Here’s
a question I’ve often wondered about. Why is it that the only thing
Episcopal clergy are fundamentalist about in their preaching is
tithing? I’ve noticed we take an uncharacteristically legalistic
approach on this subject. I have some thoughts as to why that might be.
This
Sunday’s Old Testament lesson (Dt. 26:1-11) is about the obligation to
return to God the first fruits of the harvest. It is a variation of the
theme about the obligation of tithing. Interestingly, though, the Old
Testament, which we Christians sometimes ignorantly characterize as
legalistic, even the law itself, Torah, which includes the Book of
Deuteronomy, does not approach giving so much as duty or a discharge of
legal obligation as an opportunity for the joyful giving of thanks. In
fact, Deuteronomy portrays the act of the giving of the first fruits of
the land as a liturgical call and response between God and God’s people,
a way in which God
shares with the people God’s own joy. God’s joy is expressed in giving
to us; ours in expressed in turn the same way.
Deuteronomy
is a book of rubrics very much like the rubrics or worship instructions
of our own Book of Common Prayer. Rubrics prescribe the right way to
worship. Deuteronomy goes into some detail about the giving of the
first fruits because the issue is right worship, by which we mean joyful
worship, thankful worship, and not really about legal obligation at
all.
It
prescribes that some of the first fruits are to be gathered in a basket
and taken to the priest. The priest, in turn, will take it and set it
down before the altar. It then prescribes the appropriate liturgical
formula: “You shall make this response before the Lord your God.”
What
the response turns out to be is a recitation of God’s saving acts
toward the people of Israel. It begins with a reminder of where they
came from, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor.” It recalls the
people’s time in Egypt, their oppression and enslavement by the
Egyptians, and God’s deliverance. It concludes with the recognition
that, after all this, God ‘brought us into this place and gave us this
land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
It
is then and only then that the act of giving occurs. “So now I bring
the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.”
First
comes God’s call to the people in generosity and salvation. Then comes
the people’s response of gratitude and generosity in return.
Giving
is not an obligation. It is a response to God’s prior generosity—God’s
deliverance from oppression and God’s provision of an abundant home.
God calls in generosity. We respond in generosity. It is not, I hope,
no matter how many stern stewardship sermons I hear, not about what we
have to do to make God happy but about what we have the opportunity to
do in gratitude.
It
all has only one purpose according to Deuteronomy. “Then you, together
with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate
with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your
house.” It’s not about duty. It’s about celebration.
Peace,+Stacy
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