(ACNS) In your experience, do people suddenly discover or rediscover religion during difficult times like these?
I think, generally speaking, religion is either part of your life or it isn’t. What often happens during a crisis like this is that people come to a temple or a mosque or a church looking to identify with that part of themselves, rather than suddenly finding it in the midst. But clearly there will be some for whom this is the moment when that spiritual part awakens for the first time.
Many people are confronting their worst fears about their vanishing financial security and livelihood. I imagine you must be hearing about these concerns in your pastoral role. How do you comfort someone who is facing the loss of a job or life savings?
I think you try to be there with the person – physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually – that’s the first step. And then, out of that conversation, perhaps you try to give some encouragement and direct them toward services that can explicitly help with job transitions, outplacement, that sort of thing.
From a spiritual perspective, what comfort can you offer?
The basic comfort of the Christian tradition is that God is with us. That doesn’t mean that you won’t lose your job. It doesn’t mean that the hurricane is not going to hit your town or that a plane isn’t going to hit the buildings at the World Trade Center. What it means is that God is in the midst of all that, whatever’s happening.
The 23rd Psalm provides the essence of that: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why not? Not because it’s all going well in the valley of the shadow of death. The promise is, “I will be with you” to the end of time and through all of this. The theology in the Christian tradition and other traditions as well is that the loving presence of God is always in our lives.
Doesn’t Trinity Wall Street own very very valuble glebe land in Manhatten?
I have often found that people ‘comfortably’ sitting on a big bag of money find it easy to give ‘comforting’ advice to those lacking the ‘comfort’ of an assured income.
“I think, generally speaking, religion is either part of your life or it isn’t.”
Well, that generally settles everything. No need to do evangelism. Conversion? Bother.
Listen, the great, great, New York Layman’s Prayer Revival began in Lower Manhattan and grew large when there was a market crash.
No revivals in Manhattan today becasue as we all know, one is religious or they are not.
Readers of this blog might be aware that there is a strong movement of planting new churches in Manhattan. I serve one; and we have found an increased interest in the “More to Life” Wall Street Ministry that offers Bible study before and during work hours.
I hope that the strength of the Prayer Revival mentioned in the above comment takes root again, and ask your prayer for those churches and para-church ministries in NYC that proclaim the Gospel. Do pray also for those like Trinity Wall St which have great assets that could be so much more useful for ministry. They are right at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, just down the way from the New York Stock Exchange. As the rector there notes, the doors of the building are open, which is a good witness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they not only gave people in crisis “candy and counseling”, but also “Christ and the Cross”!
New York is a challenging but wonderful place to minister. There are many thousands who work on Wall Street who are not multi-millionaires, but people who have pretty regular jobs. They and the super rich all need to enter through the same gate — the narrow one!
(The Rev.) Clifford Swartz
clifford@christchurchnyc.com
Well that just solved all our problems with printing. shipping, equipping, evangelizing, funding, organizing, “convening”, “deposing” “litigating” and saving! Either you got it or you don’t. And we preach the Gospel for what reason according to these people?
Oh, I forgot, the UN goals! By the time my 6 wks old grandson is having children if this goes on unchecked, there will be no Sacraments, No Eucharist, none of Early Christian Practices taught by Our Dear Lord. Start hoarding Bibles, Lectionaries and the like as they will be needed by the next Christian civilization after our’s disappears like the Greek and Roman Empires.
‘Nuff pmtificating!
ammakate
#2 and #4, look at the question and look at his entire answer:
“(ACNS) In your experience, do people suddenly discover or rediscover religion during difficult times like these?
I think, generally speaking, religion is either part of your life or it isn’t. What often happens during a crisis like this is that people come to a temple or a mosque or a church looking to identify with that part of themselves, rather than suddenly finding it in the midst. But clearly there will be some for whom this is the moment when that spiritual part awakens for the first time.”
Why be so virulent in your criticism. He was giving his experience and he acknowleged that a crisis does draw people to the spirit sometime for the first time. He was answering very difficult pastoral questions, in a difficult time. I, for one, think he did a pretty good job, and I have no ax to grind in any direction regarding him or Trinity Church. We all need to be a little more charitable, in my opinion, in our blogging comments. It’s easy to be critical in our comments; it’s harder to use critical thinking in our comments.
Billy, I invite you to look again, not at what the rector wrote, but yourself. You used the word “virulent”. Me, myself, I like lively exchanges, and many of my historical heroes like Paul, Augustine, and Luther did too, so I don’t have an issue here except I have never liked hypocrisy. What is the purpose of criticising the way someone criticizes? It’s like how people say they don’t like negative ads in one breath and tell you how much they hate George Bush in the next. I have no problem with negative ads as long as they are honest reporting of facts.
Have a good day.
Eric
Thanks for your comments Billy. Sarcasm is one of the my many defense mechanism I am still trying to dismantle in myself. Rather than virulent at this priest, I am disappointed in the way our culture is moving. We are woefully inadequate in teaching our children about salvation, education, morals etc.. As a grandparent in addition to my Ordination and Clinical experience, I am passionatet that changes need to come.
Blessings for your candid remark,
AmmaKate
Eric, if your implication is that I’m being hypocritical in commenting on your criticism, I’ll certainly look at myself on that. I had just read an entry from Kendall in another part of the blog, in which he quotes someone who has decided not to continue coming to the blog because of the tone of the comments. I thought the tone of your and #4’s comments were unnecessarily negative and sarcastic and, actually, not accurate, given the totality of the quotation from Fr. Cooper. Thus, my criticism of your criticism. If it is, indeed, hypocritical for me to criticize your criticism, I, indeed, apologize.
Billy, whan I say things like that I do not mean, “You, Billy, really need to think about this hypocritical remark you just made.” Far from it, I am making a general remark about the nature of things. I tried ot show that with the application toward the current election. As for the comment from someone who says they are going to quit coming here because of the tone, I say, “Seems like I have heard that before. Oh yeah, a thousand times.”
It’s the nature of the genre. I am putting forward the idea that it would be better to post thoughtfully and respectfully but mainly honestly. There is no human discouorse without sarcasm. People should realize that it is neurotic to think otherwise. In my opinion.
Carry on!