Conversations about Health Care

So today the President spent a few minutes (ten or so) on the phone with thousands of faithful people from 32 religious denominations (one of the fun facts I got from the phone call) to talk about Health Care Reform. I sat on the phone listening in to the whole of the conversation.. not just the presidential part :). It was so beautifully done, with stories from clergy and lay people alike talking about the consequences of having a broken system. This system that is based on profit and not wellness. This "free market", insurance driven, broken system. People are dying. People are living with pain when they shouldn't have to. People are delaying care and not buying the medicines that they require. People are forgoing caring for themselves so that they can get their children what they need. People are having to decide between medicine and food... medicine and bills...

This is an affront to what I as a Christian believe to be good and true. We are called (to act with justice) to care for everyone. EVERYONE. Regardless of ability to pay for the best care. The statistics are staggering.. this is the riches country in the world with one of the worst systems to support its people in their health... their HEALTH.

God wants us to be healthy. God wants us to be happy. God demands that we act for those that cannot act for themselves.

It is time... this is about our universal "health".

What are you going to do?

stuff from churchwide

You know what's happening at Churchwide?

...

You know what else is happening at Churchwide?

In March 2009 the ELCA Church Council adopted a churchwide strategy on HIV and AIDS. In its action the council voted to ask the churchwide assembly to approve a three-year, $10 million fundraising campaign in support of the strategy. The assembly also will be asked to affirm the strategy.

and

In 2007 the United Nations Foundation (UNF) approached Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, and asked it to mobilize Lutheran constituents in the United States against malaria. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, provided substantial funds to UNF for this purpose, and UNF plans to provide a grant to assist in fundraising for the initiative. The ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod have been working with UNF and LWR to develop the initiative.

The ELCA Church Council, in November 2007, authorized the ELCA churchwide organization to develop the initiative, and it stipulated that the effort should be coordinated with the church's longstanding commitment to HIV and AIDS ministry.

In March 2009 the council recommended that the churchwide assembly approve continued development of the initiative, prepare resources and solicit donors during the next two years. The recommendation also asks for development of an LMI churchwide fundraising campaign, and asks that a report and recommendations be brought to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

You can watch the ELCA assembly live every day at the ELCA website. The AIDS discussion will be Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and the Malaria discussion Tuesday afternoon. I understand that video highlights and possibly the entire video stream will be available after the Plenary Sessions.

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Edited to add: There are also several interesting memorials from the Synods regarding health-related issues, including several involving disability. 2009 Memorials Committee Report.

[limitations] if I make my bed in Sheol You are there

Today I discovered that I can't actually walk 4 miles in 90 degree heat without wanting to pass out at journey's end.

I am more proud of myself for asking for a ride home from meditation than for the walk to meditation, 'cos yeah, eight miles in 90 degree heat wasn't going to happen.

We sang a musical setting of Psalm 139 that sprang to our musician's mind after hearing about my walk in the heat because of the "if I go down into hell, You are there" imagery. Which is trufax, yeah.

As usual, I was much better at meditation -- brain was quieter -- when my body was tired.

And I did indeed get a ride home.

[three things] accessibility

Our bulletin every week says:

Persons of all gender identities, races, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, and sexual orientations are encouraged to participate fully in every aspect of this community's life together.

At our Seers meeting on Saturday night, we looked briefly at this statement as a possible articulation of one of our core values as a community.

Despite the temptations inherent in laundry-list inclusion, I really wish we could add dis/abilities to that list, but. Inviting someone to church when they can't get in the door, hear the sermon, or share fellowship without going into anaphalactic shock is an empty invitation.

We shouldn't say that people are invited when we can't be fully hospitable to them. I think this is an issue this congregation needs to think about in terms of lots of issues, like race and gender identity, but I'd like to use this Three Things to open a conversation about dis/ability, since disability is a health issue as well as a welcome issue.

Before I ask the questions, two points from disability politics 101:
1. Many of the difficulties disabled individuals face are not inherent to their condition. They are caused by a society that is designed for (temporarily) able-bodied people. Disabled people face many daily impediments that are not inherent to their disability or chronic illness.
2. No one is able-bodied, full stop. If we have general freedom of movement, sight, hearing, etc, we are temporarily able-bodied. That could change at any moment.

So, three things!

1. What are three ways that our worship space is accessible to people with particular mental or physical disabilities? How are people with disabilities able "to participate fully in every aspect of this community's life together"?
2. What are three ways in which our worship space is not accessible to people with particular mental or physical disabilities? How are people with disabilities barred from full participation in every aspect of this community's life together?

Let's talk in this post especially about physical issues: the layout of the worship space, the movements throughout that space, the printed worship material, audibility issues, foodstuffs, etc.

[discussion question] health and spirituality

I am asking these questions honestly, folks. I keep getting hung up on the word "health."

Wellness works for me. Wellness suggests to me well-being, general goodness in one's state of being.

Health... I am reading as the opposite of sickness or illness, and when I think illness I think chronic illness, which leads to a whole different set of questions and a whole different problem.

Maybe it's that health as the opposite of sickness conjures up images of my girlfriend's medical texts and anatomy labs and I have difficulty connecting that to what we do in church on Sunday.

So my question is How is physical health a spiritual issue?

I will readily admit: I suck at honoring my body most of the time. If I could live in my head and didn't need to eat or sleep or move? I would be much happier. I wouldn't really be much happier, but I imagine that I would.

So talk to me about God and health and sickness and exercise and diet and all the things that are components of your idea of a healthy lifestyle and tell me how they are also part of your spirituality.

Or tell me, why does God want you me us to be healthy?

Or tell me, what does being healthy entail?

Write legibly in ink and cite all your sources. You have three hours.

[three things] bodily gifts

What are three things about your body that are gifts from God?

(For instance, but not limited to: things you do with your body to serve God and neighbor, things you love to do with your body, things you love about your body, things about your body that show forth God's grace and love for other people.)