From the bulletin of October 10, 2021
As I mentioned last week, this week is the annual financial report. Please see the handout for more details on numbers, accountability, and where it goes. In this space, I want to address the point of giving in the first place.
First, why does giving matter? Besides the obvious practical aspects, it is an important part of our spiritual lives. If what we believe about God is true – that he loves us, gave us his only Son, and calls us to eternal life with him – then it should affect everything we do in life. I cannot stress this enough, even though I know many won’t believe me, but I don’t care about making more money. As a responsible administrator, I have to deal with money, but my goal is not and has never been to just increase the bottom line. As your pastor, what I care about is your spiritual well-being. If you giving more money was bad for your soul, I would advise you to give less. I have in the past asked volunteers to do less for the Church because I saw it harming their prayer life and family.
All that being said, money is a part of your spiritual life. Jesus teaches that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). In a business world, it’s easy to see a balance sheet or a budget as just a series of practical concerns. The reality is that a budget is more: it is a mission statement. Any organization’s budget says far more about their priorities than a fancy mission statement or list of values. This is true for our personal lives as well. We might think we know what matters most, but sometimes a look at our budget can be a sobering reality check. Where we voluntarily spend our money shows what we value most. That’s why there is a theology of giving, a spiritual meaning to budgeting. It boils down to three things: God’s ownership, Our Stewardship, and Final accountability.
First, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (1 Corinthians 10:26, Quoting Psalm 24:1). Our possessions ultimately belong to God who created everything and, in his providence, has allowed some of those things to come under our ownership. We and they all pass away, but God oversees it all. This brings us to the second point, that we are stewards. From the beginning, God created Adam and Eve to watch over and care for the garden, not mindlessly consume it for their own pleasure. Jesus repeatedly uses the image of a “steward” in his parables, emphasizing that they are simply watching over what actually belongs to another person, the master. We have freedom in how we do this, but what we do with the things entrusted to us will be judged one day. That’s the final point of accountability. As we saw recently via St. James’ letter, our eternal fate has a lot to do with how we use our money and other wealth. This is good as well as bad, because it means we can gain eternal, spiritual benefits through the use of temporary, physical wealth.
This is why I’m appealing to you to re-evaluate your giving habits. Do you plan your giving? How do you determine how much you give? Is giving to the Church a budget priority or an after-thought? As my younger brother (married with 2 kids) once said to me, “Giving to the church should be the first thing to increase when your income goes up and the last thing to cut when income goes down.” More careful use of utilities, more frugal shopping for food, cutting back luxuries… these should all be tried before you give less to the Church. Again, not because I or the Bishop want more money, but because acting that way forms you to be a better Christian because where your treasure is, there is your heart. And yes, we should give to other charities, but we have a particular responsibility for the providing for our own spiritual community. It’s kind of like volunteering to coach sports for kids – a good practice, but you shouldn’t neglect your own children to do so. You can do both, but consider your priorities. And if you’re worried about accountability – which you have a right to ask about – I again refer you to the financial report handout.
Dropping spare change in the basket is better than nothing, but it is rarely a spiritual act. I encourage you to use envelopes or to sign up for online giving through our website. You can even set it to automatically draft like other recurring expenses. There are also ways to support the Church by naming it as a beneficiary for life insurance or other inheritance. There are ways to set up charitable gift annuities or to give non-monetary gifts like stock or property. Information on these and more can be found at diolaf.org/legacy-giving or by calling the Office of Stewardship and Development at (337) 261-5642. Even if these are not options for you, please take the time and energy to pray, reflect and then make your offerings deliberate and at least a little sacrificial. Thank you all for your generosity, and may God reward you “good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing” (Luke 6:38).