Money on the Table

I went to lunch with a friend today and we, as usual, ranged through any number of topics in the church. One that we covered was the trendy option of leaving the offering plates on the altar during the eucharistic prayers.

And I think this is wrong. Not because the money is not a offering to God, it is, but because it is in fact of a different kind than the bread and the wine. With the bread and the wine, we are offering something to God, who transforms it immediately into something different for our immediate use. The gifts come in, the gifts go out, in what can and ought to be a beautiful and seamless stream of grace.

We come to the rail and are given back the bread and the wine. I have yet to be handed a quarter.

I suppose for me, it just feels a little too much like brunch, as though, perhaps, God is our waiter. It comes back, I think to my problem with ritual.