Oxnard Buddhist Temple

The letter had been lying on the table for more than a week while I'd been away visiting my family in Trinidad. It was a brown manila envelope with my name and address typed on it. Bleary-eyed, I picked it up. My partner sat opposite reading the newspaper. We were in pyjamas and dressing gowns; neither of us was good in the mornings.

I tore it open. Three or four sheets of blue, handwritten scrawl and a sheaf of printed-out emails. At first it made no sense at all: "Dear Monique, please sit down; I have something shocking to say…" The letter was from a woman I didn't know. She claimed she'd had a passionate affair with my partner. She had fallen in love with him and he had rejected her. She was writing to tell me all about it.

My sermon to day is entitled: Don’t Pay Tithe. You’re right. After this sermon it my desire that none of you will ever pay tithe again. I have been a tither since I was a boy. As a boy I received an allowance of 10 cents per week. That was pretty big in those days. When we went to church I put in my two cents worth. One penny for the offering and one for the tithe. My Uncle John Boyles was the church treasurer and I have often wondered how he felt about such a small amount coming in every week. But he would issue receipts.

I was taught not to pay tithe. At an early age I was taught that God owns everything. I Corinthians 10:26–”The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” God created everything. He owns all the cattle , the minerals, trees, everything. God gives us money to manage but 1/10th of that money is not ours, it belongs to Him. So when I put God’s share of the profit in the tithe envelope, I am returning what is His. The tithe is His money. It’s not mine. I appreciate that. I appreciate My heavenly Father making me a steward, a manager. And I pray that I will be a good manager. That I will never abuse my stewardship. So when I put His profit into the tithe envelope, I am returning what is His. The Tithe is His money. All I do is return it. God puts the money in our hand and we find it. And one tenth of it is His. So we need to return it. Make sure that He gets it back.

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