Devotional Classics, Elizabeth O'Connor, Excerpts from
Letters to Scattered Pilgrims
We covenant with Christ and one another to give proportionately beginning with a tithe of our incomes.
Proportionate giving has kept us from mistaking our churchgoing for Christianity, and from looking at our neighbor to see what we should be doing.
It was not that our souls were so quickly converted, but that we sensed that something important was going on, and we wanted to be a part of it. We had been captured by a man's vision of what community might do if it really cared about the oppressed and the suffering.
In a recent sermon on money Gordon [Cosby] said as forcefully as ever that to give away money is to win a victory over the dark powers that oppress us. He talked about reclaiming for ourselves the energy with which we have endowed money.
Despite our corporate style and our exposure to the issues that are raised around the subject of money, we know that we have not gained much "downward mobility." While we have succeeded in stabilizing our standard of living, most of us cling to what we have known. Though the budgets of our faith communities are large by traditional standards, we are fully aware that they represent only a fraction of the potential giving of the congregation.
Coming to know some of our suffering sisters and brothers in the Third World and in the ghettos of Washington has made all the difference in the way we view the earth. The unemployment statistics are made up of people that we know.
Through we along with millions of other churchgoers are saying that Jesus saves, we ask ourselves if we are not in practice acting as though it were money that saves.
Do we believe that money and possessions have away of coming between people who want to be in community with each other? Do we really believe that every life has resources more priceless that gold, and that our hearts, minds, and labor are adequate for any task? What is the world is right and there are things that only money can buy, gifts of the spirit that only money can unlock, and blocks that only money can push aside? (pp. 251-255)
You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
In the ways of money, I usually feel I am on the foothills of great mountains. I glimpse the heights, but they seem so far off. I give, but not with freedom and abandon. I sweat out the times when money is tight and easily rejoice when we have a little extra to spend, showing that my viewpoint is still set much lower than it will be. I have much climbing to do, and with faith and hope, much greater sights to see.
It is encouraging and discouraging at the same time to see people who have come a long way compared to "traditional standards" and yet still find there is much higher to go. It is encouraging to know that my struggles and questions are not merely from my immaturity in this matter, but from the pervasive and powerful influence of money on people's lives. It is discouraging because although there is a certain "stabilizing [in my] standard of living" I can anticipate, there is an uphill climb to let go of money and other temporary items and walk with Jesus in "downward mobility."
O'Connor puts before me the barrier that money and possessions are to community. Money often works against sharing, relating, giving, and creating. An interesting picture of this is the use of gift cards instead of gifts. It is as if the most important part of a gift is what a person wants. A gift card makes gift giving more impersonal, self-centered, and ritualistic. It removes much of the warmth that other gifts could supply.
Money insulates me from other people. I but things for myself instead of asking and sharing with others. Money insulates me from life. Instead of learning and building, I pay and try to manage. Money insulates me from pain and suffering. Instead of walking with those who suffer, I try to make them better with money.
Not that money is bad in itself. It can do great good. Because of my tendency to look to my own status and abilities apart from God (the flesh) to accomplish what I want, money often plays right into the hands of greed, fear, and worry. In this sense, it is an oppressing power that I can become increasingly free from through generous giving. There are vast resources of energy stored and wasted on money-making and gathering that I might tap into if I could just let go.
O'Connor gives some hints for such freedom. First, there is discipline. For my own good and the good of those around me, "proportionate" giving is a powerful tool. It is not righteousness. It is not something that will set me higher than others or give me greater favor with God. It is a wisdom for living with God in his kingdom now and forever. It is simply the guide for right investment of my money: rich toward God.
Along with such a discipline, perhaps even prior to it, a vision of being a part of "something really important" is essential. The widow gave her last cent to the temple because of a vision of God's greatness, his goodness, and his generosity. Such giving will bring about much greater things that larger gifts of money that had no hope, faith, or vision with them. Giving money must be accompanied by a "given" life, or as Paul puts it in Romans 12:1, a "living sacrifice." The vision of "something greater" is that of King Jesus and his kingdom in these days and into all eternity.
Also, the investment of money comes from really caring about the oppressed and the suffering. Really, it is fundamentally why money has been entrusted to me. The great vision of God is that all his children might be cared for, just as I would desire it for my own. Coming to know those who suffer and are oppressed instills a greater sense of responsibility when I work with my money. Granted, such a focus can become a mere guilt-trip and even become near-sighted enough to see money as the
primary gift I am to give.
To keep such things as guilt and
mere social justice from warping compassion, I need to keep the "inward" journey balanced with the "outward" journey, as O'Connor's Church of the Saviour sought to do. I must not mistake giving money as compassion any more than churchgoing is real Christianity. Insightfully, she says I must avoid the practice of "looking at our neighbor to see what we should be doing." To some degree, it is okay for me to be on the foothills of giving.
Lord, keep my eyes on the oppressed and suffering, my hand ever ready to give up and hand over my things, and most of all, my heart on that "something more important": you, your kingdom, your hope for a loving family in the likeness of Jesus. Money is a "small thing" in your eyes, but it can be big enough to keep me from you. Free me from its oppression today. My hands are open before you. Take what you will and leave me with you, Father. Amen.
I want to deepen my vision of that loving community and family that the Lord longs for. I want to seek this kingdom not as a dream or a project, but as a reality I have yet to see and encounter. The kingdom is here and has so much more growing to do in God's time and by his power. I will seek this kingdom through learning how to give more freely and with more abandon. I believe I will discover that deeper community on the way.
