Offering(10)

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on."(12:44)

It is the meditation as an offering. I think I have discussed it only in an ideal way. A more pragmatic approach may be needed. Mostly people offer habitually. Even I also used to set some amount of money for Sunday offering and some for monthly offering. I normally offer in this manner. Whenever we offer, we do not realize the fact that everything is given by God out of his grace or my life depends on God. May be our spirituality is blunt. In my opinion, there should be some different and higher level of spirituality which is different from the level of spirituality followed by most people.

To be more practical, the value of individual’s offering will be different according to the requirement of finance of a church. If we attend and offer in an affluent church the value of our offering is ostensibly lesser than the same amount made in a poor church. This human calculation implies that one offers not on the basis of one’s sound relationship with God but according to the status of a community.

I do not want to blindly denounce these things as nonessential or not-religious thing. Sometimes good habit is necessary and also sometimes we may think of a community’s situation. This can also be the relationship with God in broad point of view.

In whatsoever motivation an individual offers, it is important to offer through worship service. It is because all our offering can be sublimed into a pure level of belief. It is the same case with the sacrificial activity found in the Old Testament that a butcher killed a cow habitually the cow was given to God as a burnt offering through worship, which became a fixed formality. In the same way bread and wine are accepted as the Lord’s holy body and blood through worship service.