Peripatetics: The Art of Walking
Friday, May 13, 2005
Yeah, I know. Churches beg for money. It's one of the common knocks against the tribe when people leave a church. "The pastor's always talking about money," they say as they gripe and spend their Sundays at home.
Maybe there's some truth to it. My church experience is relatively limited, so maybe there's this thing going on that I'm unaware of...but it seems to me that LOTS of organizations want your money.
Nobody really whines if Public Television only shows the very best shows during their week long fundraiser. If there's a telethon on a holiday to raise money for reasearch to eradicate a truly horrible disease it's pretty much dismissed as both needed and tradition. If the local firefighters need a little cash they "pass the boot" in my community at stop lights. If the local playground needs to be rebuilt due to vandalism, I can buy a plank with my child's name on it.
Seems to me that the difference is in the expectation of the hearer. I guess maybe people go to church expecting to hear something "relevant to their lives" or "encouraging" or "spiritual." The other folks asking for money are just doing their jobs...and obviously, where would we be without Sesame Street (or Ramones documentaries, which Public TV showed two weeks ago! Sweet!) and research and fire fighting equipment or local parks? Those benefit us directly, right?
Well, maybe those pastors accused of "begging for money" might benefit from Christ's teaching on giving in Matthew 6: 2--4:
"When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you."
Now, keep in mind, these verses fall smack in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, in giving His Kingdom manifesto to the hearers was beginning His public ministry by delivering a sermon. He'd already rocked their world by telling them that just because they're Jewish by race, they'd been given a blessing they hadn't been experiencing or sharing, and they're failing at being the people of God. Then He addressed them on the reality that it's about heart attitudes and not legal score-keeping, and is now going to follow up on "kingdom living."
And isn't it interesting that the first thing He addresses in practical life is giving to the poor (alms)? In fact, He starts off with "when" you give, not "if" you give. Christ assumed that giving was crucial in life in His Kingdom.
He begins with the reality that some of the followers of God were making a "show" out of their giving to the poor. They'd blow a trumpet in the very streets, making a parade out of their gifts so that others would see how "compassionate" they were. Same went for making a big deal out of their giving in the Temple. Jesus let them know that the attention they got from others would be their entire reward...it wasn't impressing God one iota.
But they were supposed to be giving. It's a spiritual discipline. And it came up FIRST in the practical Christian living.
So, if Christ thought it was so important, why do so many pastors take heat when they bring it up? Why does it ruffle so many people's feathers?
Maybe it's because it's rarely taught at the opportunity it really is. Perhaps those teaching it are actually teaching it as an obligation, a duty, and using guilt motivation to do it. That's my suspicion, anyway. But they do that because people tend to be slow in giving to the church...so it's a vicious circle.
When, in reality, giving should excite us...it's an eternal investment.
For example, through a series of events, our student ministry wound up with some coffee shop equipment. The professional kind...a la Starbucks. Long story short, it was an answer to an awful lot of prayer. In fact, an even longer story short, it's a chance to reinvent our outreach ministry.
This reinvention will be enhanced by some changes in the layout of our student ministry room. We'd love to build a deck, a nice one, with a firepit for barbecuing and winter weather benefits. We'd like to get some trellis work done around the deck to keep the harsh Texas sun off in the summer using vines and greenery. We'll need to install a door where the window is now. There's some other minor "start up" costs, too.
Recreating this environment will fit where the teens are right now. In our warp-speed community, teens are looking for down time. Starbucks, and it's philosophy of the "third space" (home, work, & "hang out") is reaping huge benefits and profits. We think we can offer a "third space" and do it cheaper and as a service, and turn that into long-term benefits for the Kingdom.
It's an opportunity that should excite our church body. The chance to provide something needed/wanted, do it in a relevant manner to where the teens in our community are.
And that's just one thing our church is doing. There are literally all sorts of opportunities we get to be a part of from child care to senior citizens and everything in-between. Christ is at work, changing lives all across the board, and we have a chance to be a part of that through giving...even the maintenance costs to keep our doors open are a chance to give.
And one of the benefits are that we get to be unified with others in a cause SO much bigger than ourselves and be a small part of the work that God is doing in the world. Giving money is actually something that Christians are the only ones doing, we just do it with more than civic responsibility...we do it to give God glory and help others get what we already got. We give because we love God and love our neighbor.
No guilt.
Just opportunity.
So, for today...What are the positives and negatives you've seen with how giving is presented? What difficulties do you face in making this discipline a priority in your life?
Brent 4:31 AM
Comments:
its difficult for me to give because i feel like i need to be saving for while i'm in college, and while my living expenses increase daily with the rising oil prices, it just makes it that more difficult
other people need to comment cause its the cool
other people need to comment cause its the cool
it got cut off at the end, but i was saying other people need to comment cause its the cool thing to do
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