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Summary
- Prayers for a leader to say before and after the offering is collected, for a love offering and with children in Sunday school.
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer gives offertory sentences, among them “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14); the Orthodox Augmented Litany prays for “those who bear fruit and do good works” in the church.
- Personal prayers cover thanks, giving the first portion, tight months, fear of not having enough, a cheerful heart, wisdom with the rest, pure motives and handing everything back to God.
- Scripture speaks of offering oneself (Romans 12:1), praise (Hebrews 13:15), time and gifts (1 Peter 4:10), work (Colossians 3:23) and worries (1 Peter 5:7).
- The Bible’s main tithing passages run from Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20) through Malachi 3:10 to the widow’s two mites (Mark 12:41–44) and Paul’s cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
- Churches differ: the Assemblies of God news service treats ten percent as a minimum, the Baptist Faith and Message sets no figure, and Catholic law asks the faithful to support the Church “each according to his abilities.”
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 14:20; 28:22; Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21; 1 Chronicles 29:7, 14; Psalm 24:1; 34:18; 50:10; Proverbs 3:9; Malachi 3:10; Matthew 6:3; 23:23; Mark 12:41–44; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 8:12; 9:7; Philippians 4:19; Colossians 3:23; Hebrews 13:15; James 1:17; 1 Peter 4:10; 5:7). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Holy Communion, Offertory sentences and rubric, pp. 72–73. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. Great Vespers, The Augmented Litany, p. 9. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- Dimos, Rollie. “The Blessing of Giving.” AG News, Assemblies of God (USA), 10 January 2020. https://news.ag.org/en/article-repository/news/2020/01/the-blessing-of-giving
- Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article XIII, “Stewardship.” https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
- Code of Canon Law (1983), canon 222 §1. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann208-329_en.html
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraph 2043. https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_three/article_3/ii_the_precepts_of_the_church.html
