The following prayer was part of a story from the Anglican Communion News Service sent to me by a friend. It can be found online at on the Prayers for Today section of the Church of England’s website and has been viewed more than 8000 times since it was published in September.

Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer:
be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The ANS article also includes the following figures:

Web users looking for support during the current financial situation have boosted traffic to a Church of England website section focusing on debt advice by over 70 per cent, and increased visitor numbers to the Church’s online prayer page by more than a quarter. The Matter of Life and Debt website section - containing a new ‘debt spiral’ feature so visitors can work out if they are one of the many families who will be seriously affected by the credit crunch, and useful advice for those worried about debt - has seen a 71 percent increase in traffic in recent weeks.

It is an understatement to say that people are stressed out during these troubling financial times, and much of the anxiety, even panic, people are feeling is justified by events. While I suppose that turning to online prayer sites is hardly the worst way to respond to such anxiety, I wonder if these people have faith communities of their own, actual communities, or if they are turning to online prayer because they have nobody else to pray with.

I remember how church attendance reportedly rose dramatically after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and how some church leaders openly strategized about how to keep people in the pews once things returned to normal. Most churches didn’t succeed in that goal; although some of us would argue that things still haven’t returned to normal, somehow as a culture we’ve become used to the “new normal” and as a result it seems that the rise in churchgoing turned out to be a temporary blip.

Will we see something like that during this economic downturn? Or will people stay home, praying in front of their laptops, one eye always on the Dow’s latest plunge?

All I know for sure is that I am glad I attend a church where real live people are there every time I walk through the door. Our priest has spoken of the financial crisis from the pulpit more than once, and it has served as an excellent reminder that none of us has to go through this alone. More than that, his words have reminded all of us in the pews that ours is a God of abundance, a loving and generous Creator who offers us more than we could ever ask for of our own accord. No financial crisis can threaten our relationship with God–unless we let it. Or, as one of the collects in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer says so beautifully:

“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

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