Churches and the recession

Some pastors, from what I've read, are waxing ecstatic that their churches are filling to overflowing on Sunday mornings. It's the recession, they say. The economy. The fear. People are frightened. Worried. Looking for answers.

So, they go to church, hopeful that somewhere between the bindings of their books of prose and books of praise, and the orations of their clergy, they will find rest for their souls and respite from the daily grind of putting food on the table and gas in their cars.

These are only anecdotal accounts, of course, so it is impossible to extrapolate generalizations about all churches everywhere. And, an uptick in pew people may derive from other factors, also, such as the reason for the season.


Ironically, I did see a survey somewhere indicating that the economic recession is being felt by the churches in other, less beneficial ways. Offerings are down about 8 percent. For people involved in the mega-churches with multiple income streams, that may not seem like a big deal.

But there are myriads of small congregations that live from week to week and a sudden 8 percent drop in the collection plate could be the grinch that killed their Christmas. It could mean the difference between paying the light bill or paying the pastor.


But maybe as more and more people pull themselves out of bed and drag themselves to church on Sunday morning, the income differential will be mitigated.

You would think, however, God would ensure the opportunity for his people to worship him. Actually, you'd think God would ensure that his people would fail to feel the effects of the recession at all; kind of a financial reward thing. Like Joel Osteen preaches. And that clown from the Dallas area, Kenneth Copeland.

Oh, wait a minute. They're the ones supposed to get rich. The rest of us are to watch and enjoy them enjoying their riches.


Then I remember that passage where Jesus suggests that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

I never did understand that. Why be good?

Oh, yeah, 2 choices: 1) You'll get your reward in heaven, or 2) be good for goodness sake!