September 15, 2014 (Monday)
Years ago an old Snuffy Smith comic strip caught my eye and seemed so funny to me that I cut it out of the newspaper’s comic section and posted it on our church’s bulletin board. Everyone who saw it smiled, and many laughed.
In the comic strip, the mountain doctor visits his patient and then is paid with a live chicken. The next Sunday when the offering plate is passed, the doc pitches the cackling chicken into the plate. Believe me, if you could see the cartoon characters, you would at least smile.
During the depression years, preachers were accustomed to being paid in beans, eggs, chickens, etc. The people gave what they had; they had very little or no money at all. In one of the churches I pastored, I discovered a closet containing all the check stubs from the church during the depression, and the pastor’s salary was never fully paid. The check memo stated, “Payment on salary.” Many of those checks were for ten or twelve dollars. That pastor faithfully served the people and the Lord and was beloved in that church for 33 years.
That came to my mind as I realized that today is the due date for payment of estimated income tax. Most ministers pay their taxes every three months using form ES-1040, and they also join millions of Americans in filing Form 1040 each spring. I point out that fact because several people have expressed surprise to me that ministers pay income tax.
Most ministers receive livable salaries today. It should be noted, however, that many of them find it necessary to find additional income in secular work. Back in the days when most preachers were poor, people tried to make up the difference with personal gifts and cash discounts. Most of that is no longer necessary. It’s been a long time since live chickens showed up in the offering plates.