I AM AN OFFERING PLATE

 

 I am an offering plate.  I stay all week on the shelf in the Pastor’s study awaiting the time to take up the offering on Sunday.  I love my part of the service.  I serve in the worship of God and consider my work very central in worship.  I collect the people’s tithes and offerings, and to me it’s an exciting moment.  I give people an opportunity to do something specific in obedience to God and to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  What I receive is shared around the world.  My job is a large and important one.  My Job is interesting because I come so close to people.  I am touched by each person and can look into each face.  I can easily sense that some have prepared for me and some seem surprised and grab for their wallets and pocketbooks when I appear.  Others drop a dime or quarter so that it lands quietly on my black felt pad.  I know I can count on some giving a dollar-no more, no less-each time I pass by.  Some, when I pass, seem to be looking out the window, or thinking of something else entirely.  I like especially when children give.  It tells me something about them and their family and their future happiness.   It is a law of life-the giving people are the happy people.  I know the faithful givers.  Something about their touch and expectancy seems to feel good when I pass.  They are always the radiant people-the kind who keep church and the good things of live going.  I am important because somehow I always feel that I remind people that God is love and that love is always giving.

 

Olive UMC Newsletter ( November 1980)

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