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

Comfort & Mercy

USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy

“Tell us please, what treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?"....I met his gaze and I did not blink. "Words of comfort," I said to my father.” 

― Abraham Verghese in “Cutting for Stone”

“These clinical moments lay bare the normative and moral work of physicians, endeavors that have historically provided the foundation for sustained therapeutic activity between patients and physicians. They also reveal a larger truth that if the arc of medicine is to ultimately bend toward healing, mercy will be its fulcrum.” 

- TP Daaleman

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

The ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy have sailed and arrived at the ports of need.  What are we to understand of how their mission will live into their names?  What do we understand about those names and the missions of healing in so many places of need?  

“Healing Comfort” is not comfortable. There are risky and vulnerable acts that "sail" directly into the threat and stand with those who are both infected and inflicted with suffering.  It is an act of Love.  We have seen it before and we know it when we see it.  It is found in places and activities that we usually label as the “arts”.  For Christians, it is found in the symbol of the “red cross” on the sides of both these ships.

“Healing Mercy” is not about what we do.  It is about what we receive.  It is free.  It requires an openness and receptivity that is not a common human behavior.  It is part of the same reality of God’s Grace.  It is a particular reality  during Lent as we come to more deeply understand and celebrate new realities in our lives.  

We have stories to tell about how our lives will be changed by these two prophetic words of Hope.

Thanks be to the God of Comfort and Mercy.

Marvin

References:

USNS Mercy, USNS Comfort: 2020 COVID-19 Deployment (26 March 2020)

https://navylive.dodlive.mil/2020/03/26/usns-mercy-usns-comfort-2020-covid-19-deployment/

Verghese, A. (2010). Cutting for Stone (1st ed.). Vintage Books.

Daaleman TP. A piece of my mind. The quality of mercy: will you be my doctor?.

JAMA.  312(18):1863-4, 2014 Nov 12.

Hage, M. L. (2015). The Challenge.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-challenge.html

M & M - "Who's Presenting?"

Morbidity & Mortality Conference 

Dr. Li Wenliang  - First Responder Hero

One of the great traditions of medicine has been the “Morbidity and Mortality” conference.  It is practiced in a number of ways within the profession.  The underlying belief is that suffering and deaths always have something to teach us - there is always learning to be applied to the care of the living.

Some of the “rules” of the conferences are careful choice of the cases and careful chronologic presentation of the specifics and timing of medical care responses.  It must be openly honest to be effective.  It is performed by a community.  The best outcomes are specific changes applied to the delivery of care in the “next case”.  It abhors defensive responses.  It is a difficult tradition but at its best it is a healing event.

There is always a key question, “Who is presenting?” That strikes fear into the heart of a resident physician who knows it is not just an academic exercise.   In our current situation it seems like that could be anyone of us.   We will be judged by how honest we are and what we learn.

So what have we learned so far?

1. We are connected by the ubiquity of suffering and death.
2. We have servant leaders who respond with creativity and courage. 
3. Resilience and Resistance are part of the courage response.
4. Spiritual health care is a critical ongoing response.

Here is a “senior attending” comment by David Brooks: The Moral Meaning of the Plague.  I am sure we will learn more and be able to put names and places on what we are living.

Shalom,

Marvin

References:

South China Morning Post

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3049561/dr-li-wenliang-who-was-he-and-how-did-he-become-coronavirus-hero

The morbidity and mortality conference: the delicate nature of learning from error.

Academic Medicine. 77(10):1001-6, 2002 Oct.

To the Point: Integrating Patient Safety Education Into the Obstetrics and Gynecology Undergraduate Curriculum. 

Journal of Patient Safety. 16(1):e39-e45, March 2020.

Hage, M. L. (2013). Resistance/Resilience

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/08/resistanceresilience.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). God’s Grace.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/10/gods-grace.html 

Brooks, D. The Moral Meaning of the Plague

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/opinion/coronavirus-meaning.html

Healing History Revisited

Tuskegee Museum, Tuskegee University

Emanuel A.M.E. Church

Charleston, South Carolina

Equal Justice Memorial

Montgomery, Alabama

We just returned from a short road trip.  We wanted to learn about our own history as a nation.  We wanted to see how our personal stories connected to the larger stories of our communities.  We wanted to be surprised!   We needed real news that we saw with our own eyes.  We were not disappointed - See the web “Travel References”.

My lasting impression is that there are young voices who are telling the stories and are searching for healing.  Healing happens in small acts of kindness as well as the large memorials and museums.  What continues to impress me is the power of the visual arts and the voices of the Black churches.  These are places that tell the bigger stories of all our lives.  How come I didn’t’ know the history in my current community?

Like other histories, the real tragedy is not telling or remembering. These histories focus our vision on who we can be.

Marvin

Travel References:

Legacy Museum - Tuskegee University

https://www.tuskegee.edu/libraries/legacy-museum

Hiztorical Vision Productions

http://www.hiztoricalvp.org

Equal Justice Initiative

https://museumandmemorial.eji.org

Red Clay Tours - “Fight for Rights Tour”

https://www.redclaytourism.com

Zucchino, D. (2020). Wilmington’s lie : the murderous coup of 1898 and the rise of white supremacy (First edition. ed.). New York: Atlantic Monthly Press

References:

Hage, M. L. (2017). Healing History

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2017/10/healing-history.html

Hage, M. L. (2016). Healing Hate

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/06/healing-hate.html

Hage, M. (2015). Well Being.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/06/well-being.html

Hage, M. L. (2015). Confrontation, Conversation and Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/01/confrontation-conversation-and-healing.html

Hage, M. L. (2016). The Search for Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-search-for-healing.html

Grow Up

“Be Attitudes” Quilt

 by Linda Huizen & Nancy Halvorsen 2015*

“to be human is to embody a huge paradox: 

the paradox of having simultaneously 

to accept and to reject suffering”

Scott Samuelson

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. 

You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. 

Live out your God-created identity.

Live generously and graciously toward others, 

the way God lives toward you.”

Matthew 5:48 (MSG)

Scott Samuelson in his book, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering describes the philosophical responses to suffering.  It has been instructive to see how my life has been mostly in the “fix it”  and  “face it” responses.  The catalyst for my responses has been a competitive culture of ideas and technology.  But has this competition been the source of success or an illusion?  Is it what unites us or separates us?  At its worst, is it how we define our enemies?

For my life in medicine, the enemy was suffering and death.  My work as practitioner was clear from the admonitions of Sir William Osler, the “father of modern medicine”.  However, most of my practice was a kind of competitive resistance that understood the limits of the struggle.  It was a resistance built from the hope found in the larger stories of my faith.

This competitive resistance life is what is so clearly outlined in the beatitudes.  They require continued practice. They promise a kind of beauty in our lives that we would all like to have!  They are a life long challenge.

Marvin

References

*Personal Photo taken in 2016, Hope College, Holland, Michigan

Samuelson, Scott. Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering (p. 7). University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2013). Suffering.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/02/suffering.html 

Hage, M. L. (2013). Resistance/Resilience.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/08/resistanceresilience.html

Hage, M. L. (2019). Suffering Revisited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/10/suffering-revisited.html

Finding Joy

Japanese Kintsugi Ceramic Art

The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. 

The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. 

The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. 

The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. 

God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. 

The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.   

Psalm 19:7-9  (The Message)

There is a common idea that we can find joy in ourselves and our accomplishments.  It is more likely that we will find joy in the lives of others whom we love.  This idea is expressed in the word mudita.*   It is a good but not common word in our Western culture.

This last week, it happened to me with the fulfillment of the dreams of grandchildren.  It was a mudita moment when I witnessed them getting good news.  I never had the dreams that they have, but I was filled with joy by being a FaceTime participant.  

I have written about this kind of experience previously from a professional perspective but never had the words to describe it!  Mudita happened frequently in the delivery room with “awe” and “ah” responses of the new parents and those present.  It was a sacred moment that I was invited to witness and sometimes assist. They were mudita moments.

The harder question comes when the news is hard and fills us with fear, loss and uncertainty.  What word or action describes our response?  Is there a way to put the disappointments and loss back together?  One answer is found in the Japanese art of kintsugi**.  The artist takes the broken valued ceramic pieces and puts the pieces together with a gold adhesive that results in a new/old vase even more beautiful and valuable than the original!

Thanks be to God for both the mudita and kintsugi moments in our lives.

Marvin

References

*”Mudita” was introduced to me by the keynote presentation at the Calvin University January Series by Amber Warners.  You can listen to it at:

https://livestream.com/calvin-university/tjsaudio/videos/200567119

Hage, M. L. (2013). Joy

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/06/joy.html

**”Kintsugi” was introduced to me in the book, “Faithful and Fractured” by

Proeschold-Bell, R. J., & Byassee, J. (2018).  

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2018/09/healing-clergy.html