New Hampshire News
| Keene Service of Remembrance and Hope |
| Posted by Jaime Contois (jcontois) on Nov 25 2009 at 11:35 PM |
To the Sentinel:
I was very moved by the Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Hope at the Keene Unitarian Unitarian Church on Tuesday, October 20. It was a time for people of faith in the Keene area to come together and remember the 45,000 people in this country who die unnecessarily each year because they have no health insurance, or are denied adequate care by private health insurance corporations.
As the Pastor of the Keene United Church of Christ said in his call to prayer at the opening of the service, "We pray for forgiveness for hearts that have been slow to feel another's pain, for hands that have been still when a caring touch was needed, and for voices that have remained silent while millions suffer for lack of healthcare."
We then heard stories from a local student, a local doctor, a local nurse, and Rev. Mark Ferrin of the Keene First Baptist Church about their personal experiences and observations about the local impact of our nation being the only industrialized nation in the world that does not ensure everyone has access to affordable health care.
I choked up listening to these painful stories about our neighbors in the Keene area, and I started crying when we prayed in unison after each person's testimony, "We remember our brothers and sisters who have died for lack of needed health care. May the valleys and the burdens of sickness and disease be conquered when we raise our voices of faith for the simple, moral, and merciful imperative of caring for one another."
My thanks go to the other local clergy that made this compassionate service possible, including Rev. Norman MacLeod of St. James Episcopal Church; Rev. Ivy Merrill of the United Congregational Church of Sullivan; Rev. Stacy Kullgren, the Keene State College Campus Minister; Reed Loy, the Ministry Intern at Keene State Campus Ministry; Rev. Gordon Ellis of the United Church of Christ; Rev. Mark Ferrin of the First Baptist Church in Keene and Rev. Jane Thickstun of the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church. Thanks, too, go to Jaime Contois, the NH Organizer for Working Families Win and a member of the Keene Friends Meeting.
I left the service more committed than ever to continue to work and pray for those in need of affordable and compassionate healthcare. If you want more information, check out the website of Faithful Reform in Health Care at www.faithfulreform.org or call Working Families Win at 603-504-2906. It is time to actively support meaningful health care reform that finally covers every man, woman, and child in America.
Steve Chase
380 Water Street
Keene, NH