Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
I'm thumb-typing on my Blackberry so please forgive any errors. I'm sitting in the presitigious Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol awaiting the start of "Renewing the Dream: A Celebration of the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr." Suprisingly--shockingly---I'm a guest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi! How I got on her VIP list, I just don't know. In any case, I'm representing our National Clergy Council at this observance.
While today I am much more critical of Dr. King's theology and politics, as a child I grew up admiring him greatly. He and those who worked with him were heroes in my home because they challenged injustice by putting their lives on the line.
Notwithstanding the spiritual and moral corruption in King's personal life, he continued to use scripture and Christian moral instruction as the foundational message of his struggle for civil rights. I'm astounded that most social historians consciously dismiss the fact that King was first a preacher and minister of the Gospel before he was anything else.
I'm hoping for some face time with congressional leaders--especially Speaker Pelosi--to ask when they will extend King's legacy on civil rights to all Americans--especially the most vulnerable, the pre-born.Perhaps I'll have opportunity to renew my challenge to Jesse Jackson offred ten years ago in this very same room. I asked him then why he once championed the right to life, but then abandoned it. He told me then, "We'll get together and talk about that." I called him but he never called back. Maybe we'll have that get-together today!
Please pray.
Your grateful missionary to elected and appointed officials,
Rev.Rob Schenck
www.faithandaction.org
Faith and Action
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS EVANGELIZED!
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, reporting:
That's right: Just before their Easter break, each and every member of the United States Congress--435 members of the house of Representatives and 100 members of the Senate--received a hand-delivered packet of materials from Faith and Action that included a full explanation of the Christian Gospel. You can see exactly what was in the packet at our website.
We hand-delivered these materials because it's really the only way to get them through to the actual recipients. Mail to congressional offices has always been fraught with problems, but since 9-11, it's almost assured that mail like ours will not reach its destination. First, it's routed off-site to a military base where it's tested for dangerous substances or enclosures. If it ever makes its way out of there, it's received by staff who use an essentially "cut and paste" process to respond. (Depending on the nature of the originating correspondence, young staffers generally pick from a menu of prepared sentences or paragraphs pertaining to the matter at hand.) Packages and printed materials are more often than not discarded.
Hand-delivery by-passes both of these steps. Generally, the package is received by the front-desk clerk and routed directly to the in-office sorter who in turn routes it directly to the member's desk. (In Capitol Hill lingo, a member of Congress--either a representative or senator--is generally referred to simply as "a member" or "the member.") Our congressional contacts confirm most of the packets do land where intended. The acknowledgment letters we eventually get from members every year indicate that, too. We'll soon post whatever notes we receive this year at our site. Some of them can be quite touching.
Over the years we've only had a few members of congress refuse the Easter / Resurrection packets--and the same goes for the similar deliveries we make just before Christmas. For the most part members are at least cordial if not enthusiastic. Our next delivery will be the Christmas package in early December. (It's not too early to pray for it's success!)
Not much more to tell you today because we were on the same Easter break as Congress last week. (Do check out the soon-to-be-posted article at our site on Rev. Pat Mahoney's success in defeating the rule banning Stations of the Cross at certain federal buildings. God bless Pat for taking on another limitation to our religious liberty!) The Easter break is one of the few luxuries our staff enjoys. Otherwise, during normal times, everyone works very hard for long days. Of course, we're back in full swing starting today. I leave tomorrow for meetings in Texas and return Thursday for the big planning session on this year's U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon. More on that later this week . . .
Thanks for praying. Thanks for helping. Thanks for being a friend of this ministry!
Your grateful missionary to elected and appointed officials,
Rev. Rob Schenck
Faith and Action
www.faithandaction.org
109 2nd St, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-8329
Monday, August 27, 2007
PULLING OUT OF IRAQ
Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting:
All the talk here on the Hill is about the upcoming Iraq report to Congress by General David Petraeus. Although it’s yet to be made public, our inside contacts tell us the U.S. commander will likely address a rare joint session of Congress on or around September 11. Our friend and colleague, Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, had presciently secured a permit for a prayer vigil at the U.S. Capitol on the evening of September 10. I’m not sure it makes Pat a prophet, but the timing could prove divinely strategic! I’ll be with Pat that night to lead in prayer and read scripture. Our focus will be the small number of Christians who remain in Iraq.
When Pat was in Baghdad just a couple of weeks ago, he met with leaders of the Christian community there. He asked them what will happen if American troops pull out of Iraq. They answered without hesitation, “We will be exterminated.”
Extermination is a powerful word in my lexicon. As you may know, I was born into a Jewish home. My father raised my brother and me and our two sisters with a thorough education in the Holocaust. “Extermination” was a key word in everything we learned about that terrible time in human history. As a child I was told some distant family members were “exterminated” by the Nazis. I was shown photos of emaciated bodies stacked like cord wood in mass graves; and skulls emerging from the ovens in the “extermination camps.”
God forbid we should ignore the specter of another atrocity. Following Viet Nam, millions of innocents were “exterminated” in the Killing Fields. (If you haven’t seen the film Killing Fields, you need to. While you’re steeling yourself, why not see Hotel Rwanda, too?) Hollywood and liberals are all abuzz about Muslims in Darfur (and rightfully so), but they apparently care nothing about Christians in Iraq!
Rev. Mahoney said after talking to these precious believers—a community that goes back nearly 2000 years in Christian history—he had no doubt a horrendous slaughter will occur should America pull out of Iraq prematurely.
No matter where they stand on the war, Congressional leaders need to know if they force the President’s hand for their own political advantage, the streets of Baghdad will be littered with the decapitated bodies of our fellow Christians.
For this reason we’ve launched a petition drive aimed at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The petition demands they consider the safety and security of Iraqi Christians as they contemplate their political strategies.
Please take time to sign the petition and pass it along to everyone you know who will care about the Christians of Iraq—your family, friends, fellow church members.
WE MUST FILE THESE PETITIONS IN ADVANCE OF GENERAL PETRAEUS’S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS. THE SOONER YOU SIGN, THE BETTER!
Sorry to start your week off with such dire news, but I can’t sugarcoat it. We’re talking about thousands of innocent men, women and children who are sitting ducks. Without the protection of American troops now and a well-trained, seasoned Iraqi military in the future, these poor souls will be the first to die.
YOU CAN PROTECT IRAQI CHRISTIANS FROM A WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER BY DEMANDING THAT NANCY PELOSI AND HARRY REID BACK OFF AND LET THE ARMED FORCES DO THEIR LIFE-SAVING WORK.
Please act now.
Be back later . . .
All the talk here on the Hill is about the upcoming Iraq report to Congress by General David Petraeus. Although it’s yet to be made public, our inside contacts tell us the U.S. commander will likely address a rare joint session of Congress on or around September 11. Our friend and colleague, Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, had presciently secured a permit for a prayer vigil at the U.S. Capitol on the evening of September 10. I’m not sure it makes Pat a prophet, but the timing could prove divinely strategic! I’ll be with Pat that night to lead in prayer and read scripture. Our focus will be the small number of Christians who remain in Iraq.
When Pat was in Baghdad just a couple of weeks ago, he met with leaders of the Christian community there. He asked them what will happen if American troops pull out of Iraq. They answered without hesitation, “We will be exterminated.”
Extermination is a powerful word in my lexicon. As you may know, I was born into a Jewish home. My father raised my brother and me and our two sisters with a thorough education in the Holocaust. “Extermination” was a key word in everything we learned about that terrible time in human history. As a child I was told some distant family members were “exterminated” by the Nazis. I was shown photos of emaciated bodies stacked like cord wood in mass graves; and skulls emerging from the ovens in the “extermination camps.”
God forbid we should ignore the specter of another atrocity. Following Viet Nam, millions of innocents were “exterminated” in the Killing Fields. (If you haven’t seen the film Killing Fields, you need to. While you’re steeling yourself, why not see Hotel Rwanda, too?) Hollywood and liberals are all abuzz about Muslims in Darfur (and rightfully so), but they apparently care nothing about Christians in Iraq!
Rev. Mahoney said after talking to these precious believers—a community that goes back nearly 2000 years in Christian history—he had no doubt a horrendous slaughter will occur should America pull out of Iraq prematurely.
No matter where they stand on the war, Congressional leaders need to know if they force the President’s hand for their own political advantage, the streets of Baghdad will be littered with the decapitated bodies of our fellow Christians.
For this reason we’ve launched a petition drive aimed at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The petition demands they consider the safety and security of Iraqi Christians as they contemplate their political strategies.
Please take time to sign the petition and pass it along to everyone you know who will care about the Christians of Iraq—your family, friends, fellow church members.
WE MUST FILE THESE PETITIONS IN ADVANCE OF GENERAL PETRAEUS’S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS. THE SOONER YOU SIGN, THE BETTER!
Sorry to start your week off with such dire news, but I can’t sugarcoat it. We’re talking about thousands of innocent men, women and children who are sitting ducks. Without the protection of American troops now and a well-trained, seasoned Iraqi military in the future, these poor souls will be the first to die.
YOU CAN PROTECT IRAQI CHRISTIANS FROM A WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER BY DEMANDING THAT NANCY PELOSI AND HARRY REID BACK OFF AND LET THE ARMED FORCES DO THEIR LIFE-SAVING WORK.
Please act now.
Be back later . . .
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