Sermon Sunday 22 February 2026 – First Sunday in Lent – Giving (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)

It is Lent! The season of fasting, giving, and praying, leading up to Holy Week and Easter. And our Gospel reading today is most welcome – it is Jesus telling us how to give, pray and fast.

I was struck when I read this and looked at the commentaries, that Jesus doesn’t really offer space to opt-out. Jesus simply says, ‘when you give’, ‘when you pray’, ‘when you fast’. In other words, Jesus simply assumes that we, his followers and friends, will pray, fast and give.

They are the disciplines of the Kingdom of Heaven, as I said two weeks ago, helping us to trust in God our Heavenly Father, and not to worry too much about life here on earth.

So, if we find that we recently have not really taken the time in our inner room for prayer and Bible reading on our own with God, this Lent is an invitation to go back to that, even if it’s only for five minutes each day. And I know from experience, even 5 minutes each day is harder than it sounds like.

If we have to confess that the last fast we’ve done was Dry January – the secular fasting season – or a diet to lose a bit of weight, if we find we’ve fasted for the sake of our bodies but forgot to fast for the sake of our souls, this Lent is an invitation to give up something here on earth for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. If your health or other circumstances already have made this a time of fasting for you, please bring God into this time of fasting.

That’s prayer and fasting, now let’s spend the next few minutes delving deeper into the third of these three disciplines, Giving.

• Selflessly Giving
• Holy Giving
• Joyfully giving

Jesus says, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do. Just imagine that. Walking up to the plate, having someone in front of you blowing the trumpet, drawing attention to you and your donation! There is some suggestion that in the synagogue they would blow the trumpet during the offertory – a bit like us singing an offertory hymn, but Jesus is exaggerating it to make fun of people who use their generosity to aggrandize their status.  

And he’s actually not far off the truth.

In the ancient world, society was built on this principle. If you were rich, you were building temples for the gods, of course making sure you put your name on it, and organising entertainment and meals for the poor, of course wonderful events with one person at the centre, yourself.

It worked quite nicely. The rich got the respect, honour and influence by buying it – and there was even a social obligation on them to do this, and the poor got their food and entertainment. Everyone was happy.

Yet.

Jesus tells us to be different. Because this type of generosity is an earthly one not that of the Kingdom of Heaven. It leads to the rich and powerful deciding everything, and exploiting the poor while feeding them the scraps. It leads to lies and hypocrisy, not to genuine love and generosity.

Jesus blows up this ancient system of giving. Don’t blow the trumpet. Don’t make a show. Give so secretly that even your left hand has no clue what your right hand is doing.

Because, Jesus teaches, when we give, as well as when we pray and fast, we do so to draw our attention and that of others away from ourselves to God and to others, not to ourselves. Give selflessly.

Giving is holy business, and that’s quite exciting!

In the Old Testament, Moses’ Law tells people to set apart a tithe, 10%:

‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.  Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord (Leviticus 27:30-32).

What really struck me about this is that the tenth that is given to the Lord is called ‘holy’. Holy means literally ‘set apart’, special. Belonging to God.

10% of your net income may be a helpful guideline as you reflect on your giving. But it’s only a guideline – the New Testament emphasises generous giving, there is no minimum or maximum amount.  

But I find that idea of that 10% of what we get as holy very helpful. As one church member said to me a while ago: 90% of my income at the start of the month is for me, and that 10%, I put it apart, it doesn’t even belong to me.

Another thing you may find helpful is thinking about it in this way. You may consider setting 5% apart at the start of the month, to give away. And keep the other 5% for spontaneous generosity. Paying for someone else’s coffee. Inviting people over for dinner. Dropping a meal round to someone who needs it. Or some flowers to your sick neighbour. Giving some money to a particular cause that comes up. Or feel free to save it all up for International Buy-A-Priest-A-Beer Day – yes this is a thing, September 9^th, make sure you put it in your diary. 

See all those things as well as your donations to the church as giving to God. As holy things. Giving makes us part of God’s holy business!

This week I came across quite an incredible statistic. An organisation called Stewardship did research into giving, and found that committed Christians donate almost five times more than the average person living in the UK. Isn’t that amazing?

And we see that being true here locally. This church costs about 4500£ a week to run, each year about 250.000£ is needed to run this church, and the large majority of that is one way or another, through your giving.  

With that money, we worship God and reach out with the Good News into this community, minister to this village, keep the church building open, welcoming, and safe and accessible for all, run our work for families and children, serving this community. And about £10.000 a year is spent by us collectively to show God’s love and goodness to important causes near and far across the world. We support Wintershall’s education programme, telling the story of Jesus to primary and secondary schools. We support Hope in Action in providing homes for homeless, ex-offenders and survivors of sexual abuse here in the UK. We support Rowleys here in the village. We support Ride for a Woman empowering women in Uganda. And more, talk to the Mission and Outreach team. 

If we actually stop to think about it, it’s amazing what your generosity leads to. This is cause for pure joy! Thank you all so much!

Unfortunately, in recent years a rise in inflation and a decline in giving has made it harder to balance the books for us as a church. So, if you’d like to join in our regular giving, or like to review your giving, you can take away a card at the end of the service that gives you some info on quickly and simply setting up yourself on the Parish Giving Scheme, with a monthly set donation. If you’re not on this already, please consider using it as it is the easiest way to give for you and for us. Quite possibly, you already give all you can give, please then just be encouraged today by being reminded that your giving is selfless, holy and joyful.  

It would be wonderful to have our books balanced this year, but it would be far more wonderful to be a church that in everything lives and breathes God’s generosity. A church that gives selflessly, holy, and joyfully, taking part in what God is doing in this village and in our world – and I know you have already begun to be such a church.

To be and to grow further into a church where we don’t have to anxiously look at whether we are going to balance the books this year, but where the PCC and the next Rector rejoices at the generosity and has to wonder: How do we find a purpose for so much generosity?

In a few moments, we will sing our offertory hymn and the plate passes round –many of you don’t carry cash but give in other ways – but let’s during that time dedicate, offer ourselves, all we are and all we have, selflessly, holy, and joyfully to our God, for this season of Lent and beyond.

Amen.