Tuesday next week, 28 November 2017, is National Giving Tuesday. I am guessing by now you have received various solicitations from many groups. Perhaps you have decided to skip them all, or you may have a favorite group you are certain to donate to.
As you consider your donation I hope you will take a moment and think about supporting your local Nichiren Shu temple. If you don’t have a local temple then consider supporting any of the Nichiren Shu temples in North America. Every one of them could use your financial support.
Currently every Nichiren Shu temple that is being served by an American minister or novice finds that minister also holding down a job or scraping together resources to support themselves and or their families. None of the American born ministers has support from anyone but you and their own jobs.
Working full time and running a temple is a labor of love and it is an expensive one in both time and money. None of the priest are living luxurious lifestyles. None of us are able to do all we wish we could and all that many people want.
Besides the income earned from jobs outside the temple the only support to keep the temples open is from people who graciously donate their own hard earned dollars.
I urge, no, really I beg you to consider giving to one of the Nichiren Shu temples here in North America.
Even my own temple which now is primarily online only needs the funding. Before anyone says well there is no temple there so what is there to support, consider that there is no temple because there is no support. That same message holds true for all the temples. Each American minister, and I know them all, would like to do much more for their temples. Each minister would like to offer more services, be more readibly available to the congregation, have a better facility, and the list could go on. Yet all of us are limited by the amount of financial support of the many people who benefit from the even limited presence of Nichiren Shu in North America.
So please, won’t you make a donation this Tuesday or before to support the Lotus Sutra in North America.
With Gassho,
Ryusho Jeffus, Shonin, MDiv, BCC
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