Churches pray and petition Congress for the Gulf Coast

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>In a 'National Day for the Gulf,'
>faith communities seek healing 

National Day for the Gulf Centered around Prayer for Long-term 
Healing and  delivery of faith petition calling for Congressional 
response to oil spill

See: http://www.ncccusa.org/news/101004gulfhealing.html
 
Washington, October 4. 2010 -- Churches from California to Florida 
particip ated yesterday in a day of prayer, reflection and healing 
for the Gulf Coas t while people of faith joined together in a 
petition calling upon Congress  to address the Gulf oil spill.
 
The day of prayer, "Seeking God's Grace for the Gulf," organized by 
the Nat ional Council of Churches, was a response to the 4.9 million 
barrels of o il that spilled into the Gulf earlier this year. The day 
was dedicated to r ecognizing the challenges that are plaguing the 
Gulf Coast and spend time,  in prayer, focusing on long-term healing 
and also to recognizing the need f or Congress to respond to this 
crisis.

Beverly Walton of Beneficent Congregational Church in Rhode Island 
helped o rganize her church's efforts. "I wrote an article for our 
church newsletter  with some of the startling facts about the spill 
and sat outside of the sa nctuary asking everyone to sign the oil 
spill petition," said Walton.

The oil spill petition is meant to stress to Congress the importance 
of thi s national disaster and to ensure that everything possible is 
done to help  the Gulf Coast recover and prevent anything like this 
from ever happening a gain. The NCC, its denominations and interfaith 
partners have collected mor e than 2200 signatures from people of 
faith calling on Congress to respond  to the oil spill in a moral and 
faithful way.

"The well may be capped but the damage and struggle will take time to 
overc ome," said DeWayne Davis, Domestic Policy Analyst for the 
Episcopal Church.  "Our brothers and sisters in the Gulf Coast need 
to know that Congress and  America will not forget what has happened. 
It is not about politics or the  elections, it is about helping 
communities and creation."

"Since the beginning of the oil spill, congregations and pastors 
around the  country have been in touch with us asking how they can 
help," said Cassand ra Carmichael, Director of the NCC's Washington 
Office and Eco-Justice Prog ram. "People of faith are deeply 
committed to helping one another in times  of need and praying for 
healing and renewal is an important part of the pat h to 
recovery."     
 
See earlier story at 
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/100928seekinggodsgrace.htm l.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of 
Christ  in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical 
cooperation among Chri stians in the United States. The NCC's 36 
member faith groups -- from a wid e spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, 
Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African  American and Living Peace 
churches -- include 45 million persons in more t han 100,000 local 
congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 
646-853-4212 ( cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org