|
(Healthcare Sabbath Resources can be found under "Economic Justice")
November 25, 2009
Dear Friend,
As a NH religious leader, you and your faith community are invited to join us in a weekend of faithful action on health care on December 12 & 13, 2009. You have little advance notice, for that we beg forgiveness, but events in Congress and the nation follow their own clock. In this season of religious season, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak of our moral responsibilities to one another. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane."
Decades later, our country still faces a healthcare crisis: 48 million Americans are uninsured; 13 million people are at-risk of losing their insurance; and more than 50 million people have health insurance but cannot get the care they need because of the high costs of deductibles and co-pays, or because their insurance doesn't cover certain procedures.
We believe that a critical moment in the reform debate has been reached. Our collective voices as people of faith can play an important role in securing this basic human right for all members of our congregations and state. We have joined with NH Change That Works to organize a day of faithful action on December 12 & 13, 2009. By joining together across the state, we can send a powerful message to our elected leaders of the moral imperative of health care reform.
The good news is that President Obama and congressional leaders have committed to trying to solve this crisis this year. The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to ensure that all Americans have access to qual ity, affordable health care. Unfortunately, in the Senate a super majority must vote to end debate and passage this year is by no means certain. We must act quickly to support the effort to reform healthcare as an opportunity like this may not come again for years.
As a person of faith, you can help by:
• Voice your own opinion by contacting our Senators in support of quick passage of health care reform. A toll free number for Senators Gregg and Shaheen is (866) 288-1495.
• Including a paragraph in your church bulletin on how members of your congregation can contact Senators Gregg & Shaheen to support quick passage of health care reform toll free at (866) 288-1495.
• Encourage members of your congregation to deliver prayers of the faithful during your service.
• Join with congregations across the state in delivering a sermon on the moral imperative of health care reform.
Enclosed you will find further information on healthcare reform, what your congregation can do to help, and sample materials.
If you decide to participate, please let us know. E-mail
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call our project staffer, Israel Pierre at (603) 738-9257. We can email a sample sermon and other resources to help you plan.
President Obama recently said, "I am confident that if we come together and work together, we will finally achieve what generations of Americans have fought for and fulfill the promise of healthcare in our time."
Please spread the word. Share this invitation with faith leaders in your community and throughout your faith leader networks.
Faithfully Yours,
David Lamarre Vincent
Executive Director
NH Council of Churches
(Healthcare Sabbath Resources can be found under Economic Justice) |
Kinnamon and the NCC President, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, sent a congratulatory message today to ELCA and UMC leaders.
For the last 6 years Sheila Holt-Orsted has been fighting for the clean-up of her family’s well in Dickson, TN. The family’s well water has been contaminated with TCE, a dangerous and deadly toxin. For the last 2 years, however, Sheila has been protesting without the help of her father, Harry Holt, who died of cancer.