GinormaSource Writing

The Not-So-Hollow Chocolate Bunny

“Mama, why is my chocolate bunny hollow”? cried Tommy after biting off the ear of the chocolate bunny he received in his Easter basket from his parents. With a face full of anticipation, Tommy awaited the answer from his mother why he missed out on a pure solid chocolate rabbit. “Tommy, I know you think you might have been cheated out of some chocolate, but there is a reason I gave you that hollow bunny.“  I gave you that particular type so you will remember from now on why we celebrate Easter.”

“You see, long time ago there were some men who thought that they had been cheated out of something good too. They were followers of a certain teacher who they expected to take over the kingdom where they lived; but this teacher done the opposite of what they were expecting him to do.“ Tommy was bursting to find out the story of this teacher, so he said to his mother , “Mama , tell me more!“ she continued “ Well this teacher “ then Tommy blurted out “What’s his name?“.   “Jesus, his name is Jesus, Tommy“. Mama continued again “This teacher, Jesus, told them of deliverance for them from all things, and that he had a kingdom; these men who were his disciples thought that Jesus would make war with the officials in their homeland and be king. Jesus had a better plan. He planned to set men everywhere on Earth free from sin and death by dying for them.”  Tommy looked sad and confused as he asked “But how”? Mama reassured Tommy “Jesus did indeed die for us to be free, but the hollow bunny will remind you of something else hollow that we celebrate at Easter, the tomb where Jesus was buried.” Tommy said “Huh?” “That’s right, Jesus is alive, the tomb where He lay is just as hollow as that bunny!” said Mama. “Jesus rose from the dead and is in Heaven waiting to come back for us and establish His kingdom here soon!”  Tommy was excited and relieved to hear that Jesus is alive and will be king, just as he told his disciples. “Mama, I love hollow Easter bunnies, they really mean more than just some chocolate to eat, thank you for teaching me about Jesus and the empty tomb!”

“You see, Tommy, that hollow bunny is not so hollow after all, is it? It is filled with love, joy, hope and faith. Just like Jesus.”

Should the Church Teach tithing…That is the Question

I have been wrestling with the idea of tithing and how it impacts my spiritual life lately. As much as I want to share my money with God and do what He wants with it, I feel very uncomfortable giving money to most churches. I almost feel guilty giving money to a church that just doesn’t get it. On the other hand, I should be helping them to change, right? But I wonder whether my tithe will help them change or not.

So, I prayed about it and went another route. Since I felt many churches were just doing church for the sake of doing church, I felt I should give my money to people who would actually use my money to help needy people, the kind of people that most need help. Back in October/November I began giving my “tithe” to Red Cross online instead, but now I am at a place of again questioning whether I should be tithing to the church or not.

So I began wondering if, anywhere in the Bible, God told people to tithe to the church. I searched through Jesus’ instructions on spiritual life in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but didn’t find anything direct. It was assumed that people would give to the temple, and Jesus also raised the point of giving to the poor. So, I continued through the rest of the New Testament, but very little about giving to the church was in their either. We have in Acts the ideal church, where everyone pooled all of their resources and lived in community with each other (the church really was family!), and there is a chapter in 2 Corinthians in which Paul praises the generosity of the Corinthians. He says that each person should give what they have decided is right between them and God, and should give cheerfully.

In all of this I realize that the ideal for the church and for my money/tithe would be that the church would be living in community together, freely sharing resources, and that my money would be going to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and help the hurting. I do not want to give my money so that the church can have nicer chairs, a better sound system, a bigger building, and a new children’s program, which has nothing to do with spiritual life. In biblical times when Jews gave money to the temple it was because a) God explicitly told them to give money there and b) their money was being used for offerings and sacrifices to God and to take care of the Levities who ministered in the temple. Their money was not arbitrarily taken for “improvements” and bigger, better buildings, programs, etc. On the contrary, when money was needed for something other than serving God that money was taken separately with the knowledge that that was what the money was for.

I don’t want to go to far and become controlling about my tithe, thinking that God can only use it in ways I want it used. But I don’t think that God’s idea of ministry and effectively reaching out to the world is in using our resources to make church more comfortable for us. Rather than worrying about having a bigger building, better chairs, newer sound equipment, and all the rest of it I think we should be worrying about the needy and letting God take care of the rest of it that is where real spiritual life will be found. If God thinks we really need newer sound equipment to minister then He will provide that in a miraculous way, just as He would with a building, or new hymnbooks, or whatever.