Many thanks to all of those who attended the Interfaith healthcareprayer vigil. There were representatives from 12 faiths in attendance. A true Interfaith gathering. I hope you saw the article in the Deseret News. If you missed it, here is the link with two great pictures of a number of faith community leaders.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705327255/Utah-residents-rally-for-health-care-reform.html?linkTrack=rss-30
My special thanks to the following people who spoke at our event:
Rabbi Tracee Rosen - Jewish
Pastor Steve Klemz - Lutheran
Imam Shuaib Din - Islamic
Rev Ed Bigler - United Methodist
Rev Russ Mertz - United Church of Christ
Sister Miriam Joanne - Catholic
Rev Dr David Henry - Baptist
Rev Marti Zimmerman - United Methodist
Elder Dick Wunder - Presbyterian
Jason Olson, Deseret News At the state Capitol Thursday, Michael Avila, surrounded by members of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, tells how he was helped by the General Assistance Fund.
Rally targets cuts to assistance
Published: Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009 10:50 p.m. MST
While lawmakers continue talks of cutting 15 percent from state agency budgets, a group of clergy along with legal, medical and emergency service providers reminded legislative budget leaders in a Thursday rally in the Capitol rotunda that $1 million might not be a lot of money to them but it’s is a lot if your budget is only $6.9 million to begin with.
A cut of that proportion to Utahns receiving general assistance creates a big gap for about 1,300 who cannot work and are waiting for federal benefits. General assistance bridges that gap for people determined by a doctor to be temporarily unemployable due to injury or disability and helps them financially as well as with job training and employment searches.
General assistance also helps expedite the process of receiving federal disability benefits, which can otherwise take up to two years for approval.
“People on general assistance are often homeless, or at risk of being homeless, and face severe medical problems,” said the Rev. Libby Hunter, longtime member of the Coalition of Religious Communities and deacon at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. “Many have pending applications with Social Security due to multiple disabilities. The stipend is their only resource until a disability determination is made. This program is about keeping the most vulnerable members of our society alive.”
Bill Tibbits, with Crossroads Urban Center, said the reason for the rally was to urge lawmakers on the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee to take public comment on the cuts proposed to general assistance.
“That is especially frustrating about this part of the budget,” Tibbitts said. “It seems like legislators would want to at least hear from a couple people on GA before recommending cuts in funding for the program.”
E-MAIL: jthalman@desnews.com
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
The Revs. Steve Klemz, left, and Joel Nau are calling for the Utah State Legislature to refrain from making cuts to human-needs programs until a new federal stimulus plan is revealed.
See Article in the Deseret News
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705280330,00.html
On Sunday, February 1st, Linda Hilton from Crossroads Urban Center and the Coalition of Religious Communities (CORC) will be our guest speaker at both worship services. She will also be available after the 11am worship for conversation. Please plan to attend and discuss the current budget cut crisis ongoing with the Utah State Legislature.
Setting boundaries
Public Forum Letter
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/24/2008 07:17:45 PM MST
The young couple came looking for shelter, a place to rest for a while; she was pregnant, they were unmarried and afraid, but there was no place for them to stay. We all know couples like this. They come to be counted, hoping to find a life where they will count for something. They come, not great with child, but pregnant with the promise of a new life. What do we do with people like this? “Whatever you did (or did not do) for the least of these, you did (or did not do) for me.”
The problem lies not with “people like these” but with the “innkeepers” who stand safely behind the registration desk, setting the boundaries, counting to see who measures up, assigning rooms, determining who’s in and who’s out. No love lost there. Some “in-keepers” flaunt their power in God’s name or the law’s. They cannot comprehend what Archbishop Desmond Tutu meant when he said, “Love is more demanding than the law.”
In this season of hope, we celebrate the light that shines in the darkness, making room for peace and goodwill. I still cling to that hope, even though the immigration bill SB81 leaves us standing in the dark, safely behind our registration desks, justifying ourselves with simple answers to complex questions, setting boundaries that ignore “the least of these.”
Rev. Steven Klemz
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Salt Lake City
Humanity and dignity
Public Forum Letter
The Salt lake Tribune 02/02/2008 12:12:34 PM MST
I love Utah. This is a great place to be a pastor. This is the place where religion is the topic of conversation every day. This is the place where public policy is shaped by our core values of family unity and our heritage of hospitality. This is the place where people readily enter the public arena to explore ways that we live out the full meaning of our calling as children of God.
I am grateful to learn that leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have reminded us that “we are talking about human beings” when we address issues with the undocumented immigrant community in Utah (”LDS urge empathy in immigrant legislation,” Tribune, Jan. 24).
This reminder reframes immigration reform, moving from a place of fear to a posture of faith. There are no easy answers, and differences exist among persons within our religious communities. Yet, from our faith perspective, compassion compels us to see the person who has entered this country without authorization not simply as an “illegal alien,” but as a brother or sister made and loved by God.
This is not the case in our national debate, where immigrants are sometimes portrayed as locusts, bacteria or an occupying army. By dehumanizing people and posturing immigration in a climate of fear, some would have us believe that issues can be solved by keeping people out, kicking people out and getting tough with new immigration laws. But as Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us, “Love is more demanding than the law.”
As we consider immigration bills in this year’s state Legislature, I hope Utah can be the place where we embrace the humanity and dignity of all people.
Rev. Steven A. Klemz Pastor, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Salt Lake City Read more at: http://www.sltrib.com/Opinion/ci_8150598
