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Notes for reading of August 25

Pass the Plate?

What do you think of the business of taking collections weekly at worship services? Today's reading doesn't exactly say, "Don't do it," but it certainly suggests another model:
Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Paul seems to recommend that each individual set aside some amount of money and then offering it for special needs; he doesn't seem to be addressing regular, ongoing support of religious professionals. Jesus Christ himself said, "the laborer is worthy of his wages" (Luke 10) and Paul said, "those who preach the gospel should receive a living from the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9).

But notice how practical Paul is: set aside something from your income each week. I'm going to guess (I'm on the train and not near any reference materials) that many people were paid weekly -- or maybe daily -- in those days. These days, many of us are paid monthly, semimonthly, or biweekly -- but it's eminently practical to set aside some money from the paycheck to give. Whether to a local congregation to support the staff (pastors, faciities people, secretaries, et al), to missions, to relief and development in the name of Jesus -- it's a good idea.

I don't know how it is for you, but for me, the best thing to do after setting aside that money is to give it away before it burns a hole in my bank account and I spend it on something. We have a regular giving plan, which our bank makes very convenient. For example, there's a standing order to send some money to our local church after every paycheck and it just happens; we don't have to remember to write a check, find an envelope, etc. One mission agency just pulls money from our account monthly.

This plan isn't for everyone -- if these things feel like just another pile of bills, then you don't get the experience of giving, you may not remember to pray for them, etc.

But for me, it's very important that the money get to the church and to mission and relief and development workers around the world. The way I figure it, it's better to pay very regularly and pray sporadically than to pay irregularly and pray somewhat less sporadically. Because let's face it, if I had to write a check, find a stamp and envelope and the little forms they always ask you to send to them (etc), that wouldn't guarantee that I'd pray more for these guys.

Is that my lack of faith, an unhealthy preoccupation with the practical? Or is it rather an acknowledgement of my own limitations (as the theologian/philosopher Clint Eastwood said, "A man's gotta know his own limitations")? I like to think it's the latter, but I know my heart is deceitful.

It's good to depend on God. It's good to have the experience of giving, and for it not to feel like another bunch of bills. But it's also good for missionaries (some of whom I know personally) to get a regular paycheck.

Imperfect world, imperfect solutions. May the Lord lead each of us to a way that's good and that pleases Him.

actually posted 2007-07-31

Making donations

So today's readings include 1 Corinthians 16, which opens with this advice on giving:
Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.
1 Corinthians 16.1-3
I don't know how many times I've read these verses, yet this morning I saw something new. (Or maybe I saw it before and just forgot -- an advantage of getting older?)

Here it is. Paul is not talking about giving to our local congregations. This is talking about getting together a pot of money to send to Jerusalem, so they won't have to "pass the hat" when Paul comes to visit. Paul volunteers to go with them "[i]f it seems advisable."

In other words, this is talking about regular giving for relief and missions.

So at the bottom of this posting I'll write something about why giving is so important, but if you already believe in giving, here's something practical that we have done at our house. What we've found is that any money left in the checkbook will get spent. It just disappears. In other words, ff I think we'll give what's left at the end of the pay period, we won't give anything.

So what we do instead is this: we have automatic donations.
We've authorized some mission agencies to automatically take a fixed amount from our checking account monthly. These are scheduled in Quicken® so they don't come as a surprise. The checkbook balance reflects the withdrawls, so for most purposes the money is "already gone" so we don't spend it. Some of our giving is via credit card. Why is that? Maybe because it's easier to keep track of that way. And for some other charities, we have our bank send a check every pay period (they don't charge us for this).

So this scheme has both pluses and minuses. The plus side is we plan our giving and we can tell at the beginning of the year how much we're giving to whom. We don't forget to send checks, so that relief agencies, missionaries, etc., aren't subjected to our forgetfulness.

The minus side is that with giving on autopilot, we don't have the same experience of giving on a regular basis -- reading about some situation somewhere, for example, and deciding to send a special gift. Well, we do sometimes, but it's "special" and so by definition it's not usual or regular.

About the "why" of giving


Why is giving important? Of course it's important for whoever is receiving it -- whether it's But it's also important for the giver.

The problem that I have, anyway, is that I feel money has too much power in my life. I worry too much about it. It's like an idol, or would become one if I let it.

How to break the power of the idol? How were physical idols broken in Old Testament (pre-exile) times? They would physically break them into pieces, grind them into powder, burn them, scatter their ashes, etc., thus rendering worship impossible. To break the power of money today, we can assert our power over it by giving it away and using it for the kinds of things God is concerned about (the above is just a partial list of course).