Cosmas Odoemena
Every year parishes in the Catholic Church in Nigeria organise harvest.
Most times it's divided into Children and Youth Harvest and the Adult Harvest.
As part of the celebration men, women, children and youths are to pay harvest levies which range from two hundred naira to two thousand naira. It could be more and it could be less depending on the location of the parish.
Before the harvest some parishes launch harvest brochure.
During the harvest proper depending on how it is organized the faithful are encouraged during Mass to donate money by sowing seeds.
Apart from this, after Mass there is usually bazaar which often go in the form of auction.
All too often you find people coming to "pledge" money to pick up a brochure, or sow seeds to the applause of the congregation.
Even at the bazaar goods are carted away from God "on credit."
Months after the harvest these "debtors" are reminded to redeem their pledges all to no avail. Thereby instituting a bad debt culture in the church.
I heard it last Sunday for them to redeem their pledges of the last harvest. It was the same with the Sunday before. From parish to parish it's the same tale of debt. It's become an embarrassment. Soon another harvest will meet them.
Some are threatened with publishing their names, but it's like water on duck back.
What would make a person pledge what they don't have?
Perhaps they never even intended to give anything, but as a way of showing off in the church.
Records have shown that year in year out the same people with poor track record are still allowed to mouth pledges in the church.
Some give the excuse that they have "faith" that God will give them the money to pay. Same people every year!
Blind faith!
We must know that whenever God wants to multiply something for us he asks us to bring something to him no matter how little. Note that I said "bring something", not "will bring something".
There are such examples in the Bible like the widow whose jar of oil never went dry.
Jesus in feeding the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish; as well as turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.
Even before the greatest sacrifice for our salvation which is himself Jesus offered bread and wine at the Last Supper.
There are more of such in the Scripture.
Perhaps the greatest you can offer God is yourself. Jesus said anyone who followed him would receive a hundredfold in this life.
Now, what should it have been? During harvest or similar occasions where there is a need to give, if they don't have that amount of money they think "befit" their "status" to donate in church then they should give their "widow's mite."
If someone has a debt of one million naira one thousand naira can be their widow's mite. God who knows their heart will reward them in secret. It's not the "large" amount donated in the open that blesses, but the "little" amount out of nothing given in secret that blesses.
Again, if tomorrow their circumstances change they can still go back to the church and say "oh at the last harvest I did not have enough to give, here take what the good Lord has blessed me with."
Furthermore, if they are to be believed they are "expecting" money and are sincere to themselves, and not to show off they should remain seated. Whenever they get the money they could go back to the church in secret and God will bless them in the open.
Moreover, no excuse of "I don't have cash with me" is tenable anymore for we are in a cashless society with automated teller machine ( ATM) cards and churches with point of sale (POS) system.
Besides there is a whole one year to prepare for harvest. There is no where in the Bible anyone pledged to give God and continued to owe. In fact pledging to give God the money you don't have or claim to be "expecting" is putting thy Lord thy God to the test. It's blackmailing God.
That money won't materialise. It never does and that's why such people are serial debtors.
After a while you see them changing parish to continue their serial pledging. You then wonder if these are truly Roman Catholics.
Perhaps if the parish priests were to stand as surety to those who make pledges in the church this issue would naturally have stopped.
Please, on harvest day and at the bazarr ground posters of "No credit today come tomorrow" should be pasted all around. No form of pledges should be allowed. You begin to wonder if this is not all mischief in the first place.
Giving in the church should not be seen as a form of entertainment. It's a solemn exercise from deep conviction of our love of God who blesses us even when we don't deserve his blessings.
Our priests must not push people to pledge what they don't have. The Catholic bishops should discourage this in the church.
The faithful should be encouraged to give ONLY according to what they have.
Dr Cosmas Odoemena
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