearly $13.5 billion, 65 branch locations, and more than 1,400 employees serving members in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. The organization will remain the fourth largest credit union in the state and become the 16th largest in the nation. (emphasis added)
Size, power, dominance, strength, resilience are all elements of a transaction versus a value motivation.
Both institutions are financially strong, viable, creative and successful. However the cooperative merger math is that 1 + 1= 1. No longer are their two boards, two management teams and business strategies seeking to better serve their longtime member-owners. Not a single benefit is listed that is not already available for a person choosing to join either credit union. The industry has in fact reduced not expanded its reach.
The Stones Will Cry Out
One would hope that the long standing service of these credit union directors would have given them some insight into what makes credit unions different and successful. It is not size, ranking within their state or nation, or even the number of branches or ATM’s.
Values inform purpose. Together they can make credit unions a force to serve where for-profits will not. Without these integrated in the institution, the cooperative difference is lost.
Values are talked about at funerals. I attended performances of Brahms German Requiem this weekend.
Two English translations summarize the realities we all face:
“All flesh is as the grass, and all the glory of mankind is as the flower of grass. For the grass withereth and the flower thereof is fallen.”
And in case we miss the point, “Verily mankind walketh in a vain show, even his best state is vanity.”
The sign above has a little noticed two words in the lawer left hand corner. It says “Faithful America.”
The Brahms Requiem and two words on the banner remind us of our transient and transcendent opportunities. If we are silent in these moments of responsibility, one prophecy says the “rocks will cry out” the truth of our behavior. What sign will you put outside your credit union?