One tenth of the year is a period of 36 days, or a period around 5 Sundays in length.

Tithing around the Table

Much study of worship renewal is given to the rediscovery of the richness of the signs and symbols we already have. “Do this in remembrance” can also be Christ’s encouragement to us to continue remembering Him to others in deeds of service. Below is a plan for ministers to present to their churches which incorporates the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and tithing our time–the days of the year.

• Tithing usually has a monetary connotation, but as Romans 12:1 points out, we should see our whole selves as offerings, including our time. One tenth of the 365 days in a year is around every 36 days, or about every five Sundays. If a church body were to adopt a conscious effort to observe an intentional focus on these 10 communion services as a continual tithe of the year as a family of God, I believe the spiritual deepening as a whole would well up as a result.

• For private devotion, a booklet of spiritual goals each worshipper hopes to accomplish each 36 days and a journal of one’s active participation toward reaching those goals could be developed related to intercessory prayer, verse memorization, or experiences in guided meditation.

• For corporate devotion, acts of worship through service could be scheduled every five Sundays, such as set periods of fasting throughout the 36 days culminating with a group effort to help feed the residents in the local homeless shelter.

• If the 36-day rotation begins on the first Sunday of October which is World Communion Sunday (and for those churches whose communion rhythm is quarterly, it is the fall quarter. These 10 tithings could be paired with church-wide missions emphases or personal suggested goals to accomplish within each set of 36 days. The completed 36 days would be celebrated within the week of when they occur or at a nearby liturgical day to highlight the importance of the event in the life of Christ as well as our tithing of daily devotion to Christ.

Ideas for the participation of children:

• Not many Sunday School units are on tithing except for the lesson on the widow’s mite. I think this might be a wonderful opportunity to explain tithing more fully as it relates to not only money but the becoming the body of Christ by doing His work—exemplifying leitourgia.

• Create a special offering the children themselves could take up during the service at these 10 communion days—an offering of dimes. The dime being a unit of 10 will help in communicating to give monies to God as well as giving to God the tenth of the year it represents.

• The children’s “dime time” does not have to take up more time in the service. It could be done after the Opening of the Word during the prelude, during the choral anthem, or as a response to the scripture. The children’s SS classes could rotate as ushers to take up these “Dimes of Devotion.” The children could then decide with their teachers how the collective money will be spent—ten different charities or one single one, etc or in the case of older classes, meet to buy school supplies for needy children or toiletries, etc. with the monies.

I pray that the framework of only 36 days will bring sense of purposive urgency in personal devotion and anticipation of corporate devotion will also be nurtured by this tithing of days process.

Tithing around the Table Observances

36 days observance of communion

1)October 7 October 7 (World Communion Sunday)

2) November 13 November 25 (Christ the King Sunday– emphasis on Heavenly
Banquet and preparing to be ready in service for His return)

3) December 19 December 24 (Christmas Eve Communion)

4) January 24 January 20 (Human Relations Sunday—emphasis on Christ’s call to reach all humankind & choose avenues for dimes of devotion to reach neighbors locally and globally)

5) February 28 February 24 (2nd Sunday in Lent—perhaps use as a time of
drawing attention to tithing the days of Lent by 1] journaling or 2] creating works of photography or an art medium to share in a meditative display to be opened Palm Sunday, March 24)

6) April 4 March 28 (Maundy Thursday)

7) May 9 May 12 (Ascension Sunday—also a way to highlight the
importance of Christ’s life events as a focal sacred observance on an otherwise secular day –Mothers’ Day– by using the dimes of devotion for Shelters for Abused Women and Children…or use May 5 for the observance)

8) June 13 June 16 (Fourth Sunday after Pentecost– also a way to highlight the importance of Christ’s life events as a focal sacred observance on an otherwise secular day –Fathers’ Day—by using the dimes of devotion for the homeless shelter or teen shelter…or use June 9)

9) July 18 July 28 (Tenth Sunday after Pentecost—emphasize the “ten” Sundays after the celebration of the empowerment of the Church through the Holy Spirit and have a “testimony times and dimes” aspect of the worship service as to how their journey has been impacted through viewing the days in the year as the tithing of time

10) August 22 September 1 (15th Sunday after Pentecost–next day is Labor Day—also a way to highlight the importance of Christ’s life events as a focal sacred observance on an otherwise secular day –Labor Day– by giving the dimes of devotion to a cause working to eradicate child labor…or use August 25 for the observance)