Paul is appealing to the church in Corinth. I like that he sends someone else—he is going to talk to them about money. I get it…yeah, I am busy that day, so Rebecca—could you talk to the church about pledging? I only say this half joking. It is hard to talk about money. I have sat around many a table where the conversation went something like, “I quit going to church because every time I do go—the pastor is always talking about money.” To be fair—some of this criticism is well warranted. One of these stories is from one of my best friends who challenged his elders when they were talking again about a capital campaign. It was well understood that this was a formula—a way to keep membership engaged with something tangible. This particular capital improvement was to increase the size of the steeple. My friend challenged asking if there were better ways to be living out the mission of Christ—feeding the hungry—plus what was wrong with the steeple we have?” The response that he received was because the church across town built one that was taller.”

He entered Jericho and was passing through it.  A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.  He was trying […]