"are you tithing?"

I had an interesting conversation with my father about tithing today. My bank statements still come to the house, and he said he was concerned because he hadn't seen any good-size checks written on a regular basis and wanted to make sure that I was tithing because it's important.

My father, the man who doesn't go to church, lecturing me about tithing. It was a bit surreal.

In all honesty, I was planning on writing that check to cover the past few months on Sunday before this conversation happened. This is the first time in a while that I've had a regular income, and though it's earmarked in my budget as money not to spend, I haven't done it yet because...

...I'm never in service for the offertory (lame excuse, I know, but its true)...
...confusion about where to tithe (the church where I'm still a member or the church where I work? I need to suck it up and join, but that's another blog entry right there)...
...questioning whether it's better to tithe to a church or some other organization...
...wondering if 10% is actually the way to go, and if my motivation is right...
...and just plain forgetting.

I'm not saying that my delay has been a good thing. I've allowed pure laziness/busyness to keep me from figuring out what to do. Because my budget is tight, for now I'll stick with the 10% guideline. I still want to look more closely into giving texts in the Bible, to get a deeper understanding of where the tradition of 10% came from, to really know why I'm giving that amount. (I'm not trying to cheat the church out of any money; I just like having the background of why we do things the way we do them!) And yes, somehow I will get that money into the plate on Sunday to make up for *ahem* several months.

It's just the irony of my father, the non-churchgoer, bringing up the subject and making sure that I am actually giving financially to the church. That's possibly the closest discussion to anything spiritual that we've had. Sure, it centers around money, but it's still a more personal topic. Perhaps because it's the main way that he gives to the church?

But if anyone has any insight into the practice of tithing, feel free to send any resources my way :o)