Ch Ch Ch Changes

Always loved that David Bowie song. Not always as crazy about actual change in my life and I am real sure I am not alone in that. Still it all changes... all the time. Good and Bad... Not a damn thing you can do about it.

Last weeks lectionary readings dealt with changes. Those that had happened...those that were going to happen.

The reading from Isaiah "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. i am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth,do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

The reading from Paul to the Philippians" Beloved I do not consider that i have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Then there was the Gospel reading. Mary is acting is a most unusual manner for a woman of those times. she has let her hair down and she is anointing Jesus with her hair and costly perfume. Her behavior is questioned and Jesus defends what she does saying that change is coming..he will be gone soon.

The lectionary readings were not the only changes we heard about last week. There was also the endless talk about the Health Care Bill. The Republicans warning against all the evils that would occur if we adopted the health Care reform bill. The Democrats reminding us of all the evils that would befall us if we do not.

Evidently Washington is like the scariest place in the world for change. I even heard the word Armageddon used referring to the bill. Really scary.

Don't get me wrong health care reform is a a serious serious topic.

I... however... find change not to be what is scary.

No change ...now that is what is scary.

Turning a topic that literally means life and death to many into a political issue is scary.

That the American public allows it self to be led like sheep and refuses to research on their own what is really going on is scary.

In my work I have seen people suffer the effects of no insurance or being under insured. It is devastating to families and it ends lives. That is not political rhetoric...No.. that is fact. I have seen young women die because they had no insurance and waited too long to get care.

Not one life should ever be lost because a person had no insurance.

I have seen families who are under insured lose everything they have ever worked for to pay for care.

No one should have to lose their home because they need medical treatment.

Health care is a social justice issue... perhaps one of the greatest of our current time. Nothing separates the haves and have nots any quicker than those with insurance and those without.

Health Care is a religious issue. I like to think of how Jesus would react to the political wrangling and the back door deals that have gone on with this issue. I wonder what he would think of churches shying from a topic that allows such blatant disregard of some lives.

Now I am sure they do not all steer away from it...but a great many do and they do because these days pastors want to be sensitive to their congregation. They do not wish to offend anyone. So you can't pick a side because that might alienate some of the flock.

I am sure that is what Jesus would do. Right?

That any person of any faith can look at this issue and not be appalled is beyond me.

Last weeks lessons speaks of times long gone when people were directed to stop looking and back and to look forward not just look to the new, expect the new. Anticipate change. It does not say fear change. Next week is Palm Sunday. Churches all over will read and act out The Passion. We will once again hear the story of Jesus being caught and convicted and put to death while so many look on and do nothing or even aid in his capture and death. Why?

Because he was different, because they feared change, because they went along with the crowd.

So my personal change? Renouncing my lifelong Democratic status. The partisan politics of this nation get in the way of real change and any real progress. The debacle that this really simple issue became is something that both parties share equally in the blame for. I encourage people to stop looking to the political parties to decide your life. You have a stake in it.

If your a person of faith you have more than stake you have a religious duty to make sure that all are cared for and that no ones life is of more value than anyone else's.

Forget what lies behind and strain towards what lies ahead.