The Offering: A Meditation by Marie T. Cross

Offering plate, offering basket, offering box,
Made of silver, brass, willow, plastic or wood.
An empty place to be filled with our gifts.
An opportunity, a challenge, an expression of grace.
Touched by many hands.
Passed on. Passed by.
Passed back. Brought forward.
Offered and blessed.
Counted, accounted, and spent.

What was given? What was received?
What was intended that our gifts would do
For others? For the church? For ourselves?

Coins, dollar bills, handwritten checks,
noisy loose change or quietly sealed tight.
Spontaneously given or by a careful decision, a private
choice made public.
Earned interest, cash dividends, paychecks, our income--
Commissions, pensions, social security, welfare.

And with our money, we offer ourselves, our values, our hopes
and desires.
Vocation, leisure time---
Out of a sense of duty, generosity, conviction,
commitment?

With our money, we offer ourselves
What we choose to be.
What we could have brought. What we could have brought.

Offering plate, offering basket, offering box,
The regular, repeated call to discipleship and ministry.
Giving, in gratitude to God,
A part of what already, always belongs to God.