By Clara Glendale | Beacon religion reporter

For many, the launching of the Christmas shopping season on Black Friday ushers in a month-long trauma as money woes mount. But this year, area churches are offering an antidote to low cash-flow holiday misery.

Christened “Brown Sunday” by local clergy, the day-long happening will serve as a way for community members to tighten their belts and still enjoy the reason for the season.

“Not all of us are Magi,” said “Brown Sunday” organizer Pastor Jiminy Brown, of the Oak Street United Church of God on Third Street. “The road to Damascus is paved with many potholes. We all need a little financial assistance now and then to assist us in meeting our financial goals, as God intended.”

The idea, Pastor Brown said, is to have participating worship centers place their collection plate offerings in a pile and then let a team from each organization compete for the cash, which will then be divided among the winning squad’s pew-mates.

Among the games Brown Sunday will feature are “Wheel of Misfortune,” “Blind Man’s Rugby” and “Whose Leg is This?”

“The concept came to me while watching a Japanese game show on my satellite,” Pastor Brown said. “It looks like great fun!”

Thus far, Brown Sunday has attracted churches from all walks of life, including Jewish synagogues and Muslims mosques.

“It’s all in good fun,” said Imam Islam Mustafa of the Third Street Mosque of Oak Street. “The road to Mecca is paved with many sand traps. We all must eat. And who doesn’t need a new flat-screen?”

Rabbi Sydney Perelman agreed.

“The road to the Promised Land is paved. And sometimes it isn’t,” said Perelman of Third Oak on the Left Street Synagogue. “Nobody rides for free.”

Brown Sunday festivities beginat 1 p.m. Sunday at the Bass Lake Community Center.