Tithing

While I was attending Virginia Theological Seminary one of the ways I was financially supported was assistance from St. John’s, my home parish. Each semester, when I would receive my check from St. John’s, I would struggle with the question of tithing. If St. John’s was giving me this money, if they were looking at this contribution as outreach, would it be right to then give them some of it back to them? Wouldn’t they rather have the money be used for what they intended, rather than coming back to them? Each semester I struggled with these questions, and each semester I missed the point.

Over this past year I’ve come to see just how much I was missing the point when I would struggle with these questions. My mistake was that I was looking at tithing as giving money to the St. John’s. I was thinking, when I tithe, I am giving to the church to do churchy things. What I failed to understand was that tithing isn’t about giving money to the church; tithing is about giving money to God. Yes, the church is the intermediary, and acts as the manager of that money, but the money isn’t the church’s, it belongs to God.

The purpose of tithing is not to fund this ministry or that ministry. It’s not to support clergy, staff members or upkeep of property. Yes, it accomplishes these things, but that is a side effect, we are not buying or supporting any service or membership. We tithe for a couple of reasons. First, to use the language of the ancient Israelites, it is a freewill offering. It is a gift to God not to earn God’s favor, not to make right some wrong we have done, but simply to say thank you. By giving up a piece of our worldly treasure we are saying to God, "thank you for all that you have given me.” Doing this, we also prioritize our lives, as Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." In tithing we give thanks to God for all the blessings that we have been given and we say to God that we recognize that our material wealth is secondary to God’s love, to God’s presence in our lives. When I was at VTS I was withholding from tithing because I thought it would be foolish to give the church back money they had given me. As I said, I missed the point. I should have been tithing, because I wouldn’t be giving St. John’s back their money, I’d be giving them God’s money, to do God’s will. I would have been saying thank you to God in a real and tangible way for the overwhelming support I had through seminary. I would have been ordering my life in a way that showed that I recognized God as central in all parts of my life.

Since starting here at St. Paul’s with all of you, I have been tithing. One of the first things I did when I arrived was set up a PayPal account and an automatic deposit for my tithe. Some months money has been tight and I was unsure about whether or not I’d be able to make ends meet, but I never lowered the amount of my pledge and things always worked out all right for me. Looking back, I’m glad I never lowered my pledge. Not only do I see it as a tangible prayer of thanksgiving for all the wonderful blessings in my life, but tithing has given me a deeper and greater appreciation for all the wonderful blessings I have been given.

I recognize and understand that the financial realities of our lives can make it difficult and sometimes impossible to tithe, to give ten percent of our income over to God, and that's OK. As we approach our stewardship campaign this fall, I urge you all to prayerfully consider a few things. First, remember that in pledging any amount to the church you are not supporting a particular ministry, a particular staff person or a particular utility bill, you are giving of yourself in thanksgiving to support the coming of God’s Kingdom. Pray about all the blessings in your life, about all the gifts that God has given you, and approach pledging in the mindset of a thank offering to God for all these blessings. As you pray about these things remember Jesus’ words that ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’.

Yours in Christ,
Patrick+