They’re asking us to help out. Apparently they’ve already gotten $30k from last week’s requests, and they need another $100k within the next couple of weeks. I really don’t know how to take this…in all honesty the first thing that comes to mind is: Wtf?

Not so much because we’re being asked to help, that’s expected, but moreso because I have no idea as to what caused this debt to begin with (I kinda sorta skipped church last week when they went over it). Is it mortgage related? Are parishioners not tithing enough? I can only assume it has something to do with this economy because it seems to have come out of nowhere.

Reasons aside though, does our community even HAVE the extra funds to help bail out our little churchy church? Cuz I gotta tell ya, the amount of cash people have access to these days are slowly drying up. And what we DO have, most of us are holding on to in case of something even crazier happening. At least that’s what I’d assume is happening :)

So @ church yesterday we were all asked to “sacrifice” and contribute a little more this week, and the next, so that we can clear this debt and start Easter fresh. How wonderful it would be if this indeed happened! But I can’t help but wonder if we might be in the same situation again 3 months from now? If that were the case, they (the church) would be hardpressed to get even *more* of these extra funds from us to help get on track again. Not only that, is it even our duty as followers of Christ to do whatever it takes to help out? And what if we don’t? Will the church file bankruptcy and leave all it’s members behind? (is that even possible?) My moral side says YES – it’s your obligation to help clear out this debt. But my logical/frugal side says NO – we may very well be in this same situation again.

It’s hard speculating without the facts. When it comes down to it, I’ll do my best to contribute & sacrifice as much as possible w/out putting my family’s livelihood in harm’s way. How much that amounts to I couldn’t tell ya. All I know is that things start looking a little rough when even your church is having a hard time getting through this mess…not a complaint, just an observation ;)