Readings for Generosity Week (Trinity 15) – 28th September 2025

Collect for Generosity Week

God of grace, ever creating and restoring, you breathe life into all things and embrace us with an everlasting love; help us to grow in wonder and awe, to embody a spirit of gratitude, and to dream generous dreams; that, in gathering what we have, we may graciously offer ourselves to accomplish what you will, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit upon your Church in the burning fire of your love; grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that, always abiding in you, they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 8, verses 1 to 15

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted

to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy

and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I

can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means,

begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints—and this, not

merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to

us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should

also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything—in

faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want

you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am

testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the

generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he

became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving

my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even

to desire to do something—now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by

completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable

according to what one has— not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that

there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance

between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your

need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, ‘The one who had much did

not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’

A reading from the gospel according to Luke, chapter 21, verses 1 to 4

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor

widow put in two small copper coins. He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in

more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out

of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’

Second Collect

Loving and righteous God, we have tasted your goodness and

generosity which exceeds all that we can desire or deserve; liberate us from all jealousy

and greed, that we may respond cheerfully by offering ourselves, and love and serve

others to witness to your glory, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.