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Uh-huh. For what it is worth, I have always avoided
excusing my inability to afford something by saying, "I am just a
poor preacher," because I have never wanted anyone to be able to
reply, "I know; I have heard you."
When it comes to poor preaching, some of the poorest is
about money. Not because preachers find the subject too complex
or difficult, but rather because we are intimidated by dealing
with a topic in which we are perceived to have a vested interest.
When I was young and brave, I used to say that I actually ENJOYED
preaching about money, because, of all the idolatries to which
modern America is tempted, money is unquestionably #1. I said I
did not mind preaching about money because I liked to see the
generous folks smile and the stingy ones squirm. I said I did
not mind preaching about money because I was not preaching about
MY money, but GOD's. I am older now, and whether I like it or
not, the fact that my family and I are financially supported by
what comes in the offering plate, for me to preach about tithes
and offerings can be viewed with some legitimacy as feathering my
own nest. I do not want people to think that, and the easiest
way to avoid it is to avoid the subject as much as possible.
From all that I have been able to learn over the years, most
folks are quite content with that. In a book entitled Plain
Talk about Churches and Money,(2) one of the authors states:
Of course, faithful preaching will not allow avoiding the
subject of money. Fully one-third of Jesus' parables had to do
with money and possessions - that would be one sermon in three -
and that was in a society that was much less money-oriented than
ours. If Jesus' emphasis was that strong, what should a faithful
preacher's be? And whether he likes it or not!
Does it intrigue you to note where Jesus parks himself when
he comes into the Temple? As the lesson has it, "He sat down
opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into
the treasury." Interesting. Some folks do not mind that, I
suppose. Years ago, when I was doing Clinical Pastoral
Education, one of my colleagues served a church in which the
practice was to publish the amount that individuals gave from
week to week in the following Sunday's bulletin...John Jones,
$20, Mary Smith, $10, and so on. Should we try that here?
Somewhere I read about a minister who walked down the aisle while
the collection was being taken, looking at what each individual
put in the plate. After it was gathered, he returned to the
pulpit and said, "I know that some of you are upset with me for
what I have just done. But I wanted you to know that as surely
as I know what you gave, God knows." Yup. (But I wonder how
long he lasted in that church.)
The Lord knew how much the widow gave...and how much all the
others gave as well (and how much you and I will give today).
The issue was not the amount. Jesus told his companions, "this
poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to
the treasury. They all gave out of their
wealth; but she out of her poverty put in everything, all she had to live on."
Should she have done that? Given everything she had, even
the last little bit of food money, to God? God did not need it.
But then, I do not NEED it when my children give gifts to me.
For the time being, I am far wealthier than they; I could buy for
myself anything they might purchase for me. But they still give
me gifts - birthday, Christmas, Father's Day. Why? For the same
reason I gave gifts to MY Dad - they say "I love you, Dad." And
the value of those gifts is FAR greater than any dollar amount
involved. My Dad NEEDED nothing I ever gave him; but I needed to
give those gifts to him. No, God did not NEED what that widow
gave, or what you and I ever give. Instead, we give to God as an
expression of our relationship. We give because we need to give.
Should the widow have done what she did? Give everything? She
must have thought so. A gift, even a widow's two pennies, is a
symbol of the giving of ourselves.
Do you think Jesus was holding the lady up as a stewardship
standard? The answer is both yes and no. Yes...the amount she
put in was not much as anyone measures MUCH, but it reflected her
uncompromising trust in the provision of a loving God. She gave
100%. She trusted God to meet her needs. But the answer is also
NO. The biblical standard is ten percent, not 100. Both the Old
and New Testaments say the first ten-percent belongs to God (and
Jesus affirmed it)(4) - no if's, and's, or but's; we are left with
the other 90% to do with as we choose. To be sure the 90% should
be used intelligently, but God entrusts it to our discretion.
Granted, 100% does BELONG to God, and God can take it all back in
a heartbeat...literally. Meanwhile, God trusts us to be good
managers, faithfully setting aside the ten percent that is called
for.
A priest once asked one of his parishioners to serve as
financial chairman of his parish. The man, manager of a grain
elevator, agreed on two conditions: no report would be due for a
year, and no one would ask any questions during the year. At the
end of the year he made his report. He had paid off the church
debt of $200,000. He had redecorated the church. He had sent
money to missions. He had $5,000 in the bank. Needless to say,
everyone wanted to know how. The man quietly explained, "You
people bring your grain to my elevator. As you did business with
me, I simply withheld 10 percent and gave it to the church. You
never missed it."(5)
No, that is not a model I would hold up as appropriate, but
the truth of not missing the tithe is unavoidable. I have never
met anyone who faithfully tithed who regretted it. Never. I
have said it before and I say it again: to me, one of the genuine
miracles of our faith is how we end up with more in our
pocketbook AFTER we tithe than BEFORE. That is one I will never
understand, but I do know it is true. As has been said so often,
you cannot outgive God.
"In God We Trust"...our national motto, and it is found most
prominently on our currency. Ironic? No. What better place
could there be to remind us that our security, our ultimate
well-being, can never be a coin or piece of paper?
A poor widow...two small copper coins..."I tell you the truth,
this poor widow has put in more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in everything, all she had to live on."
One of my cyberfriends has written,(6)
"The woman had walked over to church from the
battered women's shelter, and was quite distressed to
find that she had missed the worship service. She was
going to be getting on a bus the following morning and
heading to a new life in a city 1,000 miles away. The
shelter had made arrangements for her to stay in a
shelter in the new city while she searched for a job
and housing and got herself on her feet. She had come
to the church because she wanted to pay her tithe and
have the pastor pray for her before she set out to
build a new life for her sons.
"She talked about how difficult it would be,
moving to this new city, and how she was going to have
to trust God if she was going to make it. She had no
church home, and knew that was something she was going
to have to change when she reached this new city. It
was the first of the month, and she had just received
her welfare check. She very carefully counted out
exactly 10% of it and handed it to me. I wanted to
refuse her money. As much as the church struggled
financially, she and her two young sons needed it more.
I opened my mouth to tell her to keep her money, but
something stopped me. I realized that the money (about
$33) would not make the difference between her making
it in the new town and not making it, but that her
giving it, and thus putting God first and living out
her trust in God, might very well make the difference.
So, I took the money. I delivered it to the counters
in the office, and found her a Bible. I wrote down
some passages she might find helpful in the front of
the Bible. I had a prayer with her. I sent her out
the door and on her way to a new life.
"I have no idea what became of that woman, and
don't even remember her name. I do remember her
determination that if she was going to make a success
of her new life, she had to put God first and live out
her trust in God. I suspect she and the widow had a
whole lot in common." The view from Jesus' pew: "He sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury."
As I said at the beginning of this, if I had my druthers, I would
not do much preaching about money - the subject intimidates me.
But this story is not so much about money as it is about trust,
the kind of trust that gives shape to the way we live our lives.
Jesus does not demean the big-money gifts, nor does he
romanticize the small one. The contrast is between people who
had gracious plenty who trusted their own resources and a poor
widow with nothing who put her complete trust in God.
The lesson is clear:
We never hear anymore about the widow in the gospel account.
She could have gone home from the temple that day, laid down her
weary head on her humble palette, and quietly starved to death.
An anonymous tragedy. But I bet not. I would be willing to bet
the farm that this poor lady's needs were met...and met and met
and met. She knew. God can be trusted.
1. Thanks to Ruge Jones, via Ecunet, "Gospel Notes for Next Sunday," #464, 11/8/97 for reminding me of this old gem. 2. Dean Hoge, Patrick McNamara, Charles Zech with a chapter by Loren Mead (Bethesda, MD : Alban Institute, 1997) 3. Quoted by Jack Sharpe, via Ecunet, "Bottom Drawer," #3308, 11/7/97 4. See Matthew 23:23 5. James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 460 6. Wendy Pratt, via Ecunet, "Sermonshop 1997 11 09," #19, 11/3/97
Clergy often come to their calling with a distinct
aversion to conflict and to having to deal with money
issues. Our culture seems to reinforce them in that
behavior. So long as clergy are cowed and anxious in
the face of money and wealth, they will remain silent
about the spiritual issue that touches our culture more
deeply than any other. The more I steeped myself in
this book and looked at churches around me, the more I
became convinced this behavior is the way a culture
controls a challenge to itself. A money-driven culture
seems to want clergy who are "safe" and "tame" when
dealing with the spiritual dimension of money.(3)
"When I read this text, I remember a woman I spent
30 minutes with seven years ago. I was serving an
inner city church, and a woman walked in with two young
children just as the service was ending. One of the
members came up to me a few minutes later and told me
that this woman wanted to talk to the pastor and pay
her tithe. The woman and I sat down in the front pew
to talk, and my daughter and her two young sons played
together under the piano as we talked. (That may be my
most vivid memory of that morning--the children playing
together under the piano).
Amen!
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