BCBSNC Foundation
My faith journey began at an early age and in a somewhat nontraditional way. I fondly remember attending weekly prayer meetings and Bible studies at my grandmother’s house in rural North Carolina. Community members would come from all around to worship together in a small, weather-beaten house at the end of a long dirt path. They would read scriptures, sing songs and tell stories of how they were able to overcome various obstacles throughout the week. [...]
Continue reading A Personal Story of Faith and Health
The 2012 County Health Rankings report, recently released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, points to major disparities in health by geographic location – with urban areas like Wake, Durham, Mecklenburg and Guilford counties experiencing overall better health than many rural parts of the state like Columbus, Bladen, Scotland and Robeson counties.
The North Carolina Council of Churches, a statewide nonprofit promoting Christian unity and social justice, [...]
Continue reading New County Health Rankings Point to Disparities in Health
Congratulations to two of the Council’s friends and colleagues on being designated Champions of Change by the White House. Linda Walling, Executive Director, of Faithful Reform in Health Care (and soon to be a NC resident) and native North Carolinian Adam Searing, Director of the Health Access Coalition for the North Carolina Justice Center, were honored for their dedication to improving access to health care. These individuals are helping others in their community understand the impact and [...]
Continue reading Champions of Change
The Affordable Care Act was approved two years ago. Join the virtual second-anniversary celebration through a conference call with Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin on Thursday, March 22 at 2 p.m. Hear all the benefits already in place and what is to come. An RSVP in advance is required through this link.
Additionally, as the Supreme Court takes up challenges to the ACA, join the faith community in an Interfaith Prayer Vigil via teleconference on Tuesday, March 27 [...]
Continue reading Affordable Care Act (ACA) Celebrates its Second Anniversary
Richmond County Daily Journal
The Pee Dee Baptist Educational Congress, an auxiliary to the Pee Dee Baptist Educational Association, will conduct the Annual Christian Educational Institute from March 19 to 23, 2012, at the Pee Dee Educational Building in Dobbin Heights. There will be classes for church officers and each department in the church. [...]
Continue reading Annual Christian Educational Institute to be held in Dobbins Heights
A recent report by the U.S. Surgeon General revealed that a large number of America’s youth – 600,000 middle school students and three million high school students – smoke cigarettes. At best, this information is disturbing, not only because it shows that progress made over the last decade to reduce youth smoking rates is slowing down, but also because smoking claims the lives of 1,200 Americans every day – putting our nation’s youth and young [...]
Continue reading Places of Worship Addressing Youth Health
The NC Council of Churches’ Partners in Health and Wholeness Initiative has created three new fact sheets to help clergy and congregants improve their health. Do you want to know what our scriptures teach about leading a healthier lifestyle? How many North Carolinians are meeting the mark? Or perhaps simple tips for incorporating physical activity, healthy eating and tobacco use prevention and cessation into the life of the church?
Please download the following resources today [...]
Continue reading New Resources from Partners in Health and Wholeness
Back in November, I told you about the political battle that was ensuing over school lunches in our country. More specifically, the Obama Administration was calling for healthier meals made with less fat and sodium as well as more fruits and vegetables, while the spending bill passed by Congress recognized tomato paste as a vegetable and called for more research on long-term sodium reduction.
Well, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and First Lady, Michelle Obama, [...]
Continue reading New Nutritional Standards for School Lunches
Carrying excess weight poses a number of health and other problems, but who knew such problems could extend past death? According to a recent report by MSNBC, many donation programs are refusing corpses that weigh more than 200 to 300 pounds because they simply do not have the equipment or manpower to handle them. East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine in Greenville, NC has even stricter weight requirements – they will not accept a [...]
Continue reading Obese Corpses Rejected for Medical Research
From Acts of Faith: Lectionary Resources for Prophetic Worship
While the world may value persons differently based on income, earning capacity, education, experience, race, physical ability, appearance, or socioeconomic background, there are none of these distinctions in Christ. All flesh and bones, all bodies, are God’s creation. We have all been gifted by God for God’s work in the world. The person who happens to be insured or who can afford the cost of medical care is no more or less important to God than the person who is uninsured or underinsured, no more or less important than the barren woman, the dying king, the wandering and hungry Israelites, the suffering Job, the blind and leprous men, the bleeding woman, the child on her deathbed. [...]
Continue reading 5th Sunday after the Epiphany – Health Care
Our friends at the NC Division of Public Health would like to help current tobacco users quit by offering NC residents, 18 years of age or older, free nicotine replacement therapy (i.e., patches, gum or lozenges) while supplies last.
In addition to being a NC resident and at least 18 years of age, you must also commit to a quit date in order to qualify and get prior approval from your physician if you have [...]
Continue reading Free Resources to Help You Begin 2012 Tobacco Free
Have you ever been in church when someone suffered a heart attack? If so, you know that helpless feeling of having to wait for help to arrive as critical seconds, then minutes go by. In 2009, Representative Becky Carney went into sudden cardiac arrest while at the legislative building, and her life was saved with an onsite Automated External Defibrillator (AED) – i.e., a portable, electronic device used to restore normal heart rhythms in cardiac [...]
Continue reading Free AEDs and CPR Trainings for Congregations
This webpage is under construction. Coming soon!
From Acts of Faith: Lectionary Resources for Prophetic Worship
In the past twenty-five years, the face of the AIDS epidemic in this country has shifted dramatically. Initially, gay white men were most identified with the epidemic. Today, the reality is that HIV looks like all of us – regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or faith tradition. The epidemic is growing most rapidly, however, among minorities who have historically experienced a higher risk for poverty, lack of health insurance, co-morbidity, and disenfranchisement from the health care system. The result is a growing number of individuals living with HIV disease who are living at or below the federal poverty level and who have limited or no access to life-saving, life-extending medications. [...]
Continue reading Care for HIV/AIDS Patients – Easter 4
Table of Contents
Overview Focus Text Commentary Reflection Worship Aids Hymns Quotes Vignette Contacts Key Facts Tools
Print PDF Share on Facebook:
Related Content
Sermon Library Blog Posts Council Resources Policy Statements Legislative Updates NC News Stories
Overview – Health Care
Focus Text: Mark 1:29-39
“And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases…”
Scripture Commentary by Denise Cumbee Long, Pastor, [...]
Continue reading Health Care – Epiphany 5
 Print This Post
|
|
Topics: 
Category: 
