A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office. After examining the man, the doctor called wife into the office alone. She said, “Your husband has a serious disease combined with some stress. You need to do several things or your husband will surely die. Each morning you need to give him a healthy breakfast. Always be pleasant and in a good mood. For lunch and dinner always fix nutritious meals. Don’t burden him with chores, don’t share you problems. Make love with him several times each week. If can do this for 10 months to a year, he will probably live.” 

The couple was driving home from the doctors and the husband said to the wife, “What did the doctor say?” She replied, “He said you’re going to die.” 

A lot of Americans are suffering and dying today from the lack of heath care. In 2006, 46.6 million Americans (about 15% of the total population) were without health care. The number is rising! Texas has highest percentage number at 20%.  Pennsylvania is a bit better than the average. Some are very poor. Some are very well off.  A lot are in the middle class. If I were to ask you to raise a hand this morning if you do not have healthcare right now I think you might be very surprised at how many people would lift a hand. 

The result of this deficit in health care is an increasing number of bankruptcies (½ of all bankruptcies are due to expenses by persons who have no health care.) 8 million children are without insurance. That means many of them are going without the needed immunizations.  More and more companies are abandoning health care as part of the compensation package. 

Joe Garigiola told of a visit he made to a local drug store. He said, “From the shelves I selected a bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol, 12 oz. of kaopectate, an elastic knee support, a supply of corn plasters, some Dristan, a vaporizer, a remedy for sore gums, and a tube of Preparation H. I took all that stuff to the counter where they rang it up on the register. I couldn’t believe my ears when the clerk handed me the sack and said, “Have a nice day!”

Lot’s of people do not have nice days.  Lots of people have very scary days. 

Health care is a hotly debated issue right now in this country. The argument seems to be between something called “single payer” or “privatized health care.”  I think health care is a justice issue. I believe that it is a Christian justice issue. 

In the text for today, the prophet Jeremiah asks three rhetorical questions. First he asks, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Balm is a resin from a tree in used long ago for medicinal purposes. Yes, there is Balm in Gilead. Secondly he asks, “Is there no physician here? And yes, again, there are and were physicians. Then the final question comes, “Why then has the healthcare of my poor people not been restored?” The problem is one of justice.  The prophet weeps for his people because justice is no longer present. 

One commentator on this passage says this, “The difficult truth is that their health had not been restored because of the nation’s injustice and lack of compassion, because of their stubborn refusal to live as God’s beloved community.”

The problem in America is that the uninsured live sicker and die younger! That is a tragic and lamentable fact of our time. The late actor Walter Matthau once quipped, “My doctor gave me six months to live.  When I couldn’t pay the bill, he gave me six months more.” 

What is God’s call in this matter?  Let me suggest a few things. 

AN ISSUE OF FAITH 

First of all we need see health care as an issue of faith. Clearly, Jesus was about healthy living. Jesus instructed his followers to teach, to preach, and to heal! Jesus always reached out to those on the margins of society. He reminded them that they too have a place in the Kingdom. 

The late Erma Bombeck once wrote a job description for motherhood and this is what it said: “Wanted: Women to raise, educate, and entertain a child for a minimum of 20 years. Be prepared to eat egg if the yolk breaks, to receive anything in your hand that the child spits out. To take knots out of wet shoe strings with your teeth. Must be an expert in making costumes and picking bathroom locks with a shish kabob skewer. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, including holidays. Comprehensive dental plan, vacation and medical benefits, and a company car negotiable. [a]  

Medical benefits for all seem so non-negotiable today. 

God wants us to be well. Taking care of our physical, mental and emotional health is an act of discipleship! Making health care for others a priority is also an Act of discipleship. 

THE CHURCH NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED 

The second thing I believe is the church needs to be involved.

In an age of restricted availability of good health care, the church may be called upon more and more in the healing ministry. 

The British poet W. H. Auden once wrote, “We are here on earth to do good for others. What others are here for, I don’t know.” 

We need to take good care of ourselves. Our Bishop, Tom Bickerton, at his first Annual Conference, arranged to have a screening of all the clergy and lay delegates for health related issues. Then they passed out pedometers for everyone to use to walk at least 10 thousand steps a day. It was a proactive gesture toward better health care. We need to take care of ourselves and then also to take initiatives for the community around us. 

More than 30 years ago, a man named Granger Westberg saw the issues.  He saw the emphasis of Jesus’ healing ministry in a new light.  He began to establish health care as a part of a church’s ministry. He was among the first to designate a staff position as “Parish nurse.” 

Today, some churches have low cost or free clinics for people who need to come. They find volunteer Physicians who will staff those clinics one or two days a week. Many other churches have instituted a parish nurse or nurses program. The parish nurses advocate good healthy practice. They provide some preventative care and they give guidance through the maze of detail that is often involved in health care today.  

In a time of declining, expensive, and uncertain health care, the church has a clear calling. 

GOOD NATIONAL HEALTH CARE 

But there is more. I believe that the church needs to be a strong advocate for good National health care. There is a wonderful story in the second chapter of Mark that was read in the scripture today. (Mark 2: 1-5) This is not just a miracle story (although it is that!). It is the story of the determination and ingenuity of four friends. It is the story of four men who knew meaning of compassion and caring. They declared themselves to see to it that a  friend receives access to the care he needs. 

Some people do not have resources unless they are assisted by others. Access is matter of life and death. Access is a matter of community equity and of social justice! 

If the story was replayed in our imaginations it might say something like this:   

The four friends, not to be denied by the crowd at the door, somehow scramble to the roof even while carrying their friend on a stretcher. Once there, they either remove the tiles, or worse, dig through the dried mud and straw opening the ceiling on the people below. Finally, into the midst of the densely packed crowed do the friends lower the stretcher almost on top of Jesus.   

The story concludes with the notice that Jesus rapidly heals the man.  The man picks up his bed and walks out of the house. We are not told what happened to the four friends. We are not told who paid for roof repairs! It is the determination of the four friends that is the key to the story. As someone put it the people of Jesus get up, get moving, get lifting, get climbing, and get digging. 

I hear the call of God to be determined advocates in our time and in our day. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote this in one of his new books:      

Erik Erikson has written that people approaching the last chapter of their lives have to choose between stagnation and generativity. He defines stagnation as thinking only about ourselves: How do you feel today? What aches? Who calls me and who ignores me? Generativity is worrying about the next generation and what sort of world we are leaving them. Needless to say, generativity is the healthy choice. It pulls us out of ourselves and gives us a role to play in the world.[b] 

We, the church, have a very important role to play. In about two weeks the coveted Academy Awards will be handed out. One of those awards is the “Best actor or actress in a supporting role.” I think that is exactly the role of the church. That is the role of the Christian believer in the area of health care.  We are to be best actors in a supporting role! 

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have good health care (I am one!) can not afford to ignore the issue of ethics and justice for all. It is NOT impossible to act.  Someone has said, “The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us.” 

Some bold steps and initiatives are needed. I do not understand all the economic and political issues involved. I do know that the United States is the only industrialized country in the world that still fails to guarantee access to medical services to all its citizens. I do know that California has a health care plan on the drawing boards. I know that one month ago, our own Governor announced a Pennsylvania initiative. I know that two months ago Congress began to discuss expanding a decade-old health insurance program for children. Some movement is out there.  But the need is urgent and clear. 

A short while back there was a text on the health care bulletin board in the hallway. It was from 1 Samuel 25:6 in the New International version. The text read, “…long life to you!  Good health to you and your household.” I believe that this is God’s hope and prayer for us all. But we must be God’s agents for change to help make it happen! 

A few weeks ago, Rex Glass on route 19 had a sign. It read, “Where you stand depends upon where you were sitting.” Where do you stand? Will you join God’s priority for “good health to you and your household”— and to all Americans?