Pr. Tim Brown
“What is the offering for?” I asked the conference goers. A mix of lay and clergy, most of them looked at their feet, some stared blinking at me, others fidgeted with their smartphones. All signs that no one wanted to answer the question.
I waited. Eventually a sheepish hand raised.
“To pay the bills…” he said with a sigh and what I would describe as some exasperated sadness.
He gave the most popular answer to that question, and one I’ve heard many times in my ministry, especially in my last two years as the Director for Congregational Stewardship for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
But though he answered honestly and with the most-used response, the Offering as a liturgical act, as it is placed within the liturgical arc as a bridge between the Word and the Meal, is not for “paying the bills.”
The Offering is a response to hearing the Good News proclaimed. It is an act of agency that we have to the gift of grace that God provides through the Christ. It is important, has deep meaning, and is not optional.
At least, not within the rubric of the liturgy.
One of the trends post-pandemic has been to stop the historic practice of collecting an offering during the worship service. The offering plate has, in many parishes, been relegated to the back of the sanctuary perhaps with a passing note that if anyone would like to give an offering, they can as they enter or leave.
While this was seen as a practical measure during the pandemic (though we learned that Covid was not passed through touch), it has remained a practice for what I have found to be largely two reasons.
First, many parishioners give to their parish electronically, especially since the pandemic. Online giving more than doubled in the years following 2020, and because online giving doesn’t require a physical action, collecting a physical offering is seen as an unnecessary act during the liturgy.
While this might be practically true, it ignores the ritual of the rite’s function within the liturgy. The offering isn’t meant to collect anything per se, but to provide space for the gathered assembly to respond to the Good News heard, preached, and sung. It is about the action, not the outcome. If the offering plate must be relegated to the back of the sanctuary (or in the ether of the internet’s online giving portal), its space should still remain in the liturgy for some sort of response by the assembly.
More on this in a moment.
"The offering isn’t meant to collect anything per se, but to provide space for the gathered assembly to respond to the Good News heard, preached, and sung. It is about the action, not the outcome."
The second reason that the plate so often remains relegated to the rear of the sanctuary (and sometimes even in the Narthex!) seems to me to be related to pastor’s and leader’s discomfort with money in general. Exorcising the ritual act of the offering has rid the church from needing to address it weekly. It has become a tacky relative who, while still part of the family, has to eat Thanksgiving in the kitchen because they make everyone a little uneasy.
This second reason for not resuming the practice of honoring the offering is, I think, the more detrimental one.
Unless we tackle our issues with money, we will only ever see the offering as a way to “pay the bills.” But if the theological connection between hearing the word and responding can be honestly taught, and scripture indicates radical response can happen (think Zaccheaus, the Ethiopian official, Jairus, the Woman at the Well), then we can shift the perspective from the offering being about expenses and refocus on how the offering is about the experience of God’s grace in action.
It’s not about expenses. It is about experiencing God’s grace and responding.
A remedy to some of this lapsed liturgical practice, or at least a beginning step in approaching the topic, would be to reclaim the offering within the liturgy and use it as it was intended: as a time when the assembly can respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Use that space to share a story on how the church’s work changed a life that prior week, connecting the very real work of the assembly’s participation of time, talent, and pocketbook to real transformation.
Create a space where the assembly can physically (yes, physically) go to a station in the sanctuary to respond to God’s goodness: by signing their name to a volunteer opportunity, by physically placing a gift in the offering plate, by signing a petition move legislation, or by bringing a physical gift for a collection being taken up for the nearby school. During this movement the choir can still sing a beautiful anthem, the musician could still dazzle the assembly with their God-given talent, but the integrity of the offering in its liturgical space has been restored.
Because honestly, the offering is for the giver, not for the church. In hearing the Good News of God in Christ Jesus, especially the pure grace that it is in our Lutheran lens, a response of some sort is itching to move from our hands and hearts.
We want to say thank-you. We want to play a part in God’s redeeming work in the world. When you hear something so good, you want to do something!
And if we must, as Luther notes, “suffer the grace of God upon us,” then at least let us respond in thanksgiving, yes?
The Creed is not an essential part of the liturgy. Though crafted early, in the formal rubric it was a later addition. Confession and Forgiveness, too, is not an essential part of the liturgical movement. Though many communities do this weekly, it was originally part of the daily life of the faithful done before the Mass, not during it (hence why it happens before the Gathering rite).
And certainly the Children’s Sermon can often be omitted.
These are “may” rubrics. You may do them, you may not. They are not essential to the liturgical arc.
But the Offering? Along with reading the scriptures and feasting at the table, the offering is not optional. It is part of the bridge that connects the word to the meal, from hearing the grace of God to tasting the grace of God.
If the liturgy as the “work of the people” (one translation, though not the only one…) also works on the people, and I have seen that it does, then reclaiming the offering’s space within that sacred arc is crucial for those who participate in that work. While the form can look different in a particular context, the space for a response should be preserved.
After all, the offering is not a may rubric.
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