EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Hosea 2:16b.17b.21-22     2 Corinthians 3:1b-6     Mark 2:18-22 

Kirk & Karen Dunkelberger

February 27, 2000

Karen:  Ten or twelve years ago I was sitting on the front porch with my neighbor watching our kids play, doing what women do naturally – gossip.  And, of course, what were we gossiping about but our neighbors. We were talking about how bad we felt for them as they had suffered some major setbacks to their family business and to frustrate their finances, they tithed 10% of their income. Why were they doing this? Why were they stressing themselves this way? Radicals we thought! I was really surprised. I thought the 10% tithe had been abandoned along with abstaining from pork.

Then some short months later Father Bill approached the parish about the idea of Sacrificial Giving, returning to God the first fruits of our labors. Only that’s not the part I heard. I heard “We want your money.  A lot more money.” Well, I was mad. I was incensed. How dare he ask us to take on this burden. I was even thinking about the scripture where Jesus criticized the Pharisees for loading large packages on the backs of their following.

But after the initial shock wore off, I settled down and there was a gentle nagging some place in the back of my mind, some place in the back of my soul. It’s hard to describe but there was a gentle urging. A feeling of: Try it.   Don’t be afraid. Look into it. Don’t just say no. Investigate the possibilities. Figure it out. See what it will really mean to your lifestyle and budget.

Well, I got out my calculator and really got sticker shock. But I remembered Father Bill saying that you could start small and work to bigger things. And so I let things bubble and boil for some time in my subconscious. For a while I’d be angry, then encouraged, then frightened; mostly I was just agitated. Eventually I couldn’t deny it, it was the right thing to do.

Of course, the next big and scary part of the process was to approach Kirk. As far as I could tell, his initial reaction was the same as mine.  So I had to come up with a plan, a place we could start. I decided on 5% of Kirk’s larger, more steady paycheck for the parish and 10% of my more variable income to other charities. This was a place I thought we could begin.

Kirk:  Karen knows me well – my initial reaction was “You’ve got to be kidding”, then I simply ignored it. We were putting what I thought was a reasonable amount into the Sunday collection. As for time and talent, my thought was, “We’ve just moved into St. Jude’s, it’s OK not to get involved right away.” What softened my heart (in addition to Karen’s nagging, errr, commitment) were the following reflections…

I grew up in “da region” – northwest Indiana, great Polish Catholic country. I vividly remember my parents helping with parish festivals, bingo parties, casino nights, Holy Name Society, Rosary Sodality, pancake breakfasts, et cetera. Well, my dad died suddenly when I was ten. Money became very tight, but I did notice Mom never came to mass without an envelope. I don’t to this day know how much money was in the envelope, and it isn’t important. I didn’t know it at the time, but Mom was my first and best trainer in Sacrificial Giving. I was beginning to think that maybe Father Bill and Karen weren’t as crazy as I had originally thought.

I have some musical talent. My parents had me start playing organ for mass when I was six years old; I played for one mass every weekend for the next twelve years. You know, it never occurred to me that this was Sacrificial Giving. Then at Purdue, I learned guitar and played with a folk group every weekend at St. Tom’s for eight years. There was one weird side effect, though. The collection plate didn’t pass by the altar or music area like it does today, and I didn’t contribute any treasure that whole time. Looking back, I did regret it; my resolve against Karen’s plan was crumbling.

I considered the thought that giving more might mean getting more. But this couldn’t be true; Sacrificial Giving couldn’t be like a vending machine.

Prayer reminded me that God has already given us Jesus, the ultimate gift. On top of that, He has delegated some of His infinite time, talent, and treasure to us. As I thought about God’s infinite generosity, my parents’ sacrifice, and Karen’s newfound commitment, it finally dawned on me – I DO have to openly share these gifts with everyone. I agreed with Karen’s plan.

Karen:  So where are we now? As time has gone on, we’ve increased our giving from Kirk’s income to keep pace with pay raises and we’ve moved out of the 5% of take home and are working our way up to 5% of gross.   We’ve added the expense of Catholic education to my 10% contribution, thus increasing the amount donated to charity outside of the parish.  Julia is starting at Dwenger in the fall. The major commitment to Catholic education will take us another step closer to the biblical tithe of 10%.

Preparing for this talk made us consider how our acceptance of sacrificial giving has changed our life. I think each time we say “Yes” to God’s calling, it gets a little easier to respond positively to the next calling. As the years have gone by, we have said “Yes” to many other ways of sharing our time and talent. We participated as a Marriage Sponsor couple and have organized the Johnny Appleseed fritter booth for the past five years. We’ve since transitioned from those activities to being Scout leaders, CRHP team member, and making unkept promises to participate in the music ministry again. The changes were hard; we are still learning that time and talent commitments aren’t forever. We all must do what we can, when we can, and this truly IS pleasing to God.