“ALL THINGS COME OF THEE, O LORD"

At the Offertory when there is no music, after the gifts are brought forward, the priest lifts the monetary offerings on high toward heaven, then the chalice and paten, and says, while doing so, "All things come of thee, O Lord." And the congregation responds, "And of thine own have we given thee." Prosaic language which simply means that God has given us everything and what we are doing in our offering is simply giving back a small part of all that God has given to us.

We know all that. We're no dummies. We know that God created everything – and still creates – and that we are the recipients of that creation. What is even more wonderful is that we are the greatest result of that creation. We are God's best work. And everything we are, everything about us: our ability to sing, to think, to dance, to work, to dunk a basketball – or the lack of some of those abilities – are the result of God's creating us the way God, in God’s infinite wisdom, chose to do so. (Parenthetically, that means it is God’s fault I am a klutz and can’t sing.)

And so everything we can do and everything we actually do is directly the result of what God has done, and is still doing, for us. The possessions we have, the money we earn, everything, in the final analysis do not belong to us: they're all God's. God simply puts us in charge of those talents and possessions. And so when we give away some of what is in our charge, we are not giving away something that is ultimately ours but something that is ultimately God's. We are giving back.

We know that, do we not? Nevertheless, sometimes it is so difficult to give away some of what we have accumulated because we worked so hard for it. And we did. There is no denying that. God did not simply plop the possessions into our hands. We had to use the raw materials God graced us with to earn, purchase, build up those possessions and those bank accounts.

What God calls us to be are good stewards of all that we are, all that we possesses. God also reminds us that the gifts we have been given and the ability to use those gifts well were not given to us for us alone. They were given to us to share with those who are less blessed. Why they were less blessed is unimportant and not our concern. Our concern is to share from our abundance. Moreover, they were given to us to help us become even more blessed.

When we give some of "thine own" to our church, we do so because we know the importance our church, our church family, is in our lives. We are better people because of this place and these people. We come to this place and are among these people because we are fed here – with the Eucharist, with fellowship, with education. That may sound self-serving. And it is. But unless we are fed spiritually, we die.

God blesses us so that we may live, and in so living be able to give some of what God has given to us to others. When we do so, we give life to one another and, we should not forget, to ourselves.