Tithing is mainly about money

I hope your Dec. 9 article on tithing to churches generates a lot of dialogue. Here's my penny's worth (I can't afford two cents worth):

I was forced into disability a few years before normal retirement. I'm living on a fixed income. I've already died once or twice and come within minutes of death another half dozen times or so. I have a long list of prescription drugs I must take, an implanted defibrillator, and run several thousand dollars in the hole a year on medical costs alone.

Then there's the usual cost of living, such as mortgage, utilities, food, insurance and the like.

Recently, after Sunday Mass, I briefly outlined my plight to my pastor and asked for his guidance. He told me, "Sacrifice" and walked off.

Just what do I sacrifice? The medical care that keeps me alive? Food? Housing costs which keep me from living in a cardboard box under a railroad viaduct?

Tithing is an old concept. A few decades ago, my church started using the phrase "sacrificial giving." That concept didn't go over big with the church membership. Now the catch phrase is "stewardship." It's supposed to include time, talent and of course, financial support. But the bottom line is still money.

I find more inspiration in a simple wood-and-brick chapel than I do in an ornate arena of worship with its gold, its sound and video systems and its self-aggrandizing attitude.

As a human being, I have a need for simple survival. And I'd also like a little spiritual leadership on the side.

Bob Meger

Streamwood