Willow Brook Christian Communities

Click here to download the Reflections Christmas 2011 newsletter »

Reflections is published quarterly by Willow Brook Christian Communities
Editor: Teri Ryan

Have a question about Reflections?

Contact the editor, Teri Ryan.
Phone: (740) 201-5640
Fax: (740) 201-5740
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Inside the Christmas 2011 issue:

• A Christmas Prayer by Larry Harris, CEO
  
• Wayne's Trail
  
• It's a Matter of Balance
  
• Beyond Golden Celebration
  
• Gifts of Love - Memorial Contributions- August 23 - November 20,2011
  
• Village Director named Administrator of Year
  
• Five Perfect Scores!

A Christmas Prayer
by Larry Harris, CEO

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

                                                      John Wesley Work, Jr.

      A tender Christmas call sweeps across the land, imploring faithful pilgrims to clear room in their hearts for the sweet child of Bethlehem.  The yuletide appeal has criss-crossed the universe over two millennia as a steady, unchanging plea for peace and justice, and a chance at redemption from the calamitous fate we all are due.
     Cradled in the manger of an ancient Judean barn was our last and only hope, a living testimony that at long last love had come into the world.  Eternity was bisected that night.  An era of light and promise was cleaved from the age of darkness and despair.  Go, tell it on the mountain!
     Long before trembling shepherds knelt in awe, and curious wise men journeyed from afar with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the divine birth was foretold by the prophets of old.  The baby lying in that feeding crib was a promise kept.  That promise became the man Jesus who, with spittle and mud, gave sight to the blind; he made the crippled whole with a simple healing touch; and he forgave unconditionally a woman of the night who washed his feet with her tears.
     Ask that broken woman about Jesus.  She could tell you that the good news of Christ cleanses the sin-stained soul of even a hint of defiling grime.  It lifts the downtrodden and humbles the proud, but only if they allow themselves to be brought low.  A heart must be open to the call – otherwise Christmas is nothing more than a season of pretty lights and presents.
     And so, as one of the forgiven, I send to you a warm heartfelt greeting this Christmas.

      Christmas 2011 is a milestone of sorts for me.  This is my fifth bonus Christmas, my fifth Christmas that should not have been, my fifth post-cancer Christmas.  I returned home from my final surgery on Christmas Eve-Eve 2006. My masked malignancy was discovered by fluke, and I narrowly dodged a bullet.  Things so easily could have swung the other way.  I count each day now as a gift, an undue bonus if you will, for I know I am living on time stolen from a future that should not have been mine.  For as long as I live, Christmas will mark the anniversary of my deliverance.    
     Five is a big number for us survivors.  If you can make it to five with no recurrence, you stand a pretty good chance of finishing the race.
     Still, I never take anything for granted these days, for I realize how quickly it all could be snatched away.  Life is all we have ever known, so it seems eternal.  But you and I both are living on borrowed time, and we never know when the loan will come due.
     Even though there now are seven billion of us packed on Spaceship Earth, a single human life is precious and downright incomprehensible.  The odds of your being here are improbable in the extreme.  You won the lottery at conception.  Of the millions and millions of possible gene combinations that could have come about, it was yours that fused, and you emerged.  The chance of your coming into existence was less than your now being struck by lightning.  But you beat out legions of potential humans, and here you are.
     We are the lucky ones.  So let’s embrace life and recognize it for the miracle it is.

     On Christmas morning, in the tradition of the worshipful shepherds of long ago, you will find me on my knees – figuratively, if not literally – humbled and bowed in gratitude.  I will send up a Christmas prayer of thanksgiving.  I will express thanks that I have been granted yet one more year with the ones I love.  I can hardly believe it, yet here I am.  Thank you dear God, thank you.
     And I will give thanks for the child that came into the world two thousand and eleven years ago.  Oh my goodness.  What if he had never been born?  Where would we be?  What would become of us?  We are incapable of navigating eternity by ourselves.  Thank you dear God, thank you.

Click here to download the Reflections Autumn 2011 newsletter »

Reflections is published quarterly by Willow Brook Christian Communities
Editor: Teri Ryan

Have a question about Reflections?

Contact the editor, Teri Ryan.
Phone: (740) 201-5640
Fax: (740) 201-5740
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Inside the Autumn 2011 issue:

• Voted number one again!
  
• Who Speaks for the Poor? by Larry Harris, CEO
  
• Willow Brook Extravaganza
  
• The Chef's Table
  
• Janet Yoder brings International Perspective
  
• To Honor and Remember - Memorial Contributions- August 22, 2011
  
• The Music is now Over the Mezzanine
  
• Raise High the Roof Beams
  

Who Speaks for the Poor?
by Larry Harris, CEO

     Warren Buffett is my favorite obscenely-rich American. With a net worth of $50 billion, he rarely steps in front of a television camera without blabbing the uncomfortable truth that his federal tax rate is a small fraction of his secretary’s, his housekeeper’s,and probably yours.
     This summer he wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times where he flat-out declared that Congress coddles the rich. How, he asks, can our elected representatives in clear conscience cut his taxes while pulling funds from food banks and free clinics?
     I thought the talking heads on Fox were going to explode as they jumped into overdrive in their attempts to discredit the benevolent billionaire. After all, this guy’s an insider who’s blowing the cover on the game. Thank you, Mr. Buffett, for stepping forward to proclaim a truth.
    
     Tax cuts or not, ministries for the poor are under assault across this nation. For proof, look no further than right here at Willow Brook. Ohio’s budget for the next two years kicked in this summer, and the news is not good for the poor we are striving to serve. We anticipate losing half a million dollars Medicaid payments in our two nursing homes for the care we give 38 people who are out of money.
     In addition, we are braced to lose several hundred thousand more from anticipated cuts in Medicare that will take effect this fall. Other nursing homes also are suffering big hits, and I fear that some may close.
     Others likely will stop serving destitute patients altogether, in effect cutting the oldest and poorest among us “out of the system.”How tragic! Where will they go? What will they do? We’ve always run our nursing homes above state standards, even with the knowledge that Medicaid would not cover 100 percent of the costs. Our buildings are nicer than Medicaid pays for. We hire more housekeepers than the minimum – that’s why our nursing homes don’t stink. In our culinary and nursing departments, we have always delivered above baseline standards, knowing that some of the costs would not be covered. Those were conscious choices we were happy to make.
     But the cuts imposed now are beyond any shortfall we have ever experienced. This is serious business.
     Yet these cuts are no surprise. Our Statehouse politicians are simply delivering what Ohioans voted for. And given the miserly mood that is sweeping both The Statehouse and Congress, I fear that these cuts are only a down payment on additional pain to come.
     Things don’t have to be this way. Budgets are about choices. They are moral documents that reflect values, so let’s listen to what they are telling us: Millionaires and billionaires are dished phenomenal tax cuts; rich corporations legally move operations offshore to a post office box in Bermuda or the Caymans to dodge billions in U.S. taxes; our wretched wars have run up a tab now tallied in the multi-trillions (to say nothing of the precious lives lost – American, Afghan, and Iraqi).
     Yet ministries for our most vulnerable citizens are being de-funded willy-nilly. There, my friend, is the Cliffs Notes version of our values.

     So who speaks for the poor? Who will tell their stories? Who will rise up to champion their cause, cry with them in their hour of need, and see that basic human dignity is preserved for them? And, taking cues from the Wall Street crowd and military contractors, who will amass the millions of dirty dollars on behalf of our poor to curry favor with politicians?
     I fear that dark days lie ahead for America’s down and out. I can speak with authority and conviction about the cuts imposed upon nursing homes. It is bad, bad news, which leads me to offer you a simple word of advice: Don’t allow yourself to become old, sick, and poor at the same time. You may be less than pleased with your options.