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"I owe you one." These words came out of my mouth only yesterday as a church member graciously agreed to attend a meeting in my stead. Indeed, it was a generous thing and a debt is outstanding indeed. This debt, of course, is likely to be paid through a pleasant lunch or some other social interaction. But here is a debt of altogether different proportions.

How does one repay God for the countless blessings that God provides? I recently visited Lake Tahoe and was stunned by the beauty even as I quipped to a colleague that I thought it was some of God's best work. Best work indeed -- it was breathtakingly beautiful. When one considers the awesome things God has done, how can payback even take shape in one's mind? What does that look like?

The quick and nimble pastor would raise a hand and mention tithing. Others of lesser moral standing might turn such indebtedness to the service of nationalism. "Look how God has blessed our nation! Shouldn't you do thus and such for us in return?" Usually, this involves picking up a gun and shooting strangers.

But still the question stands: What will it look like when we "offer a thanksgiving of sacrifice"?

The word "sacrifice" is a pretty big clue. This means that it should cost us something. Our payback to God ought not be like a waiter's tip at the local diner or the few quarters we throw hurriedly at the bum on the street corner with an empty coffee cup. No, this giving of thanks is to be substantive.

Some offer up their lives. Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, and Daniel Berrigan come readily to mind, and few of us could measure up to these oaks of righteousness. But still, a life offered in thanksgiving is no small thing. Others offer time and talent. Still others give fortunes while others spend lives in prayer, and as a parish pastor I dare not miss that call to tithing. It really does make a difference.

In the end, everyone will make their own decisions about such things. Whatever shape the offering takes; however it is we construct our efforts to give back, it should in all ways be undertaken with a sense of wonder and gratitude. For truly, this is a marvelous God who hears our voices and "inclines his ear to us."