It's Better To Give Than To Receive

The property issues in our denomination show the lesser side of both positions. While the rhetoric of "jackboots" and "fascist" in reference to the PCUSA higher-ups is overblown, it does make the home office and some of the Presbytery offices look heavy-handed when they seek to pre-emptively put congregations in their place as regards property. On the other side, congregations that want to separate and take their property with them look quite similar to a spouse who wants to divorce and take the house (there's a reason for this similarity, by the way). Overall, I wonder if both sides aren't forgetting something crucial: The denomination says the property is the PCUSA's and the congregation merely holds it in trust. The congregation says the property belongs to the congregation because that is who paid for it and built it.

Both are wrong. God owns the property. Whether it is the denomination holding it in trust or the congregation, the property belongs to God. I am surprised that a denomination which has always held stewardship dear has forgotten this basic truth. Perhaps if we were reminded that we are simply managing what is rightfully God's, our attitudes and actions concerning property would be changed. Perhaps we (Presbytery, congregation, both) would be more willing to turn the other cheek, to give our shirt to one who has taken our cloak. In other words, perhaps we would spend less time searching through the law codes and more time living out the Scriptures.