“Listening, Listening, Listening . . .” by Rev. Angela Zimmann

Rev. Angela Zimmann and Sen. Barack Obama

On a stifling Sunday afternoon in October in the Ohio heartland, the last person I expected to be walking around our working-class neighborhood campaigning for Barack Obama was… Barack Obama. But there he was, in the flesh, doing what he does: listening, listening, listening. When I arrived on the scene, tripping up the cracked sidewalk in front of the low-slung ranch homes and introduced myself as the precinct captain, he said “I have to give you a kiss for that!” – and so he did.
As a Christian, and a member of the clergy, I take seriously the responsibility to vote; first I research the candidates, including their policy platforms, voting records and personal histories; then, I observe their actions during the course of the campaign; finally, I choose my side of the fence – and this year, without a doubt, I am on the side of Barack Obama. It was my privilege and honor to meet this man; may God bless him. May God bless the USA. May God bless the world. It will take a miracle to bring peace and prosperity to this ailing planet. Fortunately, our God is in the business of making miracles, and using our hands to perform them. Good luck, Barack Obama! May America win on November 4th!

Rev. Angela Zimmann

Toledo, OH

“Hope and Compassion” by Rev. Parrish Jones

Rev. Parrish Jones

I am a Christian and a minister of the Presbyterian Church USA. I do not in anyway wish to imply that the only conclusion one can reach as a Christian is mine. However, this is why “a Christian”, namely, me, supports Obama.

I believe that Jesus did not nor never would condone the use of weapons against others. That claim is a conclusion based on an argument that I cannot make here. The most I believe Jesus would allow in the way of violence is protecting oneself, family or others with whom one is in direct contact. That exception is made on the basis that self-defense responds immediately and directly to the one attacking. No collateral damage. There is no way war is self-defense even of a nation and it also involves massive collateral damage and, let nobody fool you, contemporary war is more violent and causes more collateral damage than any time in history.

Jesus taught that love was the tool of Christian response. Does that mean Christians need to be wimps? Quite the contrary, Christians must be persons of incredible courage, but not courage derived from oneself or from adrenaline, but from the soul fed on the spirit of God. We have seen such courage expressed by Christians and non-Christians. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Lech Walensa, Nelson Mandela, and even the young people at Tianamen Square, thousands of Filippinos who stood against Ferdinand Marcos. The book “A Force More Powerful” tells the history of peaceful movements that led to revolutions in the 20th century or effectively confounded the Nazis in Poland, Denmark, Hungary, and against the Czars and Soviets.

Thus I support Obama who I hope and pray will end the Bush era trenchant for using war to carry out U.S. policy. There are many other ways to deal with the regimes we find threatening. Yet, we also need a less ideological approach to determining who is really a threat. Senator McCain seems bent on continuing the hard line approaches of the Cold War. We need more diplomacy. Who knows? If we actually talk to Iran instead of sending ultimatums as the EU recently did, they may actually come around. After all, they want to participate in the world economy and their people want freedoms we have but are willing to forego freedoms in the name of national esteem.

I also support Obama because I believe he wants and will work for a more just and hospitable culture with themes of compassion instead of fear and anger. The scriptures are filled with the demand of social, economic and political justice. We even pray in most churches every Sunday “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” As Jim Wallis says, “What is it that Christians don’t get?” Is not heaven supposed to be a place of justice, peace, economic equality, and so on. So what are we praying for? We must be praying that through the body of Christ, we will work for those aspects of the Kingdom to be realized on earth.

I am also for Obama because the Earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. That means a concern for the creation must be high on our priority list. While Senator McCain is far better than GWB on this issue, he is not likely to buck the leadership of his party, nor their dependence on supporters who wish to trash the environment. With Gore as a supporter and adviser it is most likely that Obama will be an environmental president.

Finally, I am for Obama for my children and grandchildren and not for the usual reasons, although those are a part. When children are baptized they are not baptized by one congregation or minister, but by the church in the name of God, Christ, and Holy Spirit. As members of the body of Christ, they share a unique identity with all Christians and all Christians vow to nurture them. I do not want my children growing up believing that revenge and violence are proper responses to danger. I hope they will experience love and peace. Nor do I want them living in a perpetual state of fear. Eight years of that is enough. [One may say that we've only had six, but from the beginning of his administration, GWB was perpetrating the notion that we lived in a dangerous world (Axis of Evil) where we had nothing to do but be afraid and depend on him to protect us]. I hope for a world in which my children and grandchildren and yours and theirs will not see people who differ from them, will not see those who live outside our borders or wish to cross our borders as dangerous and threatening. I hope for a world in which children are nurtured in hope and compassion.

Peace, if it means anything, is a sense of certainty that the overwhelming majority of people in the world want that for themselves and their children also.

Peace,
Rev. Parrish Jones
Washington, DC

“Notes from a Red State” by Jeff Clayton

Rev. Jeff Clayton

During the long, well-contested Democratic primary, I was a supporter of Hillary Clinton. Unlike many pundits, I believe that the long, hard-fought, and close race between Barach Obama and Hillary Clinton is a sign of the strength and energy of the Democratic Party. The debate and thorough discussion of the vital issues facing our nation was invigorating to me. Now that the decision has been made, I am an enthusiastic supporter of Barach Obama and am working to see that he is the next President of the United States.

I am from Kansas, the epitome of a red state. When the time came for the Democratic caucuses in Kansas, I got in my car with my spouse and headed off to our caucus site, a medium-sized church near our home. It was a miserable night, with the temperature hovering near the freezing mark and a light rain falling. When we arrived at the site, I was astounded. The line of people in this red state of Kansas stretched out the building and around the corner and down the next street. We parked our car three blocks away and began to walk toward the church. As we walked to find the end of the line, we discovered that the line did not stop around the next corner but stretched on and on down several of the side streets. Waiting outside in the cold rain, more and more people joined the long line.

The truth is that the Democratic Party of Kansas was totally unprepared for the turnout on the night of the Democratic caucuses. The facility was woefully inadequate. As we talked in the line, the story was told that the local party officials had been queried about the adequacy of the space. They replied that it would be fine…that usually about 250 people showed up to caucus in our precinct. That night there must have been three…four…five thousand people standing in rain that turned to sleet to participate as Democrats in the process.

It was clear to me that most of the people in line were supporters of Barach Obama. It was also clear to me that at 51 years of age, I was one of the older people in line. All of the grass-roots organizers on the scene were from the Obama campaign…this was in Kansas no less! Countless people in their 20’s and 30’s were enduring the cold and the wet to make their voice heard. They were all there to support Obama. I cannot remember a candidate in my adult life who has energized younger voters the way that Barack Obama has done. For me, this is a sign of great hope. A generation of people who have many reasons to be apathetic and cynical about American politics are instead energized and working hard to make their voice heard. I think the pollsters and pundits are in for a surprise when the votes are counted!

It may be too much to believe that Barack Obama could actually win the perennially red state of Kansas. But hope springs eternal. So I am working to raise the voice of change and hope that our nation can truly live into our ideals, and I am strengthened by the knowledge that many other Kansans are energized to do the same.

The Rev. Jeff Clayton
Overland Park, Kansas

“The People Can” by Chaplain Emily Joye McGaughy

Chaplain Emily Joye McGaughy

It’s hard these days not to talk about Barack Obama as a messianic figure. It’s hard not to cast this election season as an apocalypse of sorts. It’s hard not to paint political parties as righteous and evil. It’s hard to keep politics and religion in their respective corners. The last 8 years have brought mass deception, war, flooded cities, a devastated economy, renewed racism, alienation from once-upon-a-time allies, etc etc etc. The list is too long to recount. Our Bible, the hebrew scriptures and second testament, document times just like these. One looks into the prophecies of old, Isaiah and Ezekiel in particular, finding contemporary parallels to the “valley of dry bones” and the promised “new thing.”

We want the death and destruction to end. We want true repentance in this land: a turning around from policies of narrow-mindedness and greed to acts of restoration and promise. We want to believe in the goodness of our leaders, our communities, our nation. So we survey the options, and for some of us, it’s abundantly clear which presidential candidate evokes dry bones imagery and which one represents the remnant of life breaking through deadwood. We have seen hard times. It’s easy to think Barack Obama is the answer.

But Barack Obama is not G*d. He does not have the power of G*d, the goodness of G*d, the foresight and insight of G*d or the ever-living, ever-loving heart of G*d. As a clergy person, it is always my responsibility to keep Ultimate Reality in mind. I must admit: Barack Obama isn’t it. He is not our savior. If he gets elected and does the best of work yet to be done in the US Oval Office, he will remain just a man and he will return to dust. The hopes and struggles of this universe did not begin with Barack Obama, they do not exist for Barack Obama, and they will surely outlive his precious, yet numbered days. It’s hard to keep Barack Obama’s humanness in mind when he is speaking. With a preacher’s presence, a lawyer’s grit, a community organizer’s enthusiasm–he sounds like angels singing compared to the cacophonous cords of Bush’s Washington. But let us not be fooled: the gifts of G*d for the people of G*d always come from more than one direction, usually spring up in places where no one is looking, and generally come from ordinary commoners, not Harvard graduates with political charisma.

And that is exactly why I am voting for Barack Obama. Because he gets that. He gets that it’s not about him. When asked by Oprah Winfrey “Are you the one we’ve been waiting for?” Barack responded by saying “I’m one of the ones we’ve been waiting for.” He gets that if change happens it’s because everyone gets on board. His campaigning style embodies inclusivity: he wants each one to give as much as they can. Green people sign up. Constitutional loyalists get on board. Artists are involved. Musicians are involved. Activists are involved. Young people abound. Techno types blog and share articles on Facebook. Black, brown, white, poor, rich, queer, Muslim, Catholic, athiest–they get together to make phone calls, to sign up voters, to host campaign parties. People care about what’s happening. It is an exciting movement to behold!

A good society is an involved society. A good society is a motivated society. A good society sweats, mourns and celebrates together. Obama’s leadership encourages such involvement, motivation and togetherness. That is why this clergy woman will vote Obama & Biden in November. Not because Obama will save us, but because he knows The People can.

Chaplain Emily Joye McGaughy
Oakland, CA

“Hope is a Value” by Rev. Brandon Johnson

Rev. Brandon Johnson

“Hope” and “change” seem to be the political words of the day! I hear, read, and see these words on the radio, in newspapers, websites, and printed on banners. Seemingly everyone is offering some sort of change and some sort of hope. However, I believe in a hope that rises above the political rhetoric of this day and seeks to claim a border narrative written around justice and equality.

I claim a hope that…
• Offers health care that leaves no one beyond.
• Establishes and sustains a system of education that begins to undo systemic racism, classism, and sexism.
• Begins to look at the cruelty of war and torture while reestablishing basic human rights.
• Holds all of creation in care.
• Caries the mantle of justice to all corners of our society.
• Proclaims that borders and walls are constructed by human hands and often limit justice.
• Recognizes the sin of concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few.
• Seeks to undo the unchecked power of empire and imperialism.
• Looks to weave love into the fabric of our national life and extend it beyond our physical borders to the border tapestry of humanity.

Where do I get this hope? The answer is from a myriad of places. However, this day and in the coming months I will put my energy behind the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama. This is a result of believing in the person and in the movement.

William Sloane Coffin explained, “Believers know that while our values are embodied in tradition, our hopes are always located in change.” While, this political season “values” will be flung about, misused, and abused, rarely do we hear a candidate claim hope as integral to its worldview. Fundamentally, this hope is grounded in change; this hope is grounded in my faith in God and humanity. This day, this political season, my hope is also found in Barack Obama and his campaign for president. As a result, I will knock on doors, walk the streets, and go to the polls.

Obama offers a hope that is life giving, not political rhetoric re-written to sustain old systems of power and arcane notions of government.

Si se peude! Yes you can! Yes we can!

Brandon Johnson
Santa Fe, NM

“What Might We Become?” by Rev. Steve Westbrook

Rev. Steve Westbrook

What might we become if someone would have the audacity to hope? What could we overcome if someone would call us to a higher vision of ourselves as global citizens? How might the world change if someone does justice, loves kindness, and walks humbly?
Imagine a world where those who can’t hope for themselves… find it… by those who hope on their behalf… and work to help them. Dream of a world where people seek first to rid the enemy within before the enemy without. Think many thoughts about a picture-perfect world in which the hungry are fed, the lost are found, the wounded are healed and the forgotten are named and claimed.

I am one person, like Barack Obama, who has the audacity to hope. I am one person, like Barack Obama, who yearns for us to have a higher vision of ourselves as global citizens. I am one person, like Barack Obama, who strives to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly. I am one person, like Barack Obama, who cares about those who can’t hope. I am one person, like Barack Obama, who looks deep within before ever looking out toward others. I am one person, like Barack Obama, who dares to dream of a picture-perfect world… until it is so.

I am one person.
I am one clergy.
I am for Barack Obama…
not only as he seeks to become President of the United States, but as he seeks to be an historical voice of help and hope and healing.

Rev. Steve Westbrook
Lee’s Summit, MO

“Hope as a Strategy” by Rev. Peter Friederich

Rev. Peter Friederich

In his speech attacking Obama at the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani said that “Hope is not a strategy.” Well, he’s dead wrong about that. Since 9/11 the Bush administration has used fear as a strategy. As a strategy to rationalize the use of preemptive military action that has decimated our economy and our standing on the world stage, a strategy to eviscerate our constitutionally-guaranteed personal liberties, a strategy to justify the use of torture, a strategy to manipulate and control us.

I reject fear, and instead choose hope as a strategy. A strategy to develop alternative fuels that will gain us energy independence. A strategy to lead us out of an unjustified war in Iraq. A strategy to provide health care coverage for every American. A strategy to save the middle class and to bridge the ever-growing chasm between the haves and the have-nots. Barack Obama is offering us hope, but he isn’t offering just hope. Or even just “hope and a prayer.” He is offering hope, and a prayer, and a plan. Contrary to what the Republicans would have you believe, he isn’t just “full of empty rhetoric.” (And, by the way, when did it become a crime to be a well-educated, erudite and inspiring speaker?) If you’re not familiar with the particulars of his plans to get us out of Iraq, to promote energy independence, to provide health care coverage for all, to provide tax credits to the middle class, I urge you to visit www.barackobama.com and learn more.

And I urge you to join me in working to elect Barack Obama, and choosing hope over fear.

With love and faith,
Rev. Peter Friederich
Unitarian-Universalist
Swarthmore, PA

“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