I can still hear the CLANK sound of the coins hitting the basket.
I’m in the back seat of the station wagon as my parents drive on the expressway. Traffic slows down as we approach the toll booth.
Back then, you had to have your coins ready to toss in the basket. It’s a frigid winter day, but the drivers still needed to hand-roll the window down to perform such an activity. Sometimes, this interstate ritual might leave you waiting for 15 minutes until it was your turn. But then, off you went, approved by the State department to access the next 10 miles.
This was the toll.
And unless the laws changed, the prices have remained (and only increased) since I was a child.
Churches, likewise, charge their own tax.
Unknowingly, it an insider tax. Or, you might call it, a cultural tax. The moment unfamiliar words, actions, jokes, rituals, or activities are used and not comprehendible to the outsiders, we charge them a fee.
The fee outsiders must pay is belonging. It preaches to one’s imagination, “if you want to be of us, this is what it will take.”
The kingdom of God, of courses, causes disruptions to each of us. But we ought to take note if we are asking people to conform to Christ’s kingdom or our own.
