BethlehemWord-Oct08

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The Bethlehem Word

Featured in this Issue...

Message from the PastorAs I sat watching the first Presidential debate, I

couldnt help but think how this might apply to the church.Last month I wrote about the need for open and honest com-munication and discussion among each other, especially inchurch. We need to tell the truth to each other and to do so inlove. You can tell a lot about a person by how they deal withothersespecially when they disagree with another person. Iam a registered independent and dont want to inject politicsinto my ministry, but I do think our faith should impact our

political beliefs and too often churches separate faith and poli-tics to a fault. Here, however, I want to speak about how we relate to each other.

It is easy to point the finger at politicians as being thedisagreeable ones, but I think the whole Bible speaks aboutour need to get along with each other (especially among be-lievers). In Ephesians 4:2-3 Paul says, Be completely hum-ble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through thebond of peace. During the debate, it was fascinating to

watch the candidates interact with each other or not interact

with each other. It was hard for the moderator to get them totalk directly to each other. And isnt it the same for the rest of us. If we arent able to look a person with whom we disagreein the eye, then what does that say about us? To me it sayswe are stubborn and dont deal well with anyone who dis-agrees with us. Who would Jesus not look at? A Phariseewho disagreed with Him? A disciple who betrayed Him? Isthere anyone Jesus would not be willing to sit talk with? Whydo we have the attitude that if someone disagrees with us, wetake up our toys and go home?

Perhaps you feel as I do that its refreshing when can-

didates are able to say their opponent was right about some-thing. Can we be honest enough and humble enough to admitthat we are not always right? Can we admit that ouropponent with whom we disagree is not always wroThese are lessons we have to learn in life and the earlier welearn them the better.

When we look at someone face-to-face, we are acknowledging him or her as another person created by God,who for that reason alone is worthy of respect if not our complete agreement.

Continued on pg. 3

October 2008October 2008October 2008October 2008

Missions News Pg. 2

Meatball Supper Pg. 4

Womens Book Club Pg.4

Dr. Timothy Johnson onHealthcare Pg. 5


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Canned Food Drive

Beginning October 5th therewill be a basket filled withslips of paper that list cannedgood items which will becollected as part of theThanksgiving donation to theQuinsigamond Village Community Center. Weencourage you to take some slips and buy theitems and bring them inthis will help theCommunity Center tremendously. They (andtheir clients) depend on us for this each year.

Missions SundaySoup:Our first SundaySoup will be heldOctober 19 immedi-ately after the ser-vice in Fellowship Hall. Please plan on stayingfor a hearty soup, bread, coffee and dessert.There is no cost for this lunch. Please plan on

joining us!!! This is a great excuse to invitenew people to church also.

Childrens Cooking/Baking ClassSaturday, October 18th from 12-3pm atchurch. Call or sign up at church by Oct.5th. Well be baking chocolate chip cookies

and having a craft. Master cook & baker DeniseMcGinley is leading thiswonderful event.

Turkey Dona-tionsBeginning Sunday,Oct. 26th we will becollecting donations for turkeys for the Quin-sig Village Community Center. Turkeys are$15 each and any amount is appreciated.Make check payable to BCC and noteturkeys in the memo line.

n Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Bible Study7pm

3 NA meeting 4 Diaconateplant deliveries

Worship30am

6 7 8 9 Bible Study7pm

10 NA meetingClawson/Piercerehearsal dinner5:30pm

11 Clawson/Pierce wedding4:30pm

Worship30am Maxgbee Baptism

13 14 Board Mtg.7pm

15 16 17 NA meeting 18 ChildrensCooking &Baking Class12-3pm

Worship30amssions Soupnch

20 21 22 23 Bible Study7pm

24 NA meeting 25

Worship30am

27 28 Veritas TeamMtg. 7-8:30pm

29 30 Bible Study7pm

31 NA meeting

October 2008

All authority in

heaven and onearth has beengiven to me.Therefore go andmake disciples oall nations,

baptizing them inthe name of theFather and of theSon and of theHoly Spirit, and

teaching them toobey everythingI havecommanded youAnd surely I amwith you always,to the very endof the age. Mt.28:18-20

Missions News


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From the Pastor (cont.)

I have issues on which I disagree with both candi-dates, because, lets face it, life is complicated and there are alot of issues on which reasonable people disagree. I certainlydo not publicly endorse any candidate. I find it interesting towatch politicians interactions because I deal with people con-stantly. How we interact with each other is important. Twocommitted believers in the same church can see things verydifferently. That is o.k. So too with political candidates. Butlets hope that in our families, in our churches, and in our

politics, we can have the courage to look each other in the eyeand speak openly and candidly and civilly.

God bless,Pastor Dave

Birthdays and Anniversaries

October Birthdays

Elizabeth Pope 10/2Elizabeth Quinn 10/5

Mildred Carlson 10/11Colleen Elbe 10/12Jeanne Bartkus 10/19Alice Sullivan 10/22Janet Clawson 10/23Robert Elbe Jr. 10/26Lydia Anderson 10/29

October Anniversaries

Joy and Nicholas Monopoli 10/4James and Jennifer Zoulias 10/9

ovember Birthdays

Delbert Smith 11/4Robert Leach 11/6Catherine Lindstrom 11/6

Carl Nordstrom 11/11Beverly Gosselin 11/19Sue Fellion 11/19Corrine Wennerstrand 11/19Karin Ciance 11/20Roy Lindstrom 11/23Robert Salmonsen 11/24

Margery Carlson 11/25Susan Strozina 11/27

ovember Anniversaries

Amy and Kenneth Malo 11/4Eric and Kathleen Thompson 11/23

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Dear Friends and Family,

I cant begin to express what your scholarship gift meansto me. The knowledge that I have an entire congregationsupporting me as I begin a life in Denver is priceless. Aspecial thank you to everyone who supported me

throughout this long process and for the variety of offersto drive cross-country with me. Although I am thou-sands of miles away, I know I will always have a homeat Bethlehem. For that especially, I thank you. And re-member you are always welcome to visit me here in themountains!

Love,


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Rising Health Care Costs Could Ri-val Financial Crisis By Stan Friedman

CHICAGO, IL (September 24, 2008) Americans expectations for health care are

too high, and the will of politicians to avert an exploding healthcare crisis is too little, Dr. G. Timothy Johnson told an audienceat North Park University on Tuesday night. If action isnt takensoon, the rising cost of health care could provoke a financialcrisis as great as the current banking crisis, said Johnson, thelongtime medical editor for ABC ews and an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church. There really is no way tofix the American health care system, Johnson began. Thereason is we dont have a health care system in this country.What does exist is fragmented, inefficient, inadequate, and evendangerous, Johnson said. It also potentially poses a greater threat to the economy than the current banking crisis.

Americans will spend more than $2 trillion on healthcare this year and that amount could go to $3 trillion by 2020,Johnson predicts. One-sixth of all jobs in the country are re-

lated to health care, Johnson notes. A shock to the health caresystem would send shockwaves throughout the economy. Ma-or changes in approaches to providing health care have led tothe current crisis, he maintains. Health care went from beinglow-tech, personal, and having a simple payment structure tobeing highly focused on high-tech solutions, impersonal, andburdened by a complicated payment system. Employer-basedhealth insurance was an historical accident, Johnson said.Companies could not afford increasing salaries after WWII, sothey began adding health benefits. Today, companies are look-ing to control costs by reducing or eliminating coverage, John-son said. He noted that 80 percent of uninsured Americans haveobs. Johnson says part of the problem with finding a solution

relates to four major expectations Americans have for healthcare: Convenience People want appointments immediately anddont want to wait for anything. Curative We expect that whatever comes up, Americanmedical science will be able to solve the problem. The latesttechnology or drug is not always the best treatment. Coordinated and compassionate Any system should beeasy to navigate. Cheap People dont even like co-payments.

You cant have it all, Johnson told the audience. Thecost is too great. Just spending more money will not solve the

problems, he suggests. Americans spend $6,100 a year per per-son on health care - more than twice the $2,500 per personspent by the rest of the industrialized world combined. If wegot health care that was twice as good, I guess that would beacceptable, Johnson said. But the World Health Organizationranks the United States 32nd in terms of quality, he added. Thesystem can even be dangerous Johnson said, explaining that100,000 deaths last year were attributed to medical errors. Heasked people to consider what would happen if the same couldbe said of the airline industry. Americans with insurance - whoknow how to navigate the system - still have access to excellentcare, but the gap between them and those who do not have ac-

cess continues to grow, Johnson observes. A worsening shortage ogeneral practitioners also is contributing to rising health care costs.Only 20 percent of graduating medical students are choosing gen-eral practices because specialties offer higher financial rewards.

The Mayo Clinic opened its own internal system of generalcare after realizing its employees were using the emergency roomfor health care because they could not find a general practitioner,Johnson said. Given Jesus imperative to care for the least, John-

son said, Christians have a moral imperative to push for universalaccess. The United States is the only industrialized country that doesnot offer universal access, Johnson said. People actually have ac-cess to universal care - if they get sick enough. Ultimately, Wewont let you die in the street, Johnson said. That ultimately ismore costly, however. Instead, providing systemic universal accessto people would enable them to be treated earlier and at a lower cost.

Johnson differentiated between universal access and universal financing. Universal access enables health care coverage for eve-ryone, but universal financing means the government pays all the

bills. Johnson says he favors some form of public-private partner-ship, as is done in most industrialized nations. Government wouldset standards and regulations and then allow private companies tocompete. The plan for federal employees can serve as an example,Johnson said. Each year, employees receive a list of health insur-ance companies in their area that have been vetted by the Office of Personnel Management, which makes certain the companies aresolid and are offering fair prices. Employees can then choose basedupon the plan and price that best meets their needs.

Medicare is a public-private partnership that Americansapprove of, Johnson said. Try taking Medicare from people over 65 and youll have a fight on your hands. Johnson said he expectsMedicare to be expanded to all people, if the crisis worsens. Themoney it costs to provide care for those who cant afford it would

cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the current proposed banking system bailout, he predicts. Opponents of universal accessargue that people will abuse the system. Johnson said that is not thecase in other countries and encouraged the audience to read ThMoral Hazard , an article by Malcom Gladwell in The ew Yorksaying it is the best on the subject.

Despite pledges by both candidates to reform the system,Johnson does not expect Congress to make major changes soon. Herecalled the unlikely alliance several years ago involving Democ-ratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republicans Newt Gingrich and Sen.Bill Frist, noting they were unable to influence passage of a widelydesired bill that would enable electronic recordkeeping. Patientsoften switch doctors, and electronic recordkeeping would enable

physicians to access a patients previous medical history. Each of the presidential candidates has proposed changes, but no one willget all they want. Intense negotiations will be needed, but the WhiteHouse still will have to lead the discussion, he believes.

As medical editor for ABC ews , Johnson provides analysis for W ews Tonight, ightline, Good Morning America , and 20/20 . Johnson's programs and feature reports have won several awards, including a national EmmyAward and two local Emmys. Johnson serves on the faculty of Harvard MedicalSchool and is on the medical staff of Massachusetts General Hospital. He alsoserves as assisting minister of the Community Covenant Church in West Pea-

body, Massachusetts.


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The Bethlehem Word

Bethlehem Covenant Church 46 Greenwood StreetP.O. Box 70629

Worcester, MA 01607(508) 7521459

www.bethlehemcc.org

BethlehemWord-Oct08

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