Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
pre-tax, post-tax, and young adult generosity
A recent discussion among some at Asbury has been "how should we define the expectation of tithing?" So, here is my attempt at defining what is the expectation on giving.
The word "tithe" is often thrown around as the standard for Christian giving. Asbury uses this word to describe the expectation of Christian giving as our 6th objective in our MVO. But just what is the tithe?
I don't want to spend much time on the biblical root of the word. I think most of us understand that the word is rooted in a biblical idea (search "tithe" on biblegateway.com) Basically, the biblical notion is that the people of Israel are required to give ten percent of their "income" to the LORD through the temple/tabernacle. In the Bible, this was not money in the way we think of money. Rather, it is the harvest of some commodity.
The word "tithe" is often thrown around as the standard for Christian giving. Asbury uses this word to describe the expectation of Christian giving as our 6th objective in our MVO. But just what is the tithe?
I don't want to spend much time on the biblical root of the word. I think most of us understand that the word is rooted in a biblical idea (search "tithe" on biblegateway.com) Basically, the biblical notion is that the people of Israel are required to give ten percent of their "income" to the LORD through the temple/tabernacle. In the Bible, this was not money in the way we think of money. Rather, it is the harvest of some commodity.
Through conversation with some lay people in our church, we learned that our stated objective on the tithe is not clear enough. Asbury states in objective #6: "Every member bringing the tithe (one-tenth) in loving obedience to God's gracious provision." Apparently, this is not clear enough.
The question that then came up: one-tenth of what? What box on my w-2 should I be looking at when determining what I should be giving ? Is this a pre-tax tithe or is this a post-tax tithe? And what about other "gifts" like professional services that I might offer the church?
I understand the question, but as I listen to this I can't help but think that these are simply the wrong questions. If our members are asking these questions then we have done a poor job of communicating the why of obedience to God. I think of Jesus' way of teaching. Jesus never communicated specificity of laws, he communicated spirit of laws. For instance, what does it mean to commit adultery? Is it only when I have sex with another woman? What about oral-sex? What about internet porn? Jesus' response doesn't give us a check list so we know when we have crossed the line; he takes us to the heart of the matter: adultery is when you lust in your heart.
On top of that specificity argument, there is another issue going on in the tithe discussion. There is the tithe in the Old Testament (10%) but in the New Testament this doesn't seem to be communicated quite the same way. In college, one of my New Testament professors (who looked just like Tom Skerrit from Top Gun: )
taught that the tithe wasn't even a NT concept. I'm not going to go that far. But one thing I am willing to say that if the law taught us to give 10%, then grace teaches us and empowers us to give much, much more. Here is where I will speak with specificity. If the law taught us to give 10%, then that is a good place to start. But more than that, the questions I would ask is how does money inhibit how you serve God? How does money make you afraid of the future? How do you serve others with your money?
If we are concerned with communicating pre-tax or post-tax tithes then we're totally missing it. Lets not sell our calling short. If you are not giving, then you need to be giving and 10% is a good place to start. But possibly, God is calling you to give more than that. We all need to be looking to give as much as we possibly can, not just get to 10% and call it good. The truth of the matter is, God is probably calling most of us to give well beyond 10%, but we are so in love with our money and us clergy are so afraid to say this that the church continues to live in bondage and the church continues to be underfunded.
On a final note, I think a lot about young adults and their financial giving. For some reason, it is very difficult to motivate young adults to give. Maybe they are bogged down with debt. Maybe they are unwilling to give to institutions. My thought though comes back to the call of discipleship. When we narrowly defining giving as 10% and then plead with people just to get to 10% we are selling short our call to live an alternative life in the world. The church has a radically different value system than the world's and yet most of the time we play by their rules. Young adults need the challenge of gospel living, not a prescriptive check list that they can say "Yes, I have arrived because I give 10% to my local church." I believe young adults are hungry for a radical challenge of discipleship. I think young adults are weary of sermons that simply gloss over the issue of why. We are weary of giving to an institution that just wants our money but is not calling us to come and give our lives for the sake of a calling that is beyond us. We want to be captured by a greater vision, a cosmic vision. Surely, the church is a place where that can take place.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Young Adults and Health Insurance
Sunday's Tulsa World reported this story: Young Adults And Health Insurance. Basically, young adults (here defined by ages 18-32) are one of the largest groups of people not currently enrolled in any sort of health insurance. As the government becomes more and more concerned about the uninsured, one way some states are attempting to solve the problem is by extending the time children can be enrolled on their parent's health insurance all the way to 29 or 30 years old.
I don't understand why this plan would need to be in effect. I don't understand, and yet I do. There is an ever increasing lengthening of adolescence in our culture. A generation ago, adulthood began somewhere between 18-22. Two generations ago it was definitely 18. Three generations ago, functional adulthood may have begun even earlier that 18 for some people. But with my generation, adulthood is not beginning now until 30, 35, and maybe even 40, remember the movie Stepbrothers?"
I am continually amazed by the number of people who move back in with their parents after college or are dependent on their bills (or some of their bills) being paid for by their parents after college. I understand that there is also an "invincibility" thought out there for young adults not on health care, but why are some of us still dependent on their parents for their cell phones? I also understand that there are special cases where people need help from their parents (like grad-school students), but this dependency is much deeper than those who are currently in grad school.
I wonder what the spiritual implications are to this longevity of adolescence?
I see one major implication: My generation (I was born in 1981) has a messed up view of responsibility. Our is a generation yearning for social responsibilty and social justice, and yet I see so little personal responsibility.
For instance, many of us seem to live with the understanding that our financial situation should be on par with what we had while still being dependent on our parents. We forget that many of our parents had to struggle to achieve financial success (And there is a whole other conversation of whether Boomers really have financial success with their rampant materialism and lack of savings). We have a sense that we are entitled to have new technology, big tvs, nice houses, expensive cars (even if they are green), etc. So, there are many of us who cannot afford health insurance (hence the reason I'm writing this). There are also many of us who cannot afford to give to charity. I wonder though if these same people have iPhones, drive cars under 5 years old, have 40 inch + tvs. For Christians, this materialism is a grave signpost of irresponsibility. I see a generation that desperately wants to make a difference in the world, but is shying away from really engaging the social morals that the Boomers hold dear.
It seems that, for many, materialism is the god we serve while hoping not to lose our soul in the process. Eventually, this is going to catch up with us. As Christians, we need to repent of this materialism and learn through budgeting, giving, and responsible spending to use money to serve God, not serve money actively and God passively.
I see this lack of responsibility at the churuch a lot. We need people to step into leadership and service yet for some reason we are still dependent on the Boomers to lead. This last Sunday, we had a prayer vigil sign up to pray for the students on mission this next week. The response from those may age was pitiful. Why? We all know that people will get prayed for, but we are waiting for someone else to do it. Why?
I know I've been overly harsh here, but I'm very concerned over what I see developing. At the same time, though, I see great hope. I see a generation that is concerned with the earth, concerned with social justice, concerned with urban revitalization, and many who are giving up careers to work with the poor both here and abroad. This last paragraph should have been expanded, but this is already a long post.
I don't understand why this plan would need to be in effect. I don't understand, and yet I do. There is an ever increasing lengthening of adolescence in our culture. A generation ago, adulthood began somewhere between 18-22. Two generations ago it was definitely 18. Three generations ago, functional adulthood may have begun even earlier that 18 for some people. But with my generation, adulthood is not beginning now until 30, 35, and maybe even 40, remember the movie Stepbrothers?"
I am continually amazed by the number of people who move back in with their parents after college or are dependent on their bills (or some of their bills) being paid for by their parents after college. I understand that there is also an "invincibility" thought out there for young adults not on health care, but why are some of us still dependent on their parents for their cell phones? I also understand that there are special cases where people need help from their parents (like grad-school students), but this dependency is much deeper than those who are currently in grad school.
I wonder what the spiritual implications are to this longevity of adolescence?
I see one major implication: My generation (I was born in 1981) has a messed up view of responsibility. Our is a generation yearning for social responsibilty and social justice, and yet I see so little personal responsibility.
For instance, many of us seem to live with the understanding that our financial situation should be on par with what we had while still being dependent on our parents. We forget that many of our parents had to struggle to achieve financial success (And there is a whole other conversation of whether Boomers really have financial success with their rampant materialism and lack of savings). We have a sense that we are entitled to have new technology, big tvs, nice houses, expensive cars (even if they are green), etc. So, there are many of us who cannot afford health insurance (hence the reason I'm writing this). There are also many of us who cannot afford to give to charity. I wonder though if these same people have iPhones, drive cars under 5 years old, have 40 inch + tvs. For Christians, this materialism is a grave signpost of irresponsibility. I see a generation that desperately wants to make a difference in the world, but is shying away from really engaging the social morals that the Boomers hold dear.
It seems that, for many, materialism is the god we serve while hoping not to lose our soul in the process. Eventually, this is going to catch up with us. As Christians, we need to repent of this materialism and learn through budgeting, giving, and responsible spending to use money to serve God, not serve money actively and God passively.
I see this lack of responsibility at the churuch a lot. We need people to step into leadership and service yet for some reason we are still dependent on the Boomers to lead. This last Sunday, we had a prayer vigil sign up to pray for the students on mission this next week. The response from those may age was pitiful. Why? We all know that people will get prayed for, but we are waiting for someone else to do it. Why?
I know I've been overly harsh here, but I'm very concerned over what I see developing. At the same time, though, I see great hope. I see a generation that is concerned with the earth, concerned with social justice, concerned with urban revitalization, and many who are giving up careers to work with the poor both here and abroad. This last paragraph should have been expanded, but this is already a long post.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The UMC and Easter hope
Because of some conversations I've been having lately and because of a story out of Wichita of a young United Methodist Church leaving the denomination I have been wondering what the viability is of our denomination and what will it take for us to achieve viability once again.
I feel that I am often living in the tension of two worlds. One is the institutional life I experience as a young pastor in the United Methodist Church. I have dreams and hopes for the church that she would reach out again and be a vital witness to my generation. I feel that her best days are behind and I wonder how long it will be until either schism or a lack of pastoral leadership finally dries up the wells of the UMC. This leaves me feeling defeated and despairing.
But there is another side. A hopeful side. A side that is influenced by Easter.
I get that churches come and go, and that this is also true of denominations. But I also have this inner hope that is part of the core of my life. A hope that when I see death, I also have to see life.
I see that Jesus deeply loves his church, his bride. This is true for the church universal, and also for the church specific (both local and denominational). There has never been a time when the church got it right, but in the midst of our failure Jesus has always renewed us. We as a denomination have bought into a lot of lies, we've missed it. But as people leave our denomination and we lost voice and influence with my generation, what about Easter? If there is one thing resurrection teaches us it is hope and pray for God to move still yet.
I feel that I am often living in the tension of two worlds. One is the institutional life I experience as a young pastor in the United Methodist Church. I have dreams and hopes for the church that she would reach out again and be a vital witness to my generation. I feel that her best days are behind and I wonder how long it will be until either schism or a lack of pastoral leadership finally dries up the wells of the UMC. This leaves me feeling defeated and despairing.
But there is another side. A hopeful side. A side that is influenced by Easter.
I get that churches come and go, and that this is also true of denominations. But I also have this inner hope that is part of the core of my life. A hope that when I see death, I also have to see life.
I see that Jesus deeply loves his church, his bride. This is true for the church universal, and also for the church specific (both local and denominational). There has never been a time when the church got it right, but in the midst of our failure Jesus has always renewed us. We as a denomination have bought into a lot of lies, we've missed it. But as people leave our denomination and we lost voice and influence with my generation, what about Easter? If there is one thing resurrection teaches us it is hope and pray for God to move still yet.
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