Greetings WAC Community,
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. – Psalm 19:1-4
A favorite quote of mine is Mohandas Gandhi’s declaration, “Be the change you want to see.” Gandhi demonstrated the power of love and nonviolence to literally change the world. While he was Hindu, he believed the teachings of Jesus. Through simple acts, Gandhi, like Jesus, made his voice heard. So should we.
Nationally we are hearing lots of voices through the media from candidates wanting to be President of the United Sates. As 2016 goes on, we will be hearing from those who are running in statewide and local races. There are a couple of options. One is to listen and discern what messages you believe display true knowledge and love of God’s creation, and not what the polls say that we want to hear or what benefits selfish ends. The other option is to tune out and let others make the decisions.
I hope that you choose the former. But there is a third option. You can make your voice heard. That does not mean that you have to run for an elective office yourself, although maybe you could. But it means that you speak up every opportunity you have to advance the glory and sake of God:
For the sake of the powerless and poor.
For the sake of the lonely, sick and hungry.
For the sake of our land, water and air that sustains us.
February 8th is the opening day of the Wyoming State Legislature. I ask that you pray for our legislators and governor. They are required to make hundreds of decisions within less than a month that affect lives and sustainable resources. Being a budget session, the budget will be their main focus. But they will decide what other bills to consider that will require a two-thirds vote to be introduced.
But don’t stop with prayers. Take a few minutes to contact your local legislators before February 8th and let your voice be heard. A top issue for the Wyoming Association of Churches for the 2016 legislative session is to support having Medicaid expansion in the budget, as Governor Mead proposed, for the sake of 20,000 low-income persons in Wyoming, for the sake of our community hospitals and for the sake of collecting millions of federal dollars due to Wyoming. We also support Wyoming at long last getting a hate crimes law enacted and in repealing Wyoming’s death penalty, costing us socially and financially.
You may have additional concerns. Call your legislators and let them know what matters. If you are not sure who your state representative and senator are or how to contact them, go to http://legisweb.state.wy.us/LSOWEB/LegInfo.aspx and find out. Let me know how it goes!
Fear not. Be bold. Do justice.
Blessings,
Chesie