Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Lutherans Over Orlando!
I am proud to be a Lutheran, but never more so than today. Sixteen North Carolinians served as voting members to the national Lutheran Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Florida on Aug. 14-19, 2011. I was privileged to be elected to go, and have rarely worked as hard.
North Carolina Bishop Leonard Bolick was recognized for initiating dialogue with the AME Zion Church. That effort led to AME Zion Sr. Bishop George Walker addressing the Assembly on Thursday. The AME Zion and ELCA churches pledged to further collaboration.
The Assembly conducts the legislative business of the church, which is not always fun but very important. The Assembly hears reports from across the church. I learned things I never knew or had forgotten about our church. Lutheran Disaster Response continues to serve in Haiti, where hundreds of thousands are still homeless from the earthquake. LDR is in Joplin, Missouri helping clean up from the tornadoes. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services is resettling Iraqi refugees who supported the U.S. Lutheran Services in America (LSA and LFS are strong members) provides direct services to one in fifty Americans! How’s that for serving!
Lutherans in the United States adopted a plan to raise $15 million to fight hunger in the United States and around the world, and $18 million to fight malaria!
The Assembly debated and passed a social statement on genetics, which provides a theological framework for people to think about cloning, gene therapy, and genetically modified crops. The Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution supporting the Dream Act with just a handful of dissenting votes. The church is living in the real world!
These are just a few gems from a solid week. Each day was centered around a wonderful worship service. Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson opened the first worship service with a sermon asking if we were ready to be moved by the Holy Spirit. And what other group do you know that prays before each important vote, and stands and sings a hymn after that vote is taken?
The theme for the Assembly was Freed in Christ to Serve. You are free to go to http://www.elca.org/ and click on the Churchwide Assembly button to learn more about “The Lutherans.”
North Carolina Bishop Leonard Bolick was recognized for initiating dialogue with the AME Zion Church. That effort led to AME Zion Sr. Bishop George Walker addressing the Assembly on Thursday. The AME Zion and ELCA churches pledged to further collaboration.
The Assembly conducts the legislative business of the church, which is not always fun but very important. The Assembly hears reports from across the church. I learned things I never knew or had forgotten about our church. Lutheran Disaster Response continues to serve in Haiti, where hundreds of thousands are still homeless from the earthquake. LDR is in Joplin, Missouri helping clean up from the tornadoes. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services is resettling Iraqi refugees who supported the U.S. Lutheran Services in America (LSA and LFS are strong members) provides direct services to one in fifty Americans! How’s that for serving!
Lutherans in the United States adopted a plan to raise $15 million to fight hunger in the United States and around the world, and $18 million to fight malaria!
The Assembly debated and passed a social statement on genetics, which provides a theological framework for people to think about cloning, gene therapy, and genetically modified crops. The Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution supporting the Dream Act with just a handful of dissenting votes. The church is living in the real world!
These are just a few gems from a solid week. Each day was centered around a wonderful worship service. Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson opened the first worship service with a sermon asking if we were ready to be moved by the Holy Spirit. And what other group do you know that prays before each important vote, and stands and sings a hymn after that vote is taken?
The theme for the Assembly was Freed in Christ to Serve. You are free to go to http://www.elca.org/ and click on the Churchwide Assembly button to learn more about “The Lutherans.”
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
A thought from Orlando
I heard a speaker a couple weeks ago tell a variation of the old starfish story. You know, the young boy throwing stranded starfish back in the ocean. He told the man who said what difference can one boy make. The boy says it matters to that one he saved.
In the latest version, the boy has enlisted a bunch of his friends. So he is making a bigger difference to lots of starfish through a group effort.
That's the way I feel about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 4.5 million Lutherans have walked together onto the beach that is our society. Together we are making a difference in the lives of starfish: elders, foster children, refugees, people with developmental disabilities, and on and one. "Together we can" is a theme for Lutheran Services in America. Together we can!
Lutheran Services for the Aging and Lutheran Family Services staff are on that beach with many others being Christ's hands in the world.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
LSA staffer Karen Maddry felt the need to respond to Congress about the impending cuts to Medicare that will harm our elders. At the end of her letter, she writes eloquently:
We have absorbed as much as we can. Enough is enough.
You see the facts above, but sometimes I wonder, do you all realize there are faces behind these cuts?
Faces that deserve the best care we can give them. Faces that have worked hard their whole lives and paid into the system so that when their turns came, that care and assistance would be there for them.
Faces that give that care to others because it means something to them to provide for their elders. Faces that do the best they can each and every day because the people entrusted to their care matter. Faces that want to work and are, therefore, taking their turn paying into the system.
You need to think and look elsewhere for cuts - because at some point in all our lives, we may very well be one of these faces, and wouldn't it be a shame if quality long-term care is only a distant memory by then.
Is anyone listening???
Well said, Karen!
We have absorbed as much as we can. Enough is enough.
You see the facts above, but sometimes I wonder, do you all realize there are faces behind these cuts?
Faces that deserve the best care we can give them. Faces that have worked hard their whole lives and paid into the system so that when their turns came, that care and assistance would be there for them.
Faces that give that care to others because it means something to them to provide for their elders. Faces that do the best they can each and every day because the people entrusted to their care matter. Faces that want to work and are, therefore, taking their turn paying into the system.
You need to think and look elsewhere for cuts - because at some point in all our lives, we may very well be one of these faces, and wouldn't it be a shame if quality long-term care is only a distant memory by then.
Is anyone listening???
Well said, Karen!
I just sent this letter to NC Senators Burr and Hagan and Rep. Watt. Please add your voice! Our seniors are being wronged. Who is there to speak for them?
The letter:
Lutheran Services for the Aging serves over 1,200 North Carolinians every day, employs over 1,200 more North Carolinians, and touches the lives of thousands more. As a provider of high quality long-term services and supports and a member of LeadingAge, I am most concerned about cuts to our field that may result from efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit.
My field already has taken billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid
reductions:
Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare payments to nursing homes will be cut by over $14 billion over the next ten years. The ACA also contains numerous provisions to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse and to make nursing home operations more transparent.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just handed down a payment rule for fiscal 2012 that cuts Medicare payment rates to skilled nursing facilities by 11.1% across-the-board. The total reduction in payments to nursing homes may total as much as 20% because the payment rule also corrects billing for therapy services.
Many states have made severe cutbacks in their Medicaid payments to nursing homes over the last two years. Medicaid is the single largest source of operating revenue for nursing homes; we cannot absorb more reductions at the federal level.
The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS) was enacted to reduce reliance on Medicaid as a source of financing for long-term care. This program actually will help to reduce the budget deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office. Its implementation needs to continue moving forward.
I understand that you and your colleagues must find ways to reduce the federal budget deficit. However, I must respectfully ask you, on behalf of the people who live and work in my organization, not to direct any more cutbacks to the long-term services and supports sector.
We have absorbed as much as we can. Enough is enough.
Sincerely,
Ted Goins
(704) 754-8220
President
Lutheran Services for the Aging, Inc.
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