Blow the Trumpet in Zion

The first lectionary reading appointed for Ash Wednesday will come from The Hebrew Scripture: Joel 2:1-2,12-17.

It begins:

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near--
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!

It is anticipated that, this week, Congress will end negotiations on the budget. Republicans have proposed that billions be cut from vital programs that millions of Americans depend on. Meanwhile, tax-cuts for the richest will be protected.

The good folks at MoveOn.Org (their founder was a college classmate of our youngest daughter) have sounded the trumpet and sounded the alarm, calling us to pay attention to the specifics of what those cuts will mean, exactly, for many Americans.

When you read the list below, there can be no denying that "a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and think darkness" fast approaches.

Top 10 Worst Things about the Republicans' Immoral Budget

The Republican budget would:

1. Destroy 700,000 jobs, according to an independent economic analysis.

2. Zero out federal funding for National Public Radio and public television.

3. Cut $1.3 billion from community health centers—which will deprive more than 3 million low-income people of health care over the next few months.

4. Cut nearly a billion dollars in food and health care assistance to pregnant women, new moms, and children.

5. Kick more than 200,000 children out of pre-school by cutting funds for Head Start.

6. Force states to fire 65,000 teachers and aides, dramatically increasing class sizes, thanks to education cuts.

7. Cut some or all financial aid for 9.4 million low- and middle-income college students.

8. Slash $1.6 billion from the National Institutes of Health, a cut that experts say would "send shockwaves" through cancer research, likely result in cuts to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research, and cause job losses.

9. End the only federal family planning program, including cutting all federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood to support cancer screenings and other women's health care.

10. Send 10,000 low-income veterans into homelessness by cutting in half the number of veterans who get housing vouchers this year.

I trust this list will catch your attention.

I'm willing to bet that there isn't a demographic on this list that doesn't include you or someone you know.

I hope MoveOn.Org inspires you to move your eyes away from watching Charlie Sheen's very public meltdown, the latest update on Lindsay Lohan's rehabilitation process, and wondering whatever will happen to whatever contestant on American Idol.

It's time to pay attention to what is going on in this country.

It's time to pick up the phone and call your representative or senator in Congress and register your outrage.

And, if you're not outraged, you need to pay closer attention.

Someone is blowing the trumpet. Someone is sounding the alarm. Someone is calling our attention to the immorality that is written into almost every line of the proposed budget.

It's important to listen to the call. It's important to pay attention. It's important to take some action.

Before we're all covered in sack cloth and ashes.

I'll let Joel and Moses have the last word:

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.

Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.

Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep.

Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,
`Where is their God?'"