When the plate moved down Nathan's pew, his parents held it in front of him and told him to place the dollar in the plate. Nathan balked. Finally his mother gently took the dollar from him. She placed it in the plate, and it was passed on down the pew. Suddenly the stillness of the offertory was shattered by a voice demanding, "I want my dollar back! I want my dollar back!" Nathan had been robbed and he wanted everyone to know it. His parents tried in vain to quiet their son, but he was insistent, "I want my dollar back!"

Everyone in the congregation was fighting a losing battle against laughter. Throughout the remaining strains of the organist's meditative tune, the only thing most worshipers heard was "I want my dollar back!" Eventually, his parents gave Nathan another dollar to hold and he was content enough so that the congregation could make it through the Doxology.

Pastor Russell says that as he stepped into the pulpit to move the service on from this point, he knew he needed to address what had happened. Looking out at the smiling faces he said, "We shouldn't laugh. It may be that Nathan is only voicing the feelings that some of us have after having given to God. We do so, not joyously but out of a sense of obligation. We do so unwillingly. We may not say it, but some of us think it, "I want my dollar back!"

Contrast our attitude with that of St. Paul. St. Paul's attitude was one of continual thanksgiving. "Rejoice in the Lord always," he said.

Ron Newhouse

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