Taking A Stand

I have shared a picture of my old SNAP card before. Today I share it again along with what I posted on Facebook this morning.... Lord hear our prayer!

This Saturday, November 1st, 2.8 million people in Florida will not have their SNAP benefits (food assistance) loaded on their account and 4.6 million Floridians who receive their health insurance through the healthcare exchange will receive notices that reflect, up to a 50% increase in their premiums because the tax credits will expire on January 1st. This is not a political statement, it is reality and it is incredibly disheartening! 

I purchased my insurance through the exchange and when Sara was little, we received SNAP benefits during a very difficult period in our lives. I would not have been able to provide food for her without it. In short, she would have gone hungry! I saved my SNAP card to remind myself of how we were quite literally saved by these benefits and the kindness and generosity of people in our lives - including the church.

Yes, the church will step-up and do what we are able. We will make sure that families in our communities have food, and some of us will just have to really cut corners to purchase health insurance, but the reality is that some people will go hungry and some will die from lack of health insurance. How is this possible in one of the richest countries in the world?

We need to do better. We need to stop the "Us and Them" way of thinking and realize that we are all interconnected in God's Kingdom. I'm exhausted by the divisiveness that has led to people being taken and disappearing into the black hole of immigration detention, neighbors turning on neighbors in very ugly ways (even within the church) and people feeling emboldened to treat others with complete disregard - as if they don't matter at all! 

I'm truly heartbroken today. However, I cling to the hope of Jesus who tells us that He has overcome the trouble of this world (John 16:33) and the words of the Apostle Paul, who writes, "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2).

Friends, praying is important, but it is not enough. Our prayers are answered when we become God's hands and heart in the world. Check on your neighbors and make sure they are okay (especially the 1.4 million children in Florida who may not have food). Reach out to your government leaders and tell them, "Enough is enough!" We must feed the hungry and comfort the oppressed. We must take a stand!

Today, and in the days ahead, I invite you to join me and pray for our communities, our country and our world and to live by this Scriptural call....

"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:17-18)

Grace and Peace

-Pastor Madeline