It is so routine that many churchgoers — of all faiths! — don’t notice.

That routine would be passing the collection plate every Sunday. After all, it costs money to keep a church up and running. And that church doesn’t have to be New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral or the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris or the local Methodist church near your home.

My humble Protestant United Church of Christ congregation always passes the collection plates, and always starts the New Year by giving every church member in my congregation a small box of envelopes meticulously dated for every Sunday of the year, plus extras for the holidays. Even the smallest church can have a moment of collection plate passing. …

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