[Reign of Christ] tithing to rejoicing

Each year set aside a tithe of all that you produce from the land. This tithe of your grain, your new wine and your oil, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks, you are to eat in the presence of God, at the site that God will choose as a dwelling place for the holy Name, so that you may learn to revere God for all times. But when God blesses you, if the place that is chosen as a dwelling place for God's Name is too far away and the journey is too great for you to carry your tithe there, them you may turn it into money, and bring the money safely to the place that God has chosen. There you may spend the money on cattle, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or anything else your soul desires, and there present your offering with joy, both you and your household, in the presence of God.

Deuteronomy 14:22-26 (The Inclusive Bible, alt.)

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Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the God of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.

Malachi 3:10 (NRSV, alt.)

We wrapped up this year's stewardship season with these texts from the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures).

These are such texts of celebration, aren't they?

In her sermon on Sunday, Molly quipped: "get drunk in church, with the offering money?"

In her sermon, Molly put these ideas about feasting in our own context -- we don't order delivery for Coffee Hour and pay with the morning's offering, but it is the gifts (both monetary and non, both edible and non) of those gathered that make it what it is.

I really like this idea that we are called to rejoice and feast in what we are offering to God -- I firmly believe that God loves us and wants us to be happy (though of course God sometimes wants a deep-abiding joy for us, which may not be reached without some struggle, while we're tempted to prefer the easy fleeting happiness).

I don't believe in "prosperity gospel" -- the idea that if God is pleased with you, God will bless you with an abundance of all the worldly things you would like to be blessed with -- but I'm not sure that Malachi is overstating the case (see my previous parenthetical about God's joy versus the world's happiness). Our stewardship verse this year is "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21), and I think that the reorientation of our heart (or the intensifying of our heart's trajectory) can have a transforming effect on our whole selves. Molly said in her sermon on Sunday that it was easy to see what was in it for her, to see the fruits returned to her on the Coffee Hour table, but that after a time she was fed just by seeing others fed -- and I think this kind of slant on prosperity gospel, to be rewarded by others benefiting from your giving, is perhaps part of God's promise to us in Malachi.

My Inclusive Bible notes on the word "storehouse" in the Malachi: "This was the Temple warehouse, where grain, oil, and wine were stored so that poor people would have a supply of food, which operated rather like our modern food pantries for the homeless." God is clear throughout the Tanakh (and in the New Testament as well) that we are to care for those less fortunate. Frederick Buechner wrote, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet" -- we are not called to a condescending giving to "those less fortunate" but rather to fitting our talents and treasures and gifts and passions with the needs of those around us that all may be enriched. Being part of a church community provides us with many opportunities to do this for and with people we know intimately or peripherally (or a little bit of each) -- e.g., providing food for the families of the many new babies that have arrived this year, opening up a space for folks to (learn to) knit together -- and also to connect to the broader community -- e.g., cooking for the homeless once a month.

Of verse 23 of the Deuteronomy ("This tithe ... you are to eat in the presence of God ..."), Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary says, "How will consuming the tithe in Jerusalem teach us to revere God? [...] Another commentator suggests that we attain a sense of reverence not through an intellectual process but by experiencing God's grace in our lives." We are an embodied people. I'm disinclined to entirely dismiss the intellectual process even as a path to reverence, but it is certainly true that many of the ways we come to know God are in very embodied ways. The act of tithing itself may not be a spiritual experience (though for some it is), but breaking bread together we can move deeper into relationship with friends and strangers, and "to love another person is to see the face of God."

On verse 24's "because the place ... is far from you" (JPS translation), Etz Hayim says: "Malkom [place] is also one of the names of God -- the site of all reality. Thus the verse can mean, 'should the distance seem too great for you because God is far from your heart.' "

I'm intrigued by this idea of it seeming like a great distance between oneself and the place of worship and feasting because God feels far from one's heart. Is this ever true for you, Beloved? Has it ever felt like a struggle to bring yourself and your gifts to this place (or to any place) because it feels like God is not in that place, or because it feels like God is not with you?

Of Malachi's "the windows of heaven," my Interlinear says "crevices-of the heavens," and I enjoy this idea of God opening up the heavens so fully even into the nooks and crannies. Are there ways that giving more fully to a community has opened up God's abundance for you?

Or perhaps there are other things these texts brought up for you.

You're invited to continue the conversation in the comments. (As always, you're welcome to comment anonymously/pseudonymously if you prefer.)