Q: During this economic meltdown, the current system of doing business is not working for many of us. Instead of waiting for those in Washington and the corporate boardrooms to produce a solution, I was wondering what God might have to say on the subject.

What behaviors should we as individuals practice to improve our financial health? What do the great faith traditions have to say about our relationship with money and material stuff? I know this is a big topic, but there must be a consensus across the faith traditions given the singular source. - E., Buffalo, N.Y., via an actual letter with a stamp on it!

A: I'd love to get God's policy proposals for solving the banking crisis, reducing the deficit and stabilizing the dollar, but as you know, I'm in sales, not management. Nonetheless, I appreciate your question and will do my best to share with you the ways I know faith and fortune intersect.

The first spiritual insight obvious to me is that business needs a renewal of trust. At the foundation of this crisis is a massive collapse of simple trust. Loans were given and taken without the honest trust that they could be repaid. Debt was bundled and rated and sold as safe by those we could not trust to rate them honestly.

Everywhere, from trusted financial advisors like Bernie Madoff to major financial institutions and hedge funds, trust collapsed, and trust is not a financial instrument. At its roots, trust a religious virtue. The word "Amen" means, "I trust this."

So I would ask not how to inject more liquidity into the financial system. I would rather ask how to inject more trust into the financial system. As always, I believe solutions come from the wisdom of faith made real in our daily lives. Trust must begin not with great government promises but with a personal promise that we will be trustworthy in our work.

The Bible commands us to have honest scales and honest measures, and although most of us are not selling barley by the basket at the gates to the city, we can all do better to reconstruct trust from where we stand. We can advertise, but we must not deceive. We can sell, but we must not lie. We can lend and borrow but only if we can pay out debts.

The CEO of a gigantic corporation once thrust his hand out to me and said, "This is all I have. My hand, my word that what I say I will do, I will actually do, no matter its cost to me. My hand is all I have. I make billion-dollar deals with just my hand. Only then do I let the lawyers get involved."

Another spiritual solution to the present financial crisis is giving charity to the poor. In the Book of Daniel, Chapter 4, the prophet Daniel offers King Nebuchadnezzar the chance to annul God's decree against him by "showing mercy to the poor." In Isaiah, Chapter 58, we read the prophetic condemnation of fasting on Yom Kippur if it is not accompanied by acts of charity to those who sleep in the dust.

I know it's easy to find reasons to cut back on your normal charitable giving, but now is the time to increase your donations if you can. Charities that help the poor, heal the sick, and teach tolerance and respect for all people were among the first victims of the recession. They need our help desperately.

In addition to helping charities do their good works, giving to them has a powerful spiritual side benefit. By giving, we remind ourselves that everything we have is a gift. We truly own nothing. God owns everything and what we have is on loan. One of the costs of servicing this divine loan of everything everywhere is to give back a percentage of what we've been loaned to help those who haven't been loaned enough.

Charity doesn't just help the poor; it also reduces our arrogance and selfishness and feeling of entitlement. In the Bible, this point is brought home by the commandment to leave the corners of the field unharvested so the poor could come and share God's bounty. Charity helps us look beyond ourselves at a time when we could easily be self- absorbed..

The Muslim practice of charity (zakat) and the Jewish and Christian practice of tithing don't apply only when we're doing well and won't miss the contributions. They have more meaning when our giving is sacrificial.

Personally, I also think faith can intersect with fortune when we change the lists we keep in the front of our minds. Instead of keeping a list of what's been taken from us in these tough times, let's refer more regularly to the list of what we've been given. I believe that even in the worst times and on the darkest days there's never a moment when our burdens exceed our blessings. Remembering this simple spiritual truth from every ancient wisdom tradition can help us not merely endure, but thrive and grow into a new season of faith, hope and charity.

And let us say, Amen.

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