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Easter 2015, part 3

Our church Easter sermon was beautiful. The offering was not. I have worked in churches and been to them as a congregant. I have seen many offerings, but none as peculiar as today’s Easter offering. The offering was for a parking guard.

Really.

The church is large, and getting out of the parking lot during the weekly ‘beat the Baptists to lunch’ frenzy can be difficult and even dangerous. And so the church, like many I have seen, employs a security guard to direct and control traffic. Obviously that guard must be paid for with church funds. Lots of things have to be paid for with church funds, and those monies come by donation. There is no monetary manna falling down upon virtuous churches. I doubt, however, that the church wants to get into the whole naming and directed donation game so popular with private colleges, schools and sports teams.

The opportunity for public embarrassment and failure would really be quite high. Imagine the pride of knowing your donation is on cleaning supply Sunday. We might have fractionation of the membership over whether to actually specify donations for eco-friendly cleaning supplies. The Vestry would become powerless as individual parishioners expressed their values by only giving for those causes they support. Perhaps the church would reach the point of needing a ‘bishop bake sale’ to pay for something, or a ‘let the SONshine in’ drive for window cleaning. It really gets specious.

In regard to police functions, churches could get even more involved in supporting protection and service by our local PD. Why stop at raising money for parking security? How about some support for DUI stops? For those who believe in punishment for sins they should be able to get behind a drive supporting speed traps, since those evil people are getting their just desserts. For those believing a less episodic form of repentance is needed they could always support meter maids! Remember, Christ shed his blood for the sins of many, and you may repent monetarily at your local police station. We could even have a broader drive- ‘Red for Blue’. Jesus’ death as the protective sacrifice for policemen.

I think everyone gets the point. Let’s not get specific about our donations. If you are a church member, trust in the Vestry and the minister and give your money to support the church, not each of its individual tiny acts.


Ted

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