Easter Sunday has always been special to me. Spring colors, Easter music at church and a wonderful meal with friends and family make me think of home. In Judaism, the Passover Seder is a meal where you and your closest family and friends retell the story of the Exodus. Like all great meals, one story leads to another and before you know it, you are sharing your life with people you care about — and what could be better than that?

I attended a community Seder this year and enjoyed the point in the Haggadah, the story, wherein the rabbi asked, “How many levels of favor has God bestowed on us?” In response, people at the table remember together God’s many blessings and in each case proclaim, Dayenu, it would have been enough. For example:

“If God had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against Pharaoh, Dayenu, it would have been enough!”

“If God had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land, Dayenu, it would have been enough!”

The story continues predictably and this section of the Haggadah concludes with the question, “How much more so should we be grateful for God’s goodness?” Having read this, the rabbi reminded us that the story continues in our own lives because God is always a blessing to us and we therefore should be a blessing to others. In my own life, I might acknowledge, “If God had provided me with a loving supportive family and not an education, it would have been enough.” Or, “If God provided me with a great job and not the money to do the work, it would have been enough.” God has done this and more, so it is up to me to share what I have received.

In the Easter story, the night before he was arrested, Jesus shared a meal — perhaps even a Passover meal — with his disciples. He reminded them that he did not come to be served but to serve others — and the same would be expected of them. And so the idea that, as people of faith, we are called to be a blessing to one another and the world — that we are to serve others — runs deep for both Christians and Jews.

In Judaism, the concept of Tikkun Olam refers to a responsibility to “repair/heal the world.” It is often cited as a reason to do good works and build right relationships with one another. In contrast, Christians take a more individualistic approach that grows out of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is perhaps a different route that reaches the same conclusion: God wants good things for us and we honor God when we do our part to help.

I see it in my work all the time, people of faith drawing on their understanding of God in their lives that leads them to share what they have — time, money, talent — with strangers. For example, almost every faith tradition believes that we have a moral or religious obligation to feed hungry people. As a result, we see a robust network for voluntary giving through food banks, church and community pantries, and more recently backpack programs and community gardens.

These same volunteers often also advocate for public policy change that both supports and helps build opportunities for low-income families. Their experience of serving others and literally filling bags of food for families in need makes them powerful advocates for programs like SNAP, WIC and School Meals, that help struggling families and often make the difference between food on the dinner table or going without.

I believe we, as people of faith, benefit in innumerable ways from our rich religious traditions and the wisdom of our holy texts. Through this lens we can see beyond our immediate or parochial interests toward a clearer vision of the common good. In this season of Passover and Easter, I encourage each of us to consider again what we believe and how we will live with integrity in the context of our faith. I hope we will all find ways to always be a blessing to each other — to serve one another and be advocates for just public policies that set right historic or systematic inequality.

God has provided for us in abundance and it is up to us to make sure everyone has what they need.
(This piece was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Sunday, March 31, 2013)

You have no doubt heard about the pending sequestration over the last two years. And if you are like me, you are tired of hearing about it. It continues to loom, like a dark, heavy cloud, over every public policy discussion. In just a few days, the sequester will go into effect and we desperately need our representatives to take action to move us past this perpetual “fiscal cliff,” a short-sighted process for decision-making that has all but paralyzed us as a nation.

President Obama put the budget and pending sequestration at the top of his agenda in the State of the Union last month. He reminded us that over the past few years, we have cut the deficit by $2.5 trillion, mostly through spending cuts. The challenge now is whether and how we should cut an additional $1.5 trillion from the budget.  Where we cut will matter greatly and the president has argued for closing tax loopholes as a way to increase revenue and minimize the necessity of the cuts.

Sequestration was designed to cut equally from defense and non-defense discretionary spending and in so doing, distribute the political consequences equally among politicians, both conservative and liberal. Its goal was to incentivize bipartisan compromise and resolve the budget impasse. But now, some in Congress are proposing to protect against Defense Department cuts at the expense of education and safety net programs like Medicaid and Social Security. Cuts to safety net programs would affect millions of Americans. Sequestration would result in 4 million fewer meals to seniors through the Meals on Wheels program. Similarly, cuts to the Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), would drop 600,000 women and children from the program. Other cuts would affect mental health services, and even prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS. Cuts would affect everything from public health and public safety programs to economic development and scientific research. 

Without any further action, sequestration cuts will take effect this Friday, March 1st, 2013. I have recently heard television and radio commentators speculate that sequestration may not be all that bad. But I think they are wrong. I speculate that the aging members of our communities, who are homebound, will be greatly affected by the cuts to the Meals on Wheels program. And young families struggling to make ends meet, whose children will lose access to Headstart programs, will also agree with me. If Congress and the president don’t come together to close tax loopholes, increase revenue, and make targeted cuts, low income people and at-risk families will bear the burden. 

There is a popular saying “there, but for the grace of G_d, go I,” and in that sentiment I invite us all to spend time intentionally praying for people and families that may be affected by sequestration cuts. Pray for the Moms and kids that may not get enough to eat without WIC, or the person who needs mental health services that won’t have anywhere to turn. Pray for people affected by government jobs that are cut or furloughed. Finally, pray for Congress and the President that they may know that their choices, and inaction, affect the daily lives of real people.

This weekend the General Assembly closed the 2013 legislative session with a real win-win for Virginia – they voted to both reform and expand Medicaid at the same time.  The bill that passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate creates a new entity, the Medicaid Reform and Innovation Commission. This body is charged with monitoring progress on reforms mandated by the General Assembly so that the Medicaid expansion can proceed without delay.  

Since the Supreme Court ruling last summer, which allows states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, advocates have worked to make the case with state decision-makers that expanding Medicaid is good for Virginia. This weekend the Senate and House of Delegates affirmed that position with their votes. The House voted 83 to 17 and the Senate voted 31 to 17 for the expansion with reforms.  

But it took a lot to get to this point. In fact, it has taken weeks of negotiations to work out a series of compromises, first in the Senate budget bill and more recently in the report of the Conference Committee that made this weekend’s votes possible. Even after conferees came to agreement, Senate leaders set out to make sure that the Governor would be willing to sign off on the agreement, given his previously stated concerns about the process of implementing reforms. They needed a clear message from the Governor and they finally got it late on Friday. The last hurdle to the budget bill and Medicaid expansion came from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on Saturday and was promptly resolved in the final bill that passed both chambers.  

I am greatly encouraged, knowing that at several points along the way, it was bipartisan leadership that kept us moving in the right direction. We owe a lot to Sen. Stosch, Sen. Hanger and Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee that developed strong language for reforms that wouldn’t slow down implementation of the expansion. Sen. Howell and Democrats in both houses stayed focused on reaching an agreement that would be acceptable to their colleagues across the aisle and with the Governor. Medicaid expansion is now a broadly bipartisan issue and we thank everyone who has helped make this a reality in Virginia. 

Governor McDonnell still needs to sign the legislation, after which the state must begin the hard work of reforming Medicaid and implementing various aspects of the Affordable Care Act.  We will work to keep you informed about the progress toward Medicaid expansion and related Medicaid reforms.  

Let me close by saying thank you. You wrote numerous letters to the editors of your local papers, emailed the governor, and met and communicated with your Delegates and Senators. Your outspoken support was critical to their votes yesterday. Thank you for your faith and witness in support of the thousands of low-income people who need health care here in the Commonwealth.