Healing Ends

 

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming

Traditional German carol, pub.1599

Personal Photo December 13, 2020

Asking hard questions seems to characterize the advent season this year.

“Are we there yet?” Is a common memory from the backseats of family trips.  It painfully recurs in the prayers of advent and now within the tragic context of a pandemic.  We desperately look for times and events that signal an “end”!  The vaccine distribution is one answer to those prayers but the “end of the pandemic” is still remote for most of us.

 

There is another related advent question,  “Will we receive  the gift?”  This question now finds its parallel in the issue of vaccination acceptance.   The underlying issue to any acceptance is “trust” in others and and their work.  Even those on the “science side” of this question know about the uncertainty of results.  

So during this time of prolonged waiting and questioning in this world, I find again that healing is not an event.   It is not the “hard stop” of vaccination, but a process of living with uncertainty in all its forms.  It comes in small bits of understanding and acceptance.  It even comes in the midst of a winter of grieving.

At this time of advent may we all remember and receive the blessings that surprise us like a rose blooming in the middle of winter.

Marvin

References

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming Carol

https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Lo_How_a_Rose_Eer_Blooming/

Hage, M. L. (2012). Awaiting “Good News”.

http://healingagents.blogspot.co.ke/2012/12/awaiting-good-news.html

Hage, M. L. (2018). Living the Dream.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2018/12/living-dream.html

Reading Together

And if we learn from this moment to be better together, 

we won’t just endure this crisis. We will thrive. 

Vivek Murthy, March 2020

"Keep close. You can't understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. 

You have to get close."

Bryan Stevenson’s grandmother in “Just Mercy”

In the past, I read predominantly in the growing mountain of professional literature.  It required close attention to and knowledge of the material.   It was focused reading to bring the best and newest evidence to the pressing questions of diagnosis and prescription.  In my lifetime, this became facilitated by powerful computer searching tools and electronic media.

Now, my reading is frequently recommended by others and requires reading as a basis of the conversation that follows.  The communication is about the many ways the same story/information is understood and applied.  

Here is one example from my church community.  We began using the narrative lectionary that organizes how specific stories meet the larger narratives in the Bible.  This is a four year curriculum of directed faith community reading.  It has been a wonderful gift to see how the narrative connects to our individual lives and encourages all of us to struggle together.

An example was joining another community and reading “Just Mercy” together.  This was a broader group that we were able to have conversations around the many stories reported by Bryan Stevenson.  These reflective times allowed me to form relationships and learn together even at a distance.

Thanks for communities that practice reading together.

Marvin

References: 

Sharma, D.  Reading and Technology Reading And Technology In 2020: Why Writers Are Bypassing Bookstores To Find Fans And Community? 

http://www.businessworld.in/article/Reading-and-Technology-in-2020-Why-writers-are-bypassing-bookstores-to-find-fans-and-community-/07-10-2020-328864/

Murthy, V. H. (2020). Together : the healing power of human connection in a sometimes lonely world (First edition. ed.). New York, NY: Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Narrative Lectionary

https://www.workingpreacher.org/home-narrative-lectionary

Stevenson, B. (2014). Just mercy : a story of justice and redemption (First edition. ed.). New York: Spiegel & Grau.

Hage, M. L. (2018). Healing Together.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2018/01/

Hage, M. L. (2020). Our Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/05/our-healing.html

Public & Personal Healing

Dr. Özlem Türeci and Dr. Uğur Şahin

 Covid Virus Pandemic Map - November 13, 2020

On Monday, November 9, 2020, there was a very big announcement that gave the world a sense of hope - the first results from a unique vaccine trial..  The back story of the “dream science couple” vaccine researchers is inspiring as we heard about the long personal preparation for their rapid innovative response to the pandemic.  This is an immigrant story from Germany.

Earlier this month, we were informed about individual response differences to the disease. - how our individual genetic codes the responses to the virus infection. We are beginning to identify specific individual risks to the Covid virus. 

The bad news is that the pandemic is reaching new records of cases and deaths.  There is a race to approve, produce, and distribute limited amounts of vaccines.  The efforts by teams around the world will continue to search for our best responses - public and personal.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story,

Marvin

References

Herper, M.  Statnews

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/09/covid-19-vaccine-from-pfizer-and-biontech-is-strongly-effective-early-data-from-large-trial-indicate/

Oltermann, P The Guardian

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/ugur-sahin-and-ozlem-tureci-german-dream-team-behind-vaccine

Meffre, E. Iwasaki A.  Interferon deficiency can lead to severe COVID

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03070-1

Coronavirus Outbreak

https://www.bloomberg.com/coronavirus?sref=tT4nCvWQ

Hage, M. L. (2020). M & M - “Who’s Presenting?”.

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/03/m-m-whos-presenting.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR2k95e9LN4lldPtQSH6XcxrP6zHa1k36bzFPyw8iDmZ2Uq_z7SMArn7pCw

Hage, M. L. (2020). Healing Faith.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/06/healing-faith.html

Hage, M. L. (2016). Invited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/01/invited.html

Healing Intersections

 

Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, Personal Photo 2012

“Science, in the form of innovative technologies, increasingly views the patient as an amalgam of dysfunctional parts, while the arts, since time immemorial, have probed the meaning of being human. The former focuses on curing a disease; the latter aims to heal a human being brimming with uncertainty, discomfort, and dread.”

Bernard Lown, M.D. in the forward of Scales to Scalpels

Our lives get compartmentalized and fragmented.  How can we find meaning and bring these components together particularly during this pandemic?

A recent novel by Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent kingdom, tells a story of the intersections of race, gender, faith and science.  It is a provocative tale of the cross cultural life of a Ghanaian immigrant to the southern town of Huntsville, Alabama.    Even though this is a fictional story, the protagonist’s story resonates with the real life of the author.  It is a captivating and beautifully written novel.  

In a different kind and earlier report, Lisa Wong, tells the true story of the Longwood Symphony in Scales to Scalpels.  This documentary explores the many facets of music and healing.  For the author, it is a kind of memoir of how this organization began, grew and has become  essential to the members of the orchestra.  It is an inspiring look into the souls of the “medical musicians”.

Most recently with the pandemic the world has been introduced to the National Virtual Medical Orchestra.  We get to hear some beautiful music and see the the “medical musicians”.  This has become a way of finding healing at the intersection of these disciplines as reported by the PBS NewsHour.  

So here is a template for each of us as we are confronted by the increasing stresses of a pandemic and social chaos.  We need to confront the chaos with the healing arts that have been given to each of us and share with others.  If you don’t like classical music, you might want to try Quarantine Blues - you will feel better after listening!

Marvin

References

Gyasi, Y. (2020). Transcendent kingdom (First edition. ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Wong, L. (2012). Scales to Scalpels: Doctors Who Practice the Healing Arts of Music and Medicine: The Story of the Longwood Symphony Orch. Open Road Media.

National Virtual Medical Orchestra

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/09/900523029/meet-the-medical-professionals-playing-classical-music-together-online

Quarantine Blues

Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra & Wynton Marsalis

Hage, M. L. (2013). Healing Music

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/05/healing-music.html

Hage, M. L. (2019). New Year Prescription

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-year-prescription.html

Healing Disconnections

 

 

Prison Cell of Nelson Mandela

Robben Island, South Africa

Personal Photo, 2012

                  

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Selma, Alabama      

Personal Photo, 2020

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 29:39 (NIV)

Africa, the cradle of humanity, has given America a priceless gift

—the language of Ubuntu.”

Mark Mathabane,

How do we heal our disconnections?  Can ideas of unity prevail over the ideas of power and privilege?  We need big ideas that result in resolution.  We need courage to cross the rivers that deeply divide us.

One such unifying and powerful idea that has provided a framework of healing responses is “ubuntu”.  It has roots in South African Zulu culture.   It was the underlying idea of the transition from apartheid to a more inclusive society in South Africa.  How can we learn and implement this idea?  

We need cross-cultural reporters like Mark Mathabane, but we also know what ”ubuntu” looks like in the lives of Rep. John Lewis and C.T. Vivian.  Their works are described as “love in action”!  

We need to “see” what connects us.  Together we can pursue connections within our best faith traditions and its music.  We will find our lives filled with purpose, meaning and beauty.  Our stories and songs of unity have and will reveal that healing!  Check out the song “Glory” from the movie “Selma” that reveals what “ubuntu” looks like in America.

Marvin

References

Mathabane, M. (2018) The Lessons of Ubuntu: How an African Philosophy Can Inspire Racial Healing in America (p. 235). Skyhorse. Kindle Edition. 

Bumley, L (2020) John Lewis and C.T. Vivian belonged to a long tradition of religious leaders in the civil rights struggle.

https://generocity.org/philly/2020/07/20/john-lewis-and-c-t-vivian-belonged-to-a-long-tradition-of-religious-leaders-in-the-civil-rights-struggle/

Hage, M. L. (2012). Rx Ubuntu.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/04/rx-ubuntu.html

Common and John Legend, “Glory” from the movie Selma, 2014

Healing Images

God’s First Covenant

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, 

and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  

Genesis 9:13 (NIV)

Staff of Aesculapius

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”   So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

Numbers 21:8-9 (NIV)

In a time of chaos and pandemics, we all are looking for either old or new prescriptions for healing.   Where will we find relief?  When will it end?   Can images promise healing?

Walter Brueggemann and Thomas Wright present biblical responses to the current pandemic, but the threat is even bigger than just the disease!   The economic and social effects are severe in their own dimensions.  People around the world are frightened and grieving.  I was left with the conclusion that the essence of the pandemic responses are ones of faith.  

The added reality were the horrible images of death delivered by the hands of others.  Those images seemed to change everything.  Whole populations found something they were willing to die for and walls of separation and distance began to disappear.

Historically, we have seen the pentecostal moments of communities of faith (Azusa Street Revival) and it could be argued that we are seeing one again.  The movement is still not completely defined, but there is no question it is a time of seismic shifts in our thinking.

Can we expect healing?  My answer is “Yes” and one that has been promised to all of us.  We have had to look hard at what has wounded us as communities and individuals.  More importantly, we are faced with the question “Will we live into the healing promises of the images?”  We have seen glimpses of a deeper healing that is more than just a cure for a viral infection.

Thanks be to the God who hears and sees the suffering of his children.

Marvin

References:

Brueggemann W (2020) Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Times of Loss, Grief and Uncertainty.  Cascade d

Wright, T (2020) God and the Pandemic. Zondervan

Brooks, D (2020) America is facing 5 Epic Crises All at Once

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/us-coronavirus-protests.html

Hage, M. L. (2014). The Arc of Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-arc-of-healing.html

Azuza Street Revival

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azusa_Street_Revival

Hage, M. L. (2013). Reconciliation and Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/12/reconciliation-and-healing.html

Shalal, A. After George Floyd's death, a groundswell of religious activism

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-usa-religion/after-george-floyds-death-a-groundswell-of-religious-activism-idUSKBN23G1FSweew

Healing Faith

“The Medical Center and Women’s Hospital” Kemnitz 1967

University of Michigan Graduation Gift

  

 Victor C. Vaughn   

Francis Collins

God is our refuge and strength,

    an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

    and the mountains quake with their surging.

Selah

Psalm 46: 1-3 (NIV)

I just finished a very difficult book, John Barry’s “The Great Influenza”.   It is an epic story that details a megadisaster in this country and around the world.  It is a document of the world at war with each other and an unknown pathogen.   It is a document of failures.

The logical question would be “Why is it a best seller”?  “Why has it been rewritten, updated and republished?”. 

My answer, it is also a document of the dedication of medical scientists searching for the cause, preventive measures and effective therapy.  The author tells the story of the “responders” and their missions and dedication.  It is a story that connected to my educational heritage at the University of Michigan.  It is story of the leadership of William Welch from John Hopkins and Victor Vaughn from the University of Michigan.

So how do we read this story today?  Will we “win” or will we find that the struggle is the real story?  Will we remember the losses?  Will our failures lead to new dedication to address the unequal distribution of suffering and death?  Will we learn deeper lessons of faith and healing?   Who will be the person(s) of faith that will lead and inspire us?  Is there another “Michigan answer?”

To be continued,

Marvin

References:

Barry, J. M. (2005). The great influenza: the epic story of the deadliest plague in history. Penguin.

Dr. Lewis — Pathologist gave life working to save lives

https://bayviewcompass.com/dr-lewis-—-pathologist-gave-life-working-to-save-lives/

Navy and 'Great Influenza' Changed the World

https://navyreads.blogspot.com/2020/02/navy-and-great-influenza-changed-world.html

NIH Director Francis Collins Wins $1.3M Templeton Prize

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/may/francis-collins-nih-wins-templeton-prize-biologos-genome.html

Hage, M. L. (2014). The Big Why.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-big-why.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). Burdens and Benefits

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/01/burdens-and-benefits.html

Our Healing

Map of the COVID-19 verified number of infected per capita as of 6 May 2020.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: 

The old has gone, the new is here!   

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

There is no disagreement that we all are desperately seeking healing during this pandemic.  It seems like it is the only thing that unites us. 

I just finished two recently published books that addresses our health.  The first, “Together” by Vivek Murphy addresses the disease of “loneliness” that has been endemic in the United States.  The author was the 19th Surgeon General who looked for threats to our health like Surgeon Generals before him - think of smoking or vaping.  He surgically identifies the many faces of loneliness and then describes the efforts of reconnecting people and communities.

The second book, “Universal Christ” by Richard Rohr addresses a historical split in the Christian church that has kept us apart from each other and our spiritual healing.   He makes a strong case for a new unity in our world - a healing of our separatist and individualistic culture.  He sees “Christ” as the open arms of the church to the world.

For me, these two books capture the the paradox of the pathology of this pandemic.  We are physically separated but spending more time connecting and reconnecting with each other and our communities.  We are fearful of others but at the same time want to touch and be touched.  We want to return to a nostalgic past and at the same moment long for a new future.

For me, the healing prescription is “remembering forward”.   It is an acknowledgement that “opening up” will not be looking back to the way “it used to be”.   It is imagining and being a new creation.  The church is a critical response to this deep desire for healing.  The church knows, lives and shares the story of this healing we seek.   As individuals we can tell that story.

One such personal report of  Covid19 was made by Wynton Marsalis on the death of his father, Ellis,   He shares and honors his father’s life and plays his beautiful trumpet.  It is worth a listen to both his words and the  music.  If you listen you will hear echos of the words of Vivek Murphy and Richard Rohr.  This is what healing looks and sounds like.

Marvin

References:

Map of the COVID-19 verified number of infected per capita as of 6 May 2020.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-06/u-s-infections-rise-1-9-below-week-s-average-virus-update

Murthy, V. H. (2020). Together : the healing power of human connection in a 

sometimes lonely world (First edition. ed.). New York, NY: Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Rohr, R. (2019). Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe. Convergent Books.

Hage, M. L. (2012). Vocation & Retirement.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/07/vocation-retirement.html

"He had a world view." Wynton Marsalis on late father

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wynton-marsalis-on-late-father-60-minutes-2020-04-12/

Watch Wynton Marsalis’ moving musical tribute to his father, pianist Ellis Marsalis

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=258911398617788

Healing Blessings 2020

Easter Sunrise - 2019 

Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Blessed be the Lord,

    who daily bears us up;

    God is our salvation. Selah

Psalm 68:19 (NRSV) 

For me, this year’s Lenten season has had a monastic character that has slowed me down.    We all searched for comfort.  I like others found it in words and music.   Take a listen to Sissel singing with the Tabernacle Choir.

We also searched for answers to existential questions  -  What does it all mean?  How do we redeem our days?  How do we reconnect?  What about our plans?  How long will this last?

For me, this Easter answers are found in new kinds of creativity, research ideas that ask hard questions, new directions found in young lives, the rededication of older lives to their vocations and the blessings of remembering and reconnecting with friends, family and community. 

That is what Easter 2020 looks like to me.  I pray that all our lives will experience this newness that has been promised to the world and that God’s Grace continue to finds its way into our traumatized lives. 

May this Easter lead us all to see the sunrise Light of a new beauty in this world.

Shalom,

Marvin

References

Sissel - Slow Down ft. The Tabernacle Choir (Live at Temple Square)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqwSF7Wms-0

Sissel Talks: «Slow Down»

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fuBfJgXloI

Hage, M. L. (2019). The Saturday of Light.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-saturday-of-light.html