A special invitation from Bishop Johnston: Stations of the Cross to remember victims of gun violence; Walk from the White House to the Capitol on Monday of Holy Week

Dear friends,

A few days ago, I received letter from our bishop, Shannon Johnston, inviting all of us to join him and other Episcopal bishops in Washington D.C. on Monday of Holy Week, where they will lead a “Stations of the Cross” procession from the White House to Capitol Hill. During the walk, we are being asked to pray especially for victims of gun violence in our nation.

I plan to join them, and Bishop Johnston would like to invite you to come if you can. Afterwards, we will be meeting with governmental and Church leaders for a briefing on specific gun legislation proposed in Congress. I am aware that we are of many minds on legislation, yet I hope we can be of one mind as people of faith about the need to lower violence in our country, and to educate ourselves about the proposals under consideration by our lawmakers.

The House of Bishops recently gathered on retreat at Kanuga, N.C., for eight days on the topic of violence and loss. The bishops shared their personal experiences of losing loved-ones to violence. One bishop told how, in his former life as a police officer, he shot and killed a man. Bishop Johnston said he was “deeply moved” by these testimonies, and so he wants to lead this procession on Monday of Holy Week.

The procession will begin at 10:30 am in Lafayette Park. St. John’s Episcopal Church, across the street, will provide light refreshments at 9:45 am. If you can come, please notify Bishop Johnston’s assistant, Amy Williams, by Friday at awilliams@thediocese.net.

Whether you are able to come, please keep the victims of violence in your prayers in Holy Week as we remember how Jesus died violently on the Cross, and how he overcame death to show us a new way to live.

Blessings,

Jim+

Below is the communication from Bishop Johnston:

Episcopal Bishops from Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Newark invite everyone in their dioceses to Washington to pray for the victims of gun violence across our country in a public stations of the cross. We invite everyone to this public liturgy, to pray and offer public witness.

We'll begin at 10:30am on March 25th in the park across from St. John's Lafayette Square and make our way down National Mall, praying as we go. The Stations liturgy will conclude at the Capitol, and those who wish to meet with political leaders to ask for specific legislative action will proceed to the Rotunda. At approximately 2 p.m. we will assemble in the Library of Congress for remarks from church and government leaders in support of gun reform and legislative actions pending in Congress.

I will be leading those clergy and lay persons from the Diocese of Virginia who wish to attend this important and poignant event. I know this is quite short notice, but I only learned of all of the details at the recent House of Bishops meeting at Kanuga and was deeply moved by this vision to pray for the victims of gun violence and for meaningful legislation that will help to end such tragedies in our country. Please do get the word out to all of your clergy encouraging them to attend and to invite members of their congregations as well. St. John’s Lafayette Square will be providing coffee, light refreshments and restrooms before the walk beginning at 9:45am.

An important detail: Please emphasize that those who will be attending should send an email to my assistant, Amy Williams, at awilliams@thediocese.net before noon on Friday March 22nd so that she can give a headcount to St. John’s Lafayette Square so they can plan accordingly for hospitality. I hope to see you there at 10:30am on March 25th.

Faithfully yours, 

+Shannon

“Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble”

“Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

By now, the killing of Osama bin Laden is two-day-old news. By next week the news cycle will have moved on. I feel compelled to write something today because I must.

Ten years ago this September 11, I was living in Sacramento, California. I had been on the staff of Trinity Cathedral one year and eleven days. My alarm clock went off at 6 am, and I heard the NPR commentator talking about an airplane hitting a building at the World Trade Center in New York. Startled, I got up, turned on the television and watched as a second airplane, live on television, hit the next building.

Within minutes, Don Brown, the Dean of the Cathedral, called me. He told me to get down to the Cathedral – I lived closer – and to open the doors. He said people would want to come to pray.

He was so right.

Over the next few hours, thousands of Sacramentans came. We held a prayer service that evening, and every night that week. Life had been knocked out of kilter, and somehow everyone seemed to know it would not be the same again.

As the day wore on, I found myself emailing with a high school friend who worked in Lower Manhattan and could not get out of his building. He wouldn’t get out for another 24 hours. The strangeness of that conversation by email still lives vividly in my memory.

A few months later, we went to New York and to St. Paul's Chapel, which is at Ground Zero, and was being used as a relief station for those cleaning up the devastation (the photos here are of St. Paul's Chapel). It was a sobering experience to be there.

So much has changed in the last ten years. We are now engaged in three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya). We’ve been fighting terrorism globally and spent a trillion dollars on the effort. We’ve seen great sacrifice and determination, especially by our young people in uniform, and we’ve seen tremendous loss. Every Sunday in our parish, we read the list of the soldiers, sailors and Marines who have died in the last week. This Sunday there were 25 names on the list.

As a nation, we’ve become more partisan, more sharply divided. Our politics is more course, accusatory; less about public policy and more about personality attack. Polls show we are more fearful and less confident about our future. We have become, in some quarters, more hateful toward the world and more hateful toward each other. All of those trends were brewing before September 11, 2001, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that the violence of that day unleashed something terrible and ugly and out of control, and not just in our enemies, but in ourselves.

On Sunday night came the news that an elite unit of Navy Seals had found and killed Osama bin Laden. I must admit to a feeling of relief and even triumph that bin Laden had, at last, been found and eliminated. I prayed that the families who lost loved-ones on September 11, 2001 would find some measure that justice had been served. President Obama said that the world is a better place without Osama bin Laden in it, and that is doubtlessly true. I am proud of our president, proud of military and intelligence services who carried out this operation with skill and courage. I am proud of the Navy, and I come from a Navy family.

Yet I am deeply uneasy with the gloating and the cheering outside the White House, and elsewhere, as if this was a Super Bowl victory. I am deeply skeptical of the idea that somehow the elimination of Osama bin Laden will change all that has plagued us these last ten years. I doubt this will bring anything like closure. Whether the world is a safer place, or a less hateful place, remains to be seen. We do well -- very well – to pray for those who would do us harm, pray for enemies, and pray for our own souls.

“Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, or else the Lord will see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from them.”
– Proverbs 24:17-18


“As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways…”
– Ezekiel 33:11

“O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
– Book of Common Prayer, page 816

Your vote next Tuesday: Let your conscience be your guide.

I am not going to tell you how to vote next week.

There, I said it.

That may not sound like a controversial statement, but apparently it is in some Christian circles. Judging from my mail, there are some who believe Christians must vote a certain way, their way, and they are sparing no expense in convincing the rest of us of the rightness of their stance.

I received in the mail a very curious postcard last week, addressed to me as "Pastor James Richardson," from an organization in Scottsdale, Arizona called the "Judeo-Christian Voter Guide." I must admit I found it a little unsettling that this outfit knows my name and address.

The postcard implored me to tell you about a "non-partisan" voter guide for the candidates who are "the best fit for your congregation." Funny thing: when I clicked on the website, all the candidates who are the "best fit" are members of one party (hint: not the same as President Obama's).

According the Judeo-Christian Voter Guide postcard, I am supposed to make copies of its voter guide and put it in our Sunday worship bulletins, distribute extras in the pews and on your car windshield and email it to you. Rest assured, I am doing none of that.

"At stake," the postcard says, "your congregation's future: religious freedom, tax exempt status, tax deductible support."

Really? Run that by me again.

The postcard claims that "same-sex 'marriage' " is a threat to my freedom of religion. The logic completely escapes me about why two gay people who marry each other is a threat to my freedom to worship God, but maybe I am missing something.

The postcard goes onto to reassure me that if I will distribute this voter guide to you, this organization will defend me if someone challenges my church's tax exempt status for telling you how to vote. It pointed out that "No church or synagogue in U.S. history has ever been stripped of its tax-exempt status nor its constitutionally-guaranteed liberties for communications with its own membership."

That may be so, but let me point out that the only challenge to the tax-exempt status of a church that I know of came against a liberal church during the administration of President George W. Bush. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena had to endure a drawn out IRS challenge to its tax-exempt status because its former rector, George Regas, had challenged the morality of the Iraq war from the pulpit. All Saints went to great expense to fend off the IRS, and I don't believe they got a dime from the Judeo-Christian Voter Guide to help.

The Judeo-Christian Voter Guide lists itself as an arm of the "National Organization for Marriage," which in turn lists Dr. James Dobson as a backer in small print on the postcard. Dobson is the founder and head of Focus on the Family, an organization that has backed far-right causes for years.

I am bringing this up today for two reasons. First, I am weary of hearing that it is the liberals who are playing politics in the pulpit. From where I sit, the politics this year seems very one-sided, and it is not coming from the liberals.

Second, I want you to vote. But I believe your vote is too precious to let others tell you how to vote, especially religious demagogues. I believe you are smart enough and wise enough to figure out how to vote. I hope you will take the time to look carefully at the issues and the candidates, verify the claims of campaigns, block-out the fear-mongering and hysteria, and exercise an intelligent and informed vote. How you vote and how I vote may be different, and that is perfectly OK.

When you vote, I hope you will allow your conscience to be your guide as God gives you the gift of conscience, and that you will apply the moral principles summed up by the Apostle Paul: "faith, hope and love."

And you don't need a voter guide from a shadowy organization in Arizona to do that.

Jesus and the hard way of discipleship

My sermon today is based on Jeremiah 18:1-11, Psalm 139:1-5, 13-17, Philemon 1-21, and Luke 14:25-33.

Tribes

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children cannot be my disciple.”

What?

Yes, you heard that right.

And if you feel like you just heard this not long ago, you are correct. We heard a very similar passage three weeks ago.

We could turn to the other lessons today, but they don’t seem much better, and let me remind you again that I don’t pick the lessons.

It is tempting to avoid them – this one from Luke is known as one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus, and with good reason.

But let’s see what we can do here. First, I want to underline an obvious truth: How we tell our stories says a great deal about how we view ourselves, and how we view our relationship with God.

Second, I want to underline another truth that is less obvious: How we listen to stories – how we hear each other – also says a great about us and how we view our relationship with God.

I make those two observations to further point out that how we hear these ancient biblical stories says a great deal about us and how we view our relationship with God.

We can hear these stories at least two ways.

Here is one way: From the Prophet Jeremiah, we are told that God will bring evil against you unless you “amend your ways.”

From Psalm 139: “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!”

You didn’t actually hear those words this morning because the drafters of the lectionary edited that part out. But, trust me, the slaying of the wicked is in the psalm.

Then to Paul’s Letter to Philemon: it doesn’t seem to fit much of anything, so we are going to leave aide for now and go straight to the Gospel of Luke:

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother…”

Then take up your cross and get ready to be crucified.

The image we get is of a wrathful, vengeful God who only allows a tiny number of worthy people to be admitted into his holy club. If you mess up, even a little, you are out.

That is the way much of our culture – and much of the religious world in general – hears these biblical passages, and then uses these passages to build religious social structures that divide people into the worthy and the unworthy, the elect and the non-elect.

But maybe there is another way of hearing these biblical passages that get closer to how Jesus intends us to hear them.

But be forewarned: this way of hearing the gospel might prove even more unsettling than the other way because it might push us out of our comfort zones.

From Jeremiah, we hear how we are like a piece of clay. God is the potter molding us into a beautiful jar. We are shaped, but we are not the shapers.

Then from Psalm 139 we hear about God who is with us from the time we are in our mother’s womb, who knows us in our sitting down and our rising up, in our journeys and in our resting places.

We hear about God who never gives up on us.

Then we get this extraordinary – and brief – letter from Paul to Philemon. The letter has no outward theological content, but don’t let outward appearances fool you. Paul is writing to a slave owner, Philemon, pleading with him to legally free his slave, Onesimus, who has escaped.

Paul sends Onesimus back to his owner, and Paul asks the owner see his slave as a “beloved brother” – to treat his slave as an equal – and then free him. Paul wants both slave and owner to be liberated from the brutal economy of humans owning other humans.

By the way, it is thought that this letter was kept and cherished by the early church because Onesimus was, in fact, freed from slavery, and went on to become a bishop.
And then we come to Jesus and his teaching to “hate mother and father.”

This really is not a recipe guide for creating a dysfunctional family. Rather, Jesus is attacking head-on the most violent social structure of his time – the allegiances of tribe and family that lead to blood feuds and endless cycles of retribution.

Think of the present-day tribal violence of Iraq and Afghanistan, and you get the idea. Jesus implores his people – his tribe – to abandon this way of thinking because it possesses them, strangling them.

You can’t be my disciple if you are going to keep living that way.

Such social structures are not so far removed from our own world, though sometimes they are more subtle.

Last Sunday, we heard University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan, in this pulpit, talking about how “humans take differences among people and translate those differences into enduring inequalities.”

In our daily life, we deal with social distinctions created by race and class, educational degrees, family connections, religious affiliations, gender, sexual orientation, just to name a few. Some of these social distinctions help us to maneuver through a complicated world.

But some of these social distinctions are unhealthy. There one distinction I particularly want to talk about today: the anti-Muslim fervor loose in our land.
We’ve seen a number of flash points recently, for example, in the debate over a proposed Islamic Center a few blocks away from “Ground Zero” in New York.

Or in Florida, there is a supposedly Christian pastor promoting the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as a day for mass burnings of the Quran.

And my email burns with proclamations that President Obama is really a Muslim, and was not really born in the United States, and wants to impose Islamic law on the United States.

Let me be clear: I am not going to suggest to you how to vote, nor am I going to suggest how to write an immigration law or a zoning law in New York, or an arson law for that matter.

But I want to tell you that these are not just political issues; they are spiritual issues because they place us onto the uncomfortable ground of social distinctions based on religion.

And when we get onto that uncomfortable ground, we again hear Jesus telling us to upend social structures that lead to hatred and violence. Let them go; don’t let them possess you.

As Christians, we need to understand that there are people in this world who understand God very differently than we do.

What makes us think God can’t reach all people everywhere, in every language, and every culture? Are we so arrogant as to think only we hear God’s voice?

To be a follower of Jesus Christ requires setting aside our own tribal prejudices, and embracing all people with compassion, especially the poor, the immigrants, the weak, and the people who are not like us.

You can’t be a follower of Jesus while embracing religious and racial bigotry.

To be truly a disciple is to take the hard path of the Cross, to sacrifice for others, to live in community with people you may not like, and to commit daring acts of kindness, service, and humility, and then to worship together every week.

There are questions that should come out of this for each of us today: Can we free ourselves from the captivity of our human distinctions so that we might truly see each other as beloved children of God?

And can we trust God enough to trust each other? Can we see in each other the face of Christ, no matter our differences, our arguments, our politics, our outward appearances, and truly become the One body of the Living God in Christ?

What kind of disciples will we be?

We get a lifetime to answer. AMEN.

Pray for peace in the Middle East: A litany for peace from the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem

This week maybe we should hold our breath a little. Or better yet, pray.

The heads of state of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan and the United States are meeting in Washington DC, the first serious peace talks in decades.

Whatever your politics, I hope we can join together in praying that these leaders will find common ground and begin to build a lasting peace. Many forces are arrayed against their success.

But we can bring our prayers.

Each day the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem, and its bishop, The Right Rev. Suheil S. Dawani, are praying this Litany for Peace. Let's join them:

The Cathedral of St. George the Martyr, Jerusalem

O Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

O Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

O Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
Grant us your peace.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the birth in Bethlehem of the Word made flesh, Jesus your Son; who dwelt among us full of grace and truth.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We thank you for his life; his death here in Jerusalem as he carried our sins and suffering, and for his glorious Resurrection in which he gave us new life with him.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We thank you for entrusting to us the ministry of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace-making for the healing of your creation.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for all victims of bloodshed, violence and persecution and those who are in danger here in this Land -- in Gaza, Israel, Palestine and throughout the world.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for all who grieve for loved ones who have died in the desperation of violent actions this past week.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for all who promote violence, that their hearts may be turned to the way of peace.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for children and young people that you may fill them with hope for the future.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for the guidance of your Holy Spirit upon us; upon all the leaders of the Land of the Holy One; upon President Obama and President Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu; upon all those in leadership positions among those who bear arms; upon all the leaders of the United Nations and upon all those in authority in the nations of the world to seek peace and pursue it.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, we praise and glorify you. You are our only refuge in a troubled world.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray. (in unison)

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to us and the people of all the nations a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that all of your people may use their liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The nun who made a difference

Last month, I posted HERE about my friend, Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic nun who has been fighting behind the scenes for years to get health care coverage for the poorest among us.

She has fought the good fight in the best Catholic social justice tradition of Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Oscar Romero. In so doing, she incurred the wrath of the Catholic bishops, but she and her sisters forged ahead and they overcame the odds. In the end, health care reform passed Congress and was signed into law by President Obama.

Many -- including the President -- are crediting the nuns with being the tipping point that won passage of the bill. Vice President Joe Biden called Sister Simone "my nun."

I am incredibly proud to call her my friend.

We met Sister Simone for a concert and dinner last Sunday evening in Washington D.C., and heard her story of the last few months. Amazing. Whatever else you think of this issue, please give credit to a talented a courageous nun who fought very hard to win passage of a bill that will bring relief to millions of Americans.

Sister Simone was invited to the bill signing ceremony. The above photo speaks for itself.

I've invited my good friend the sister to Charlottesville to tell her story and tell us what else we can do. I will keep you posted on the date.

Praying for the victims of hate crimes

This week, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, which the Episcopal Church, and the church's organization Integrity, worked hard to see enacted. This prayer was sent along with a press release from Integrity, and I pass it along to you:

Loving God,

We pray for victims of hate crimes;

for those who have been targets of violence

just because of who they are;

for their families and all who grieve for them.



We give thanks for all those who have

labored, lobbied and prayed

for inclusive federal hate crimes legislation

and for the Hate Crime Prevention Act

signed into law today.



Bless us, we pray, with the knowledge

that we are secure in your love;

that we can make a difference;

that you call us always to seek and serve Christ in all persons

and to respect the dignity of every human being.

And may the peace the world cannot give

reign in our hearts always.

Amen

You may be interested in the Episcopal Church's stand on hate crimes, particularly crimes against homosexuals. Here are some links to positions taken by our General Convention over many years:

Resolution Number: 1988-D055

Title: Condemn All Hate Crimes-- click HERE.

Resolution Number: 1988-D100
Title: Decry Violence Against Homosexuals -- click HERE.

Resolution Number: 2000-D009

Title: Condemn All Hate Crimes -- click HERE.

Resolution Number: 2000-C029
Title: Urge Congress to Enact Hate Crimes Legislation -- click HERE.

Also, you might want to see this 2002 report on the Episcopal Church's support for this legislation -- clicking HERE.

President Obama and the nation's school children

Like many of you, I have been stunned by the hysterical reaction to President Obama's planned address to the nation's school children. Other presidents have done so with barely a mention in the media. I've thought about saying something in this space, but then on Monday, the ever-eloquent Barbara Crafton offered a few words on the topic. She says it better than I, so let me offer her observations in the hope that we may act as adults with our children:

From Barbara Crafton's Geranium Farm website

The president will be speaking to kids starting school in his weekly address, as a number of presidents have done before. President Reagan did it. The first President Bush did it. The second President Bush was actually in a public school classroom, reading a story to the children, when the World Trade Center was destroyed. Incredibly, though, this rather routine item in President Obama's schedule has been greeted with hysteria in some quarters, as if it were an enemy invasion of our schools. As if the President of the United States had no appropriate interest in encouraging school children in their work of learning, which is so important to our country.

It is not unAmerican to disagree with anything the government does; our system is built on the right of anyone to do that. But is it helpful to express disagreement so harshly? Is it really good for our children to see us behaving in this way? They have the right to inherit someting from their parents besides spleen. They deserve to have in us an example of how adults navigate diagreement, which is not by namecalling and death threats. They need to see us respect the office of the president, whether or not we favor its incumbent.

The best way I have found in which to manage my own powerful feelings about political figures is to pray for them. You should pray for the one with whom you disagree FIRST, Deacon Brooke used to say firmly, because that's the one you may skip over if you wait till you're almost finished, and she was right. Every Prayer Book the church has ever published has included a prayer for the head of state, and we pray for the president at every service, whether or not we share his political views.

During the Bush administration, a group of praying people began the Presidential Prayer Team, an online place in which people of faith who love this country could pray for its leaders. Visiting it is heartwarming -- it includes prayer for the president, of course, but also a daily selection of other leaders in government, a daily roster of what will come up in Congress and in the Supreme Court, prayer for the armed services, those in active service and those who have been injured, as well as those who have died. The most heartwarming thing about the PPT is that it was begun during a Republican administration and continues under a Democratic one.

Prayer is a remarkable form of energy. It always changes the one who prays. It always changes the one for whom she prays, too, although the pray-er may never know how. And prayer changes the world, as well, bit by bit: it is the creative energy of God passing through our minds and hearts into life here on the earth where we live. God made everything, we believe, although we may differ on just how God did that. God made it all, and said that it was good. We have the chance, when we pray, to be a conscious part of that ongoing, ongrowing goodness.

Barbara mentions the Presidential Prayer Team, and I joined this soon after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Though I was initially skeptical, it has proven to be a non-partisan ecumenical organization. I am very grateful that the team has continued its work during the Obama administration, and you can check out its website by clicking HERE. There are some interesting items on the website. Please pray for our President and all who serve our nation.

And you can access Barbara's website by clicking HERE. Her daily missives are always worthwhile and you can sign-up for her daily emails on that site. Blessings to all.

Health care reform and the faith community: 40 days for Health Care reform

Last week, President Obama spoke with faith leaders via a conference call about his vision for health care reform. There is considerable misinformation about the issue floating on the airwaves and on the internet, and scare tactics abound. I was unable to connect to the call -- "all circuits are busy" -- nor could I connect via a webpage, but at the bottom of this posting is an account of the call.

I would ask that those reading this blog not succumb to the politics of fear. I would especially ask those who consider themselves to be Christians to remember that Jesus said over and over "Do not be afraid." Our mission is to bring healing and hope to this world, not fear and division. Healing is what we are about, and that means we cannot avoid being involved in this health care reform debate.

Those of us who spend time visiting patients know how much our health care system needs fixing. For the uninsured, the emergency rooms become clinics, at great expense. Even those with health insurance are stymied in receiving treatment for life-threatening illnesses because of decisions by insurance providers. A friend of mine with cancer spent her last days battling her insurance company over its denials of treatment. She was economically destitute by the time she died.

Those who are anxious about government-sponsored health care are right to be concerned. Government (i.e., The Congress) may yet botch this. But I would point out that those who say they want no government health care may have forgotten how Medicare takes care of millions of people effectively. Medicare is such a part of our national landscape that we've all but forgotten it is a government program that works.

Episcopal News Service covered the call with President Obama, and here is the account, complete with links to other related websites:

Obama, religious leaders urge people of faith to participate in health care reform

By Lynette Wilson, August 20, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] President Barack Obama urged people of faith to knock on doors and spread the facts and the truth about health care reform during "40 Minutes for Heath Care Reform," an August 19 telephone call-in and webcast.

"Time and again men and women of faith have helped to show us what is possible when we are guided by our hopes and not our fears. That's what you have done before; that's how we were able to succeed in establishing social security and Medicare and bring about justice through the civil rights movement," Obama said. "That's what you can do again today to help us achieve quality affordable health care for every American."

An estimated 140,000 people of faith participated in the national conference call/webcast with the president and the faith community. Sponsored by more than 30 religious denominations -- including the Episcopal Church -- and organizations that cut across race and religious tradition, the call helped launch the "40 Days for Health Reform" campaign aimed at mobilizing people of faith to press Congress to finish work on health care reform when they return after Labor Day Recess.

"I am deeply concerned with all the shouting, the fear and even the hatred we are now hearing, we are in danger of losing the moral core of this debate, which is that many people are hurting as a result of a broken system," said Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, which approaches faith, politics, and culture from a biblical perspective.

"This call shows how united the faith community is around the moral principal of accessible, affordable quality care for every American, for all of God's children. Tonight we are calling on the people of faith to make our political representatives understand that the faith community will be satisfied with nothing less than accessible, affordable health care for all Americans."

40 Minutes participants shared their personal experiences with health care at the start of the conference. Karla Carranza, a 15-year-old who attends Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado, shared her family's story. Carranza's mother works cleaning houses and her father works in the meat department of a grocery story. The family lost their Medicaid coverage because Carranza's parents combined income exceeded the Medicaid limit by $6. Carranza is going without treatment for scoliosis, and her mother cannot afford medications to control diabetes, tendonitis and high blood pressure and cholesterol.

"I don't want my mom to die," she said. "I want my parents to be there as I grow up. I want them to meet my children and for them to see me reach my goals in life. I don't want to grow up without my family's support."

Melody Barnes, the Obama Administration's domestic policy director, answered questions from the faith community, including one from Deacon Jo Glasser from the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Glasser said that people in her diocese are concerned that reform means a government take over of health care, and others are concerned that without a strong public option Americans will be at the mercy of the insurance industry. "What is the president's position and how will it affect people in my diocese?" she asked.

Like people everywhere, Barnes said, members of the Diocese of Eau Claire are likely watching their wages fall while their health care costs rise. The proposed heath care reform would decrease heath care costs and end "sweetheart deals" for insurance companies, creating and effective and efficient system that provides better care, Barnes said.

"I would say that health reform is at the crux of being a faithful steward of our resources," she said.

Obama addressed the moral dimension of the health care debate, recognizing the important role of the faith community in finally achieving health care reform.

"I know we have thousands of people on this call from many different denominations and faiths but the one thing that you all share is a moral conviction. You all know that this debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people," he said. "I believe that nobody in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks heath insurance and no one in America should be pushed to the edge of financial ruin because an insurance company denies them coverage or drops their coverage or charges fees they can't afford for care that they desperately need."

Obama used the conference to correct some of the misinformation that has plagued the national debate.

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. Nothing that we are doing obligates you to choose any plan other than the one you have. If you like your doctor you can keep seeing your doctor," he said. "We are not going to interfere with that. I don't want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care, but I also don't want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care … and that's what health insurance reform is all about."

Obama also address the so-called "death panels," calling the idea "an extraordinary lie." There is a provision in the House bill that provides Medicare reimbursements for counseling to set up a living will and advice on other end-of-life decisions, he explained.

Heath care reform is not designed to provide health insurance for illegal aliens, or to fund abortions, he continued, calling the lies and misinformation, "fabrications that have been put out there to stop people from meeting a core moral and ethical obligation that we look out for one another … that I am my brother's keeper, my sister's keeper, and in the wealthiest nation on earth we are neglecting to live up to that call."

Over the next 40 days, communities of faith are organizing and hosting heath care forums, prayer rallies, contacting elected officials, picking up the phone and knocking on doors in support of heath care reform.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network sent a policy alert August 17 inviting members active in health care advocacy to participate in the call with Obama.

The 76th General Convention recently passed several health care-related resolutions, including CO71, in support of universal access to quality, affordable health care in the United States and calling on Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform this year.

A recording of the call is available at http://www.faithforhealth.org or www.blogtalkradio.com/40mins4health, which live-streamed the call.

More information about the 40 Day Campaign for Health Care Reform is available here.

-- Lynette Wilson is staff writer, Episcopal Life Media.

Speaking of Faith: President Obama's theologian

Krista Tippett, who is gaining a reputation for insightful podcasts on theological topics, recently interviewed E.J. Dionne, columnist with The Washington Post and David Brooks, columnist with The New York Times, about President Obama's theological perspective and how it is shaped by the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.

For those unacquainted with Niebuhr, he was hugely influential particularly before World War II in moral theology. In his work and writings, for example his book Moral Man and Immoral Society, he wrote about how Christians are called to create an economy that cares for the poorest among us. Among Niebuhr's students was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who returned to his native Germany to attempt leading a Christian opposition to the Nazis, but was arrested and executed.

This podcast is fascinating and goes a long way beyond the demonizing and sloganeering that has so far characterized Obama's religious underpinnings. You can listen to the podcast by clicking HERE. And then lend me your thoughts. And I am much appreciative of Mike Kinman in St. Louis for bringing this to my attention.

President Obama's upcoming phone call with the faith community on health care

As you know, health care reform has become Topic A throughout the country this summer. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation floating on the internet, and scare tactics abound about such phony issues as "death panels."

On Wednesday Aug. 19 at 5 p.m. EDT, President Obama will be holding a conference call with the faith community. I will be participating and I hope you can, too. To register for this call, please go to this link: RSVP.

The Washington Post had an informative piece over the weekend about who is bankrolling the protests at the Congressional "townhall" meetings, including MetLife and Philip Morris. By the way, there are some familiar names mentioned to those of us who follow the attempts to split the Episcopal Church over sexuality issues. Have a look at The Post:

Loose Network of Activists Drives Reform Opposition

By Dan Eggen and Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 16, 2009

The rowdy protests that threaten President Obama's health-care reform efforts have been spurred on by a loose network of activists -- from veteran advocacy groups with millions of dollars in funding to casual alliances of like-minded conservatives unhappy over issues from taxes to deficits to environmental laws.

To read the rest, click HERE.

Religion: Source of inspiration, excuse for evil

You may have read or heard by now that President Obama yesterday set up an Advisory Council on Faith that will have 25 members. I may comment on that further as it unfolds. What you may not have heard is that this announcement by our new president was made at the National Prayer Breakfast; the keynote speaker was Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister. His speech is worth reading; Blair calls religion "a source of so much inspiration; an excuse for so much evil."

Here below is Blair's speech in full:

It is an honour to be here. A particular honour to be with you Mr. President. The world participated in the celebration of your election. Now the hard work begins. And now, also we should be as steadfast for you in the hard work as in the celebration. You don’t need cheerleaders but partners; not spectators but supporters. The truest friends are those still around when the going is toughest. We offer you our friendship today. We will work with you to make your Presidency one that shapes our destiny to the credit of America and of the world. Mr President, we salute you and wish you well.

After 10 years as British Prime Minister, I decided to choose something easy. I became involved in the Middle East Peace Process.

There are many frustrations – that is evident. There is also one blessing. I spend much of my time in the Holy Land and in the Holy City. The other evening I climbed to the top of Notre Dame in Jerusalem. You look left and see the Garden of Gethsemane. You look right and see where the Last Supper was held. Straight ahead lies Golgotha. In the distance is where King David was crowned and still further where Abraham was laid to rest. And of course in the centre of Jerusalem is the Al Aqsa Mosque, where according to the Qur’an, the Prophet was transported to commune with the prophets of the past.

Rich in conflict, it is also sublime in history. The other month in Jericho, I visited the Mount of Temptation. I think they bring all the political leaders there. My guide – a Palestinian – was bemoaning the travails of his nation. Suddenly he stopped, looked heaven wards and said “Moses, Jesus, Mohammed: why did they all have to come here?”

It is a good place to reflect on religion: a source of so much inspiration; an excuse for so much evil.

Today, religion is under attack from without and from within. From within, it is corroded by extremists who use their faith as a means of excluding the other. I am what I am in opposition to you. If you do not believe as I believe, you are a lesser human being.

From without, religious faith is assailed by an increasingly aggressive secularism, which derides faith as contrary to reason and defines faith by conflict. Thus do the extreme believers and the aggressive non-believers come together in unholy alliance.

And yet, faith will not be so easily cast. For billions of people, faith motivates, galvanises, compels and inspires, not to exclude but to embrace; not to provoke conflict but to try to do good. This is faith in action. You can see it in countless local communities where those from churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, tend the sick, care for the afflicted, work long hours in bad conditions to bring hope to the despairing and salvation to the lost. You can see it in the arousing of the world’s conscience to the plight of Africa.

There are a million good deeds done every day by people of faith. These are those for whom, in the parable of the sower, the seed fell on good soil and yielded sixty or a hundredfold.

What inspires such people?

Ritual or doctrine or the finer points of theology? No.

I remember my first spiritual awakening. I was ten years old. That day my father – at the young age of 40 – had suffered a serious stroke. His life hung in the balance. My mother, to keep some sense of normality in the crisis, sent me to school. My teacher knelt and prayed with me. Now my father was a militant atheist. Before we prayed, I thought I should confess this. “I’m afraid my father doesn’t believe in God”. I said. “That doesn’t matter” my teacher replied “God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return.”

That is what inspires: the unconditional nature of God’s love. A promise perpetually kept. A covenant never broken.

And in surrendering to God, we become instruments of that love.

Rabbi Hillel was once challenged by a pagan, who said: if you can recite the whole of the Torah standing on one leg, I will convert to being a Jew. Rabbi Hillel stood on one leg and said “That which is hateful to you, do it not unto your neighbour. That is the Torah. Everything else is commentary. Go and study it.”

As the Qur’an states: “if anyone saves a person it will be as if he has saved the whole of humanity”.

Faith is not discovered in acting according to ritual but acting according to God’s will and God’s will is love.

We might also talk of the Hindu “Living beyond the reach of I and mine” or the words of the Buddha “after practising enlightenment you must go back to practise compassion” or the Sikh scripture: “God’s bounties are common to all. It is we who have created divisions.”

Each faith has its beliefs. Each is different. Yet at a certain point each is in communion with the other.

Examine the impact of globalisation. Forget for a moment its rights and wrongs. Just look at its effects. Its characteristic is that it pushes the world together. It is not only an economic force. The consequence is social, even cultural.

The global community – “it takes a village” as someone once coined it – is upon us. Into it steps religious faith. If faith becomes the property of extremists, it will originate discord. But if, by contrast, different faiths can reach out to and have knowledge of one another, then instead of being reactionary, religious faith can be a force for progress.

The Foundation which bears my name and which I began less than a year ago is dedicated to achieving understanding, action and reconciliation between the different faiths for the common good. It is not about the faith that looks inward; but the faith that resolutely turns us towards each other.

Bringing the faith communities together fulfils an objective important to all of us, believers and non-believers.

But as someone of faith, this is not enough. I believe restoring religious faith to its rightful place, as the guide to our world and its future, is itself of the essence. The 21st Century will be poorer in spirit, meaner in ambition, less disciplined in conscience, if it is not under the guardianship of faith in God.

I do not mean by this to blur the correct distinction between the realms of religious and political authority. In Britain we are especially mindful of this. I recall giving an address to the country at a time of crisis. I wanted to end my words with “God bless the British people”. This caused complete consternation. Emergency meetings were convened. The system was aghast. Finally, as I sat trying to defend my words, a senior civil servant said, with utter distain: “Really, Prime Minister, this is not America you know.”

Neither do I decry the work of humanists, who give gladly of themselves for others and who can often shame the avowedly religious. Those who do God’s work are God’s people.

I only say that there are limits to humanism and beyond those limits God and only God can work. The phrase “fear of God” conjures up the vengeful God of parts of the Old Testament. But “fear of God” means really obedience to God; humility before God; acceptance through God that there is something bigger, better and more important than you. It is that humbling of man’s vanity, that stirring of conscience through God’s prompting, that recognition of our limitations, that faith alone can bestow.

We can perform acts of mercy, but only God can lend them dignity. We can forgive, but only God forgives completely in the full knowledge of our sin.

And only through God comes grace; and it is God’s grace that is unique.

John Newton, who had been that most obnoxious of things, a slave-trader, wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace”.

“Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved.”

It is through faith, by the Grace of God, that we have the courage to live as we should and die as we must.

When I was Prime Minister I had cause often to reflect on leadership. Courage in leadership is not simply about having the nerve to take difficult decisions or even in doing the right thing since oftentimes God alone knows what the right thing is.

It is to be in our natural state – which is one of nagging doubt, imperfect knowledge, and uncertain prediction – and to be prepared nonetheless to put on the mantle of responsibility and to stand up in full view of the world, to step out when others step back, to assume the loneliness of the final decision-maker, not sure of success but unsure of it.

And it is in that “not knowing” that the courage lies.

And when in that state, our courage fails, our faith can support it, lift it up, keep it from stumbling.

As you begin your leadership of this great country, Mr President, you are fortunate, as is your nation, that you have already shown in your life, courage in abundance. But should it ever be tested, I hope your faith can sustain you. And your family. The public eye is not always the most congenial.

I was reminded of this, as I waited in London in the snow to fly to America and made the mistake of reading a British newspaper. It was the very conservative Daily Telegraph. A few days ago I gave an interview in which I remarked how much cleverer my wife was than me. The Telegraph has a famous letters page. In it was a letter from a correspondent that read something like: “Dear Sir, with reference to your headline ‘Blair admits wife more intelligent than him’, I fail to see why this is news. Most of us have known this for a long time.” As a PS perhaps: “the bar, however, has not been set high”.

I finish where I began: in the Holy Land, at Mount Nebo in Jordan, where Moses gazed on the Promised Land. There is a chapel there, built by pilgrims in the 4th Century. The sermon was preached by an American, who spent his life as an airline pilot and then, after his wife’s death, took holy orders. His words are the words of a Christian but they speak to all those of faith, who want God’s grace to guide their life.

He said this:

“While here on earth, we need to make a vital decision ... whether to be mere spectators, or movers and shakers for the Kingdom of God... whether to stay among the curious, or take up a cross. And this means: no standing on the sidelines ... We’re either in the game or we’re not. I sometimes ask myself the question: If I were to die today, what would my life have stood for... The answer can’t be an impulsive one, and we all need to count the cost before we give an answer. Because to be able to say yes to one thing, means to say no to many others. But we must also remember, that the greatest danger is not impulsiveness, but inaction.”

It is fitting at this extraordinary moment in your country’s history that we hear that call to action; and we pray that in acting we do God’s work and follow God’s will.

And by the way, God bless you all.