Birds and bees.  Spinach in our teeth.  A beloved’s new hairstyle. The duplicity of a close friend.  Ambitions that don’t line up with abilities and aptitudes.  The pain of hurtful comments.  A terminal diagnosis.  The “hospice talk.”   All these are awkward conversations. 

We struggle to navigate these uncomfortable conversations.  We avoid and evade the person to dodge the conversation.  Or subtly infer, imply, and insinuate, hoping our friend will understand what we are saying without actually saying it.  But this vacuum of clarity is almost always filled with imputed motives and a fiction bearing little resemblance to the awkward truth.  In the end we must usually resort to an uncomfortable bluntness.  Then work to pick up the relational debris awkward conversations inevitably create.

While the Bible instructs us to be open to constructive criticism, our natural defensiveness struggles to see the “constructive” part and feels only the weight of criticism.  We read, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”  But everyone likes kisses better than wounds.   

Pastors have lots of awkward conversations.  It is simply part and parcel of any vocational calling to care for others.  But the awkward conversations pastors often dread most are those related to “giving.”  Especially since in a small church, pastoral support is often the bulk of the budget.  Preaching on giving has often been confined to a very short series on ‘stewardship,’ which is our euphemism for giving.

The fact that we view the topic of giving, especially tithes and offerings, as an awkward conversation speaks volumes about a consumeristic view of the Christian life.  We tend to view the topic of ‘giving’ as an unpleasant but necessary part of the Christian life.  And so, we miss out on one of the most joyful aspects of covenant life and treat ‘giving’ as an embarrassment to our apologetic for a life well lived.

Along with “all Christians are hypocrites” the other darling mantra of skeptics is “all they want is your money.”  Without a proper view of the grace of giving, we cower apologetically at these slogans.  Thrown back on our heels, we treat the topic of giving as anathema and only refer to it tangentially, quick to translate ‘giving’ into convenient service not sacrificial gratitude.  

But the Bible is very clear that giving tithes and offerings is an indispensable part of our Christian life.  Indeed, “God loves a cheerful giver.”  By cheerful giving, we celebrate all the attributes of a giving God, his grace, his provision, his faithfulness and his goodness.   Our practice of giving is a powerful barometer of our delight in our God and faith in what we profess to believe about him.

No story in the gospels demonstrates more clarity on the topic of giving than the story of the ‘widow’s mite.’   But the point of the story is not the gift, but the giver.   At the end of Mark 12, after an exhausting day of controversy in which Jesus took on all comers from the Sanhedrin and brought them to silence time and time again, Jesus observes and remarks on a poor widow’s offering.

He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” -Mark 12:41-44

We know little about this widow’s circumstances.  She was probably lonely.  Perhaps she faced the challenges of older age.  Certainly, her life is one of financial instability and uncertainty.  But there is a secret delight in one who gives both of her last two copper coins to the One who has her heart and holds her life.  She is not reluctant.  She is not calculating.  She seeks no praise or sympathy.   Quietly, sacrificially, confidently, cheerfully she casts all she has into the collection, resting in the goodness and mercy of her God.

What is your attitude toward giving?  How do you feel when you put your gift into the plate, schedule an online payment or recurring bill pay?   Are you reluctant, calculating, begrudging?  Is there an economy of merit in your heart?  A keeping of accounts with God?  Or are you avoiding the emotional calculus of giving by simply not giving?   Lots of people gave on that Tuesday of Passion Week, but the poor widow is the cheerful giver that caught the Lord’s eye.  Not because of the size of her gift, but the size of her joy.

Join us as we examine Mark 12:38-44 and consider what it looks like to be a cheerful giver. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.