A Message from the Pastor
I got my first regular paying job when I was 14 years old. I was hired to be the organist in our little, country Lutheran Church in central Pennsylvania. I remember that I was paid the princely sum of $5 per service. On average $20 a month for a 14 year old in 1971 wasn’t bad money. I remember going to the bank once a month with my Dad to cash my ‘paycheck.’ That’s when I learned one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life. I would have loved for the bank teller to give me a $20 bill. After all in 1971 a teenager seldom saw a twenty dollar bill. But Dad always told the teller to cash my check with three $5’s and five $1’s. Then he would immediately ask the teller to put the three $5’s in my savings account, and I was allowed to keep the one dollar bills. When we got home Dad would say, “Okay now $2 goes back as your tithe to the church.” The other three dollars went to buy baseball bubblegum cards (back then they cost a nickel a pack) and the other necessities for a 14 year old.
When I look back I remember not being too happy about that $2 going in the church offering plate (it was after all, 10% of my income). Two dollars was a good sum in those days, and I could dream of all kinds of things I could buy for myself. But my Dad taught me the most important spiritual lesson of my life. One day when I was grumbling about the two dollars he said, “Kerry, where does the money that you were paid come from?” The answer was easy, the church paid me for being organist. “And why do they pay you to be organist?” Because I know how to play the organ, and they need someone to play. “And where did you get the ability and the talent to play?” Now I knew this was the clincher … from God, I had to answer. “And if God didn’t give you this talent, how much would you be earning?” Yeah, okay, I got the point.
“Kerry,” he explained, “God gives all of us a tremendous ability to do many different things. We are blessed that some people pay us for our talents and abilities. But none of it belongs to us. It all belongs to God. Look at it this way, God let’s you keep $18 out of every paycheck. He only asks for $2. If you ask me that’s a pretty generous God.”
Over the years I’ve thought about the lesson my Dad taught me. Over the years there were times when money was tight and my salary was slim. It would have been easy to find a little extra for myself by dipping into my tithe. Believe me the temptation was strong, after all nobody’s going to call the bill collector if you cut back on your tithe. But I also realize how greatly God has blessed my family and the fact that we never wanted for anything we needed over the years.
If you are at worship on Sunday, October 3, you’ll hear me tell this story. And you’ll hear me issue a challenge … Try tithing what God has given you for one month. It may not be as painful as you think. And the blessings to you might just be ‘out of this world!’
