Feb 10 2009
Providing For More Than Spiritual Needs in a Financially Rough Time
More and more I’m seeing news coverage, internet coverage and talk at my church of how we can support one another and how churches can help guide us through this economically challenging time. I think this is a great blessing for our country. It’s a time where our country and our global community are realizing we have to think outside the box. We have to begin living our lives in a different way, with different attitudes and convictions for our future.
We must make efforts to curb our out of control consumerism and learn to live in harmony with the earth and our values. Constantly buying more is not only destructive to our wallets it’s destructive to our family life, when finances need to be budgeted. It also isn’t helping our planet with the trash produced by this continual cycle of buy and throw away that we have been living for at least the last decade.
What I am seeing through this coverage is a new way of supporting each other, a simplified way of living with reality checks. Churches here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area are creating Sunday sermons on topics such as personal debt, and classes on handling finances, others are offering classes on saving on groceries, some have launched websites of tips and inspirations for surviving this economic downturn. I think this is a coming together of spirituality and every day life. We are learning to support each other with both practical knowledge and spiritual understanding through an economy that has everyone concerned.
One of my sources for this piece was the St. Petersburg Times. To read their full article click this link. who listed the following churches offering programs, sermons and informational support. Temple of the Living God, Chabad Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish group with a center in St. Petersburg. Their website offers a variety of information and tips on household budgeting and saving money. The Mormon community offers members who approach their bishop assistance in the form of food or financial assitance through a long standing private church program. This was quite amazing to read about, church members fund this program and they forgo two meals a week and donate the money they would have spent on those meals to the church program to assist those in need. Others who offered sermons and classes were First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks and Pasadena Community Church.
My own church, Harmony Metaphysical offers past sermons on You Tube, another church I found via the web in Tallahasse offers pod casts. So churches are reaching out to their congregations to offer support, spiritual advice and practical life advice in many forms that support our every day life. I love my church and spiritual energy of Harmony’s sanctuary, but when I can’t make it there, I know I can enjoy a quiet few minutes of support and spiritual guidance through one of many sermons our church has worked to place on You Tube.
In this changing world and upside down economy everything helps, from the love we share with each other, to the financial skills we hone and improve, to our budgeting research, to insight offered from our spiritual home. It melds together into a beautiful support that helps us in trying times like these. One of my favorite budget and finance sites is Wisebread, click here to visit their site. Blessings to you.
Last 5 posts by
- The Irony of Healing - April 19th, 2010
- Weekly Inspiration - April 15th, 2010
- A Ship in the Harbor - April 9th, 2010
- Healing With Time - March 27th, 2010
- Mirrors of Time By: Brian Weiss - March 19th, 2010
