Although candles were not allowed at a planned "Candlelight Prayer Vigil and Rally for Health Care for All," during the 2009 General Assembly, the goal of making affordable and accessible health care for all remained the same.
 
"What kind of people don't take care of their babies?" said General Minister and President Sharon E. Watkins, who introduced the rally's keynote speaker, T. Garrott Benjamin Jr. "What kind of people buy houses, cars, and spend their money on all sorts of things when their brothers and sisters are sick and need their help?"

The candlelight prayer vigil and rally was scheduled to take place on the evening of Aug. 1 on the grounds of the Indiana State Capitol, a block away from the Indianapolis Convention Center where the Assembly was in session. But rain forced the 600 people that had gathered for the candlelight vigil into the convention center, where candles could not be lit. It was organized by Disciples Justice Action Network, Faithful Reform in Health Care, and Light of the World Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

"We are caught in an urgent crisis," said Benjamin, Senior Pastor of Light of the World Christian Church in Indianapolis. "Really, what the health care issue is all about is what we Christians are about. It's about caring for the least, the last and the lost. It's about caring for each other."

The day before the health care rally at the Assembly in Indianapolis, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce passed a historic health care reform bill. Two other health care reform bills had been approved by the House committees on the Ways and Means, and Education and Labor. The three bills will be combined and become the subject of floor debate when Congress reconvenes in September.

Benjamin likened the efforts to secure health care for all to the biblical story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The Samaritan was a man who was beaten, broken and with no health care, said Benjamin. A priest goes by him and does nothing. The priest could have been a Disciples, but I doubt it, he quipped, evoking laughter from the audience.

"A Samaritan stops, a person who is without social class or culture, and helps," Benjamin said. The Samaritan bound up the man's wounds and took him to an inn, where he paid for his care. "What he does is not socialized medicine," he said. "It's Christian compassion; it's 'love your neighbor as you love yourself.' This is a prayer vigil and we were supposed to be outside. We need to be outside because it's midnight in health care."

He added that 60 people die each day in the United States because they don't have health care. There are 46 million uninsured people in the U.S.

Linda Hanna Walling, executive director of Faithful Reform in Health Care and senior advisor on health care reform at the Disciples Center for Public Witness, said, "The moral voice is what creates the atmosphere in which good public policy is passed." Worship at the rally was led by ImPerfect, a teen band, ages 12-17, from Torrey Pines Christian Church in La Jolla, Calif., and singer/guitarist Phoebe Spier of Portland, Ore.

John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ urged the crowd not to be shy about telling their congressional representatives to pass health care reform when Congress reconvenes.

"Tell them that you know this will take courage, that it will be risky for them," said Thomas, "but tell them that you have their backs. Tell them that you know it will be a cost but you are willing to bear part of that cost."

By: James Patterson