Stewardship season is always a wonderful time.  We experience our Children’s Choirs and Chimers, featuring the angelic voices of our   ever-growing number of children, who call us into God’s presence.  We sing with one voice some of the great hymns of the church.  Fall is often a time when we may baptize a baby, join our hearts in prayer and are inspired by beautiful anthems sung by our adult Chancel Choir.  At the close of these services, hundreds come forward to renew their covenant with Christ and His Church for the coming year through the offering of their financial pledges.  It is always an exciting and wonderful day in the life of our church.

After one of the Stewardship services last year, someone asked about tithing—this always happens.  I told this person that I am for it!  I believe it is a call from God, therefore I do it!  I think they suspected that, and we laughed together out loud.  This person, however, confessed they sincerely wanted to know more about giving to God—what it means, what God call for, and what if we do or do not ‘give.’

I suspect many of us have or have had questions about the spiritual practice of giving one-tenth of one’s income to God.  Is this supposed to be ten percent of gross or net income?  Does this ten percent include giving to all other worthy charitable organizations or just the ones that are Christian-based?  Does this ten percent just include what we give to our church?  What about giving to things like the building fund or a special needs project?  Do those types of giving count toward the ten percent or are those considered ’second mile’ giving?  What exactly is ‘second mile’ giving?

These are all legitimate questions.  The Bible serves as our guide for answering these questions, but  think sometimes people may miss the point.  What I’m about to say may surprise some of you, but tithing may not be for everyone who enters a church, or even joins in membership.  Yes, God calls for it, Jesus teaches us to ‘give to God what is God’s’ (which, quite frankly, is everything we have), but tithing is not for everyone.  I can be, it even should be at least a start, but is not.  Marty and I have given at least ten percent of our income back to God through the churches where we have been called to serve for the last thirteen years.  As I said, I am for tithing—I believe in it and I do it.  There are, however, some individuals for whom this spiritual discipline may be either too great a cost, or too small of a sacrifice.

So, let’s make this whole tithing thing a little more concrete.  As a financial example, consider someone who may have an income of $10,000 a year.  Ten percent of that amount is $1,000, and giving that amount would leave them with $9,000.  A second example would be a person who makes $1,000,000 a year.  Ten percent of that would be $100,000, leaving them with $900,000.  As you can see, there is a significant difference in the level of commitment for these two people.  You see, in God’s economy, the generosity of a gift is measured not by how much is given, but by how much is remains.  Remember the story of the widow’s mite? 

Tithing is always a good way to start, but let’s think about the spiritual aspects of tithing.   Some believe in and trust God for all things—not only salvation and eternal life, but for all things in life—while others do not..  Some church-goers accept the holy teaching in God’s Word as life-giving, authoritative and true—the Word of God—while others do not.  Tithing can be, and should be, at least a start for all Christians, but rather sadly, it is not.

As we have celebrated on numerous occasions, this is a generous congregation.  I will not say that you must tithe.  I will leave that up to you and your family.  As with all spiritual matters, it is ultimately between you and God.  Think of the way John Wesley taught on the matter of tithing and giving:  “Gain all you can...Save all you can...Give all you can.”  To me, that’s “Methodist Stewardship!”

Whether you are a ‘tither’ yet or not, I hope you will become a ‘pledger’ in the years to come.  When each of us gives with a grateful heart—whether that gift be large or small—God blesses the gift, multiplies it, and enables it to bless the lives of those who are in need.   I bet most of us can think of at least one occasion when God has done this in our own lives.  If you have already pledged to this year’s budget, thank you!  If you have not yet pledged, please let us hear from you soon.  At Monroe First United Methodist Church, every gift is important.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.

By His Grace,

Dane