Over the weekend we heard from Christianity Today (here) about the phenomenon of people on Wall Street turning to God because of market volatility. Today we have a piece from Reuters that spotlights Trinity Church Wall Street, the Episcopal church so close to Ground Zero, among others. Observations included more people coming to services, more of them wearing business suits to lunchtime services, and among regular worshippers, “more strained faces” according to a nearby synagogue.
That is hardly surprising, said Reverend Mark Bozzuti-Jones of Trinity Church Wall Street, given that people don’t know if their employers will survive from one day to the next.
“The economic financial crisis is a reminder that we cannot put our faith in riches, that we cannot put our faith in money,” Bozzuti-Jones said in his sermon at lunchtime on Friday, which he devoted to coping with the financial crisis.
A handful of men in suits and ties and women in business attire were among dozens of people at the Episcopal church, which was hit by debris from the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001.
The church, which normally attracts tourists and a few financial workers, experienced an upturn in visitors this week, Bozzuti-Jones said. In the past few days he had requests for help to pay rent from those who had lost their jobs.
“People are just sitting there, praying or crying and definitely exhausted. There has definitely been an increase in the number of people who have come in,” he said in his office after the service.
Read the whole thing here.