These last few weeks we have been looking at tithing and the role it plays in our spiritual lives, and our salvation, as we seek to do God’s Will. Hopefully you have all been praying and listening to the Holy Spirit and what he is inspiring you to do. Now let’s have a practical look at how tithing maps out: According to this website https://datausa.io/profile/geo/dane-county-wi/ the median* household income in Dane County Wisconsin is $70,796, and the median individual income is $53,667. If we take our offertory collection from last week and divide it by the number of regular givers we come to the current average gift to the parish is $15.75 per week, $819.32 per year, which is 1.2% of the median household income and 1.5% of the median individual income.

Going from 1.2% giving to 10% tithing in one year is a big adjustment, but maybe we could try to reach 3% this year and nudge up to 4 or 5% next year and in a few more years make it to where God wants us at 10%. The most important thing about giving back to God is remembering that He will not be outdone in generosity. If we are generous to God, He will always be more generous to us in return. This is the history and example that the saints of the Church give us, many of them not only gave God all of their worldly possessions (100% not just 10%) but also their whole lives and we see the amazing things He was able to accomplish through them. What we give back to God is a decision each one of us has to make in prayer and from our hearts. We want to be a Mission parish that is a worthy instrument of God’s salvation for all of humanity.

* “Median” is the average, which means that there are just as many people who make more than this as there are who make less.