On this fourth Sunday of our Stewardship Season, Rev. Cari takes on Mark 12:28-34: the story of the scholar who asks Jesus what the “foremost commandment” is. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy “Love God” and Leviticus “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Rev. Cari takes the opportunity her own recent injury has afforded her, to be her own sermon illustration. She shares her discovery, “You can’t give what you haven’t received,” and through the text, identifies the flow of giving: from God, through us, to others.

Along the way, she sings a bit of an old jazz standard, reads a lovely quote from Soren Kirkegaard, sings a chorus of “Love is something if you give it away,” and finally, shares the following prayer with the congregation:

Take, and receive all my liberty, my memory,
my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
You have given all to me, to you I return it.
All is yours, do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me. Amen.

Ignatius of Loyola The Spiritual Exercises