Worship Notes: On the Offering and Offertory

Go to: previous article – or – next article – or – article menu – or – home page

I know it’s been awhile since the last “Worship Notes” article, but I would like to pick up where I left off in the liturgy.  Some time ago, I wrote about the Offering and about the Tithe, * so I would like to approach it this time from a more basic, but then to a more expansive, understanding. 

I am aware and very grateful that much of what goes into our offering plate becomes staff salaries and program support.  Some might look at the church as a charitable organization and be tempted to call it “high overhead.”  It is important, I believe, to remember that strictly defined “charity” is but one thing in the ministry of congregations.  When we put our financial gifts in the offering plate, we are supporting the whole ministry and mission of the congregation, and of the whole Church.  When I give to Messiah Lutheran Church, I know (personally) that I am supporting the ministry that God does through people like Pastors Joe and Steve, Erv Steinle, Rachel Ashley, Traci Vatne, Fawn Hall, Carmen Ode, Lynne Inman, through our Ministry Teams, our building, our electricity and heat…and on and on.

With that in mind, I also take delight in that we are a generous and charitable congregation.  Sure, I’d always like to challenge us to do more, but that’s because I already delight in our congregation’s ministry, and the ELCA’s and the wider Church’s, and want to see more.  I love that we’re a part of it—and I’d love to spread that excitement to any that would listen to me.

 Recently, I read an article by a friend of mine that made a very important point about liturgy.  He wrote, “The liturgy is not…an explanation of something else.” Our liturgy is not just “symbolic.”  It actually does what it describes.  The Offering is not just “symbolizing” our gratitude toward God; it doesn’t just “represent” our generous feelings.  It is our gratitude.  It is our generosity that we place in the plate.

When that is the spirit that fuels our giving, then we truly are giving “our selves, our time and possessions to God.”  We are giving everything, because giving in gratitude and generosity means that we are giving from the heart!  It is an action of Christianity that, yes, needs to inform our whole lives, but still in that one moment does what God asks of us.  We are grateful.  We respond in generosity.  We are acting as Christ.  My friend, Dr. Sam Torvend, wrote: “Christ acts in the assembly of the baptized in the pattern of his own life through the actions of the liturgy.” **

Go to: previous article – or – next article – or – article menu – or – home page