What Are You Giving Up For Advent?

This morning I was standing in line at the cash register at a local store.  There was Christmas music playing in the background, and I became aware that all three of us in line were toe tapping etc. to the music.  I noted this to them and suggested that it must mean that it was early in the season as later on we would likely be complaining about being tired of hearing it.  We had a nice chuckle, and one of the women noted that it wasn’t even December yet.  When I commented that Advent starts tomorrow one of the women asked what I’m giving up.  I said that we give things up for Lent and not Advent, and that it is a good thing!  That got me thinking…

We actually give up many things during Advent don’t we?

• We give up common sense with respect to our eating habits.  Our best intentions with respect to eating healthfully typically go out the window as the chocolate, candy and home-baked sweets are set out to tempt us, and big family dinners go on and on!

• We give up on our budgets as we buy special clothing for Christmas parties, and get caught up in all the Christmas shopping hype.  Out come our credit cards and we lose track quickly of how even really great prices can be too much if you buy too many things.

Neither of those are good for us, but there are more things given up during Advent and Christmas…

• We relax those tight fists on our purse strings and donate more to charities and causes.  Knowing this it is the main time of year for organizations such as World Vision to put out catalogues of items so that people see something concrete to go along with their monetary donation.  Along with our money we loosen up and give more of our time and talents at this time as well.  People go out to entertain at nursing homes, work to collect food and clothing for food banks etc.

• It is a time to give up on despair, to be replaced by the hope that comes with the birth of the Messiah.

• We give up on arguments, feuds, and wars (remember hearing about the troops in the WWI in 1914 meeting in no-man’s-land to celebrate Christmas) and accept the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace!

• We let go of our inner Grinch and, in joy, we smile, sing, and celebrate the birth of a baby boy!

• And finally, out goes our loneliness as we accept the love of God and the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So it turns out the question the woman asked me in line this morning was pretty insightful after-all.  What will I give up for Advent?  How about you?

Money In The Collection Plate

 

Several years ago the decision was made at our church to have the Sunday school kids carry their offering up to the front of the church along with the adults.  Now, each Sunday the hall monitor goes to the classrooms when the offering is taken in church and gets one of the kids from each classroom to bring in baskets with the offering for the class.  These adorable developing Christians come forward ahead of the adults, some shyly, some proudly, and some practically skipping.  It is one of my favourite parts of the service.  The decision was made so that the kids would be able to connect the collection in the classroom with the congregation’s offering to God and see that their little bit is a part of a bigger whole. 

 

Why do we give money for the offering on Sundays?  We know from the story of “the widow’s mite” that a collection was taken in the Synagogue during Christ’s time.  Along with the meat, grain, and oil from people’s sacrifices these offerings went towards the maintenance of the synagogue and for the livelihood of the priests.  Little has changed.  Our congregational offering is handled by boards of members who oversee the maintenance of the physical plant, the stipend for the minister, the materials for worship, the power bill etc.  This is what we do with the offering, but is it why we give?

 

It is tax season.  People keep track of their charitable donations over the course of the year and claim them against their income as an aid to getting a break on what they owe, or even a possible refund.  We give our members envelopes which allows anonymity with the offering counters as well as a way for the treasurer to credit our giving.  Is this the reason we give?

 

Many of us are familiar with Paul’s words in  2 Corinthians 9, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”   This is used frequently in sermons and talks on stewardship and it sounds great.  If you read the rest of the section it is a part of a letter arranging to send some workers along to help prepare for the collection of a large offering from the congregation.

 

Jesus talks about tithes while pointing out that the Pharisees do a great job of giving the tithe in the things like spices but not in the things that matter like mercy, judgement and faith.  When a rich young man asks how to get into heaven he is told to sell all that he has and give it to the poor.  He talks about giving what we have, and for some of us this does not necessarily include money alone.  

 

There are many possible motivations for putting out pennies in the offering plate.  While the amount we give may in some way be related to the taxes etc. I believe that we give because we love and believe in God and are grateful for his abundant gifts to us.  We give as a way to give praise, show gratitude, and help to further the work of God’s kingdom.  Hopefully as we place our envelopes, coins or bills in the plate we may feel like one of our children skipping down the aisle with baskets in our hands!