Sermon Notes for Proper 25 A

· Gospel text: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

· In the monastic and biblical traditions, loving God and neighbor is lived practically and concretely. Love is much more about what we do than what we feel. Think about day-to-day family life!

· One practical way of loving is the use of money, for instance, the way parents spend money for the well-being of their children (I'm signing tuition checks for my son these days...)

· At St. Francis, we can love God and neighbor practically by our use of money, specifically by our pledging.

· That money is used for practical acts of love such as:

· Paying for utilities, staff, prayer books, bread, wine, etc. that enable us to love God in worship;

· To support ministries of the parish like Sunday School and J2A;

· To enable the wider ministry of the Church, including the ministry to poor and needy through Diocesan and Episcopal Church budgets.

• Here is practical guidance about how much to give:

· Give in proportion to your income.

· The Tithe (10%) is the standard of giving in the Episcopal Church and it is practical. I've been tithing for almost 30 years and have never wanted for anything I need.

· If you aren't at tithe at present yet, you can use the Step of Faith grid on the "Soar" card to locate what percent of your income you are giving now and then move one column to the right for 2009. That will increase your giving by one percent of income and take you a step towards tithing.

· To give our money is a practical way to love God and neighbor as Jesus commands us in today’s Gospel.

· It is also a response to God's abundantly generous love to us that has given us everything we have, including life itself. 

The Rev. Jack Zamboni,

October 26, 2008