What part of 'gift' is unclear?

I am going to trip into the polity part of the universe here. I apologize to my readers, some of whom really are apolitical, or at least apolitical about church.

When we present our gifts at the altar as part of the Eucharist liturgy, we often hear the priest say, "All things come of Thee oh Lord." and then we hear the congregation respond, "And of Thine own we have given Thee." We receive from God, we give to God. In acknowledging that, we not only accept our role as God's creation, but we give up our gifts, they are indeed offered.

Episcopal liturgy calls for the gifts to remain on the altar during the consecration. This does not mean we cannot afford side tables: it is symbolic of the offering our ourselves and our gifts. Our Lutheran friends, for whom the liturgy is incarnation but not sacrifice, remove the gifts to a side table. But we are incarnational, sacramental Easter people. For us, the gift is now offered, as are we, in response to God's offering of Himself.

Of course, my evangelical Episcopal friends wont agree. But I am a sacramentalist sort of guy, and for me they have that level of reality -- Jesus comes, we offer, we receive, all literally true. But, even for those who do not accept the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist, the 'offerings' are given.

We elect our leaders. Vestries are chosen by annual meetings, rectors by vestries, delegates to diocesan conventions by vestries, bishops and deputies to General Convention by the convention. At many stages, after the election of the vestry, there are confirmation processes, but not all. The Episcopal polity is very representative. At some point, the offered money comes to the hand of the vestry, but it does not belong to it. Vestries act to advance the ministry of the church.

Now, a novel, dare I say innovative, view has arisen. Somewhere, I cannot for the life of me understand where, the idea has arisen that the fact that I gave money entitles me to decide how it is spent. Once again, we are talking about a gift offered. But, if I am a Virginia conservative, now I claim that my gift remains under my control, and I can take it with me if I change communions.

I was raised a Lutheran. When I decided, as an adult, to become an Episcopalian, I had no claim on contributed money. I did not have a right to have gifts over the decades transfer to the Episcopal diocese of Chicago or the parish. I left for reasons I consider at least as scriptural and valid as the alleged Biblical position of the conservatives.

As a matter of US law, a gift to be deductible, must involve surrender of control. Otherwise it is recoverable. But beyond the secular law, which a rarity in the US tax code, makes sense, is the offering. We say that we ask God to accept our offerings of ourselves, and then we want to control them.

That dog wont hunt as they say in the South. Gifts are not the property of the vestry, the priest or the congregation. They belong to the communion and the communion not the persons who choose to leave it do not have a claim on it.

Or so I think.