“Phone Call by Phone Call” by Rev. Holly McKissick

 

Rev. Tom Hawley and Crew, saving the earth.

“Do you know how many calls were made in Kansas City on Saturday for Obama?”

 

My husband, the Rev. Tom Hawley, who must have made fifty phone calls himself, thinks for a minute.

“5000?”

Phone banking is not his thing. Politicians aren’t either. He is not cynical, apathetic, hopeless. Far from it: he is a chaplain at a residential psychiatric hospital for teen-agers.
In his spare time: he is ending global warming. Organizing creek clean-ups. Lobbying against coal fire plants. Bringing environmental speakers to town.

But politicians: not his thing.

So, I’m proud of him. Four years ago our nine year old daughter dragged him into the Kerry-Edwards effort. But, this campaign is different. He started earlier: he’s done data entry, canvassed neighborhoods, attended strategy sessions, and last Saturday—after his cell phone died at the home where he was phone banking with eight people he’d just met–he came home, recharged his phone, sat on the couch and called for another two hours.

“Guess how many calls? Just guess…on Saturday alone:
Twenty three thousand, four hundred and seventy one.
No joke.
Can you believe that??”

Teenage girls and grandpas. Teachers and painters. Side by side. All day long.

This is how we will win.
This is how we will create a movement of hope.
This is how we will build communities of connection and solution.
This is how we will rebuild our schools, pursue peace, discover renewable sources of energy, bring jobs back to the urban core.
This is how we will win.

Phone call by phone call by phone call….

YES WE CAN. YES WE CAN. YES WE CAN.

Rev. Holly McKissick

“More than Party Allegiances” by Rev. Wes Jamison

Rev. Wes Jamison

This election is about more than party allegiances.  It’s about the future of this country and this world.  It’s far too important to sit idly by and do nothing, or worse yet, allow the rhetoric of fear scare us into quietly agreeing to four more years of the same failed politicial and economic policies.  The next President will appoint at least one and possibly as many as three justices to the United States Supreme Court.  With the justices Bush has appointed, that will ensure a tight conservative grip on the court for at least the next 20 years.  We CANNOT let that happen.  McCain keeps talking about drilling as a means of solving our current energy crisis.  You and I both know that isn’t going to work.  Even if we drill and find a few more pockets of oil within the borders of this country, we won’t see a drop of that oil reach our markets for at least 5 to 10 years.  We need to begin moving toward an alternative now.  T. Boone Pickens has suggested converting our cars to run on natural gas–a more abundant, cheaper, cleaner alternative to gas distilled from crude oil.  It’s an excellent idea for a bridge to carry us while we invest billions in research, something the Bush administration has refused to do.

I went on a forum on faith sponsored by the Obama campaign last night.  The speaker was an ethics professor from Wesley Theological Seminary and an ordained Church of Christ (not UCC, but acapella Church of Christ) minister named Shaun Casey.  He shared a frightening statistic.  During Bush’s administration six million additional people have fallen into poverty in this nation, bringing the rate to it’s highest level since the 1960s.  Currently, as many as 52 million US citizens are without health insurance.  Due to changes in the bankruptcy laws under the Bush administration and the former Republican controlled congress, medical bills can now be charged against a person’s credit.  This means that one major medical event in the life of a family can ruin their credit for years to come, thus preventing them from gaining adequate housing, transportation, and even loans to help their children get through school.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.  This has to end.

If you’re already working for the campaign, please, keep working.  Talk to everyone you know, even if you don’t think your state will go for Obama.  We need EVERY vote we can get.  If you live in a battleground state, then PLEASE, PLEASE do everything you can.  We have about six weeks left until the election.  Go to www.barackobama.com and register if you haven’t already done so.  You can generate a list of people who live near you and print off a script to use to either call them or go visit them in person and talk to them about this election.  You can also find Barack Obama’s platform, including his plans for education, energy, foreign policy, and everything else.  Even if you don’t feel confident on the issues, you can read up and feel more confident.  We need every vote we can get, especially in Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Florida.

We can and will win this election!  Don’t give up hope.   This election is FAR TOO IMPORTANT to sit idly by and do nothing.  We saw what happened when we did that in 2000 and 2004.  Please, talk to EVERYONE you know and encourage them to vote.  If anyone needs to register to vote, send them to www.voteforchange.com and the website will guide them through the process.  Also, if you know of anyone who needs to vote absentee, then send them to that website as well.  They can register to receive an absentee ballot on there.

Grace and Peace,

Wes Jamison,

B.A. Milligan College
M.Div. Emmanuel School of Religion

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each [one's] life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Hope Restored” by Rev. Jill Sullins

Rev. Jill Sullins

Any minute I am to give birth to what seems to be a 10lb baby girl! I’m anxious. I’m excited. I’m ready. And the tears flow from my eyes when I picture that historic moment that a candidate for presidency whom I believe in will be elected and I will be holding my little girl and finding my hope restored that I the world will be a better place for her. I believe in Obama, not because of all the hype, but because I believe that at the core of who he is is the foundation of this faith that I love. I believe he is not just a believer, but a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. One who believes in healing, one who believes in justice, and one who believes that the most important task we have been given by God is to feed the sheep. I want to be able to look in the eyes of my daughter and say, these are what American values are – that we are a people who are deeply connected and where one is hurting, we are all hurting and that we care for each other with compassion and courage. I am voting for Obama because I believe this is for what he stands. And this is for what he hopes – An America that I hope for for my daughter and future generations. I need her to know that she will have health care. I need her to know that she will have equal opportunity in education not because we are privileged, but because it is a right for ALL children. I need her to know that her parents will not leave her burdened with a damaged environment. I need her to know, more than anything, that she can and will make a difference because her voice will be important and valued as much as anyone else’s. I like his tax cuts, I like his platforms, but more than anything I believe in his humanity. That’s not to say I’m not anxious. But I’m excited and I’m ready. For a better America.

Rev. Jill Sullins
Independence, MO