Written by J. Bennett Guess
September 18, 2009
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| The Rev. Geoffrey Black (c) and the Rev. Melinda McLain (r.) present the UCC’s health care reform petitions to Mark Herbert (l.) at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district office in San Francisco on Sept. 18. |
While visiting local churches this weekend in the San Francisco area, the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, incoming UCC General Minister and President, brought with him the names, addresses and phone numbers of 16,177 fellow UCC members and supporters which he delivered Friday to the in-district offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"This is a down payment on the 100,000 messages that we expect to gather and deliver in the coming weeks in support of health care reform," Black told Mark Herbert, deputy director of Pelosi's office. "We come out of the tradition of Jesus, the healer, and we believe that gift of healing should be available to all."
Black presented Herbert a stack of 600 front-and-back pages broken down with each elected representatives' names and the names of their constituents that have contacted them. The 16,000-plus signatures were gathered in just 10 days since the UCC launched the mobilization on Sept. 8, the day that Congress reconvened.
Black was joined by the Rev. Melinda McLain, who represented the UCC's Northern California - Nevada Conference at the meeting. McLain, who is one of Pelosi's constituents, is an associate pastor of San Francisco's City of Refuge UCC, located just a few blocks from Pelosi's Federal Building office.
Both Black and McLain shared with Herbert the stories of church members who are without insurance, can't afford it, or are being denied coverage because of preexisting health conditions. "I was talking with one of our key leaders whose cousin has a chronic illness and can't get coverage, and the reality is that that is not unusual," Black said.
Black said the UCC General Synod has long supported a single-payer system, but nonetheless, he said, the Synod spoke resoundingly at its 2009 gathering in Grand Rapids that a "robust public option" must be included if health care reform is to be meaningful. "The public option is something we want to press ahead and support," Black said.
Coninciding with Black's presentation of the petition signatures, the UCC also urged its members on Friday to flood the Capitol Hill switchboard with telephone calls. The UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries arranged a special toll-free number so that members could call without charge.
The 45-minute conversation with Pelosi's staff concluded with appreciative remarks from Herbert, who said, "Your doing what you do in the UCC -- gathering these petitions, educating your members, calling on Congress and working for social justice -- is so important. The faith community is so critical, and we can't tell you enough how much we appreciate what you're doing."
Herbert also said he would help arrange a meeting between Black and Pelosi, who is in Washington, D.C., when Black visits there. The collective petitions also will be presented in coming weeks to leadership in both parties and in both legislative chambers.
Black's San Francisco trip is the first of several "listening tours" that he is organizing in coming months. While in the Bay Area, he will visit with members of dozens of churches at events hosted by Foothills Congregational UCC in Los Altos; First Congregational UCC in Berkeley; First Congregational UCC in Palo Alto; and First Congregational UCC in Oakland. The Rev. Mary Susan Gast, Northern California - Nevada Conference Minister, is accompanying him.
Black, who is succeeding the Rev. John H. Thomas after 10 years as general minister and president, takes office on Oct. 1.
Add your name to 100,000 for Health Care by signing the petition.
