The meaning of money and the Church in the credit crunch

Our friend Simon Barrow has an interesting piece in this week's New Statesman (Our household tends to always be reading th NS at least a week late because of the post) on the Church in the Credit Crunch.

When the archbishops of Canterbury and York started to sermonise on short-term greed and the failures of market, they were embarrassed to discover that the Church had been playing the system in pretty much the same way as everyone else.

Meanwhile the issue of the NS I'm reading on the bus in the mornings has a good article by James Buchan on the radical reform needed in the banking sector. about 10 year ago he wrote "Frozen Desire: an inquiry into the Meaning of Money" and the title set me thinking.
One of the tags on my blog is meaning of life and the course we use to teach the young people catechism is called "un sens à ta vie" a meaning to your life.
So what is it that gives meaning to life? Money? Possessions? Security? Music? A new Ipod? People? Recognition?

For me I know that over the years my attitude to money has changed, it has become more important for me personally as the society I live in became more obsessed with it. For any member of the clergy that is a pretty shocking admission I feel.
Does money have more meaning in my life than God? I think the problem is that somewhere along the line I like so many others have come to equate money with recognition.
As Simon says in the NS article above "The founder of Christianity once pointed out that “where your treasure is, there is your heart also”.