Belonging

Personal Photo outside Nairobi, Kenya - 2018 

Personal photo, Hout Bay, South Africa - 2012

“I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. 

And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor's good name.”

Lord’s Day #43 - Heidelberg Catechism

It has been a long education!  I have had glimpses into the healing of disconnections, but never had the expansive view of “belonging” until I finished the book, “On Belonging” by Kim Samuel.  It is a comprehensive text on the theory, practice and history of building systems of connection in a world of loneliness.  I found a resonance with my experiences.

A central theme of the book, “On Belonging’ is the word, “dignity”.  The Swahili word would be “heshima”.  It is a “lifting up” and deep honoring of “others”.  I saw that lived out in my experiences in Kenya and my visit to South Africa.  In this country, this kind of belonging is central to the missions of Father Greg Boyle in Los Angeles. 

What “On Belonging” also describes is there are “dark sides” of this powerful idea.  Here is a quote:

“When we seek belonging in ways that do not acknowledge and honor our innate interconnectedness, we only stray further from wholeness, into the shadowlands.”  Kim Samuel

The Covid pandemic, like previous pandemics, has only exacerbated this reality.   This aspect of “long Covid” remains a challenge for the world.  There is work to do to bring The healing of Belonging to a suffering world.

Marvin

References

Heshima: Dignity for Children with Disabilities

https://heshima.org/

RCA House System

https://rcahousesystem.com/isibindi/

Lord’s Day 43 Heidelberg Catechism

Heidelberg, University. Heidelberg Catechism (Function). Kindle Edition.

Samuel, K. (2022). On belonging: Finding connection in an age of isolation. Abrams.  Quote p. 42 - Kindle

Sumuel Centre for Social Connectedness

https://www.socialconnectedness.org/about-us/

Hage, M. L. (2022). Healing Ecology

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2022/12/healing-ecology.html

Boyle, G. (2024). Cherished Belonging. Simon and Schuster.

Remembering from a Distance

"9/11 Memorial up close"

 “Statue of Liberty from a Distance”

“Maasai Flag”

Original Painting by James Cloutier

“9/11 Condolences from the Maasai”

Personal Photos - 3/2024 

There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, 

 because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 

Genesis 35:7 (NIV)

There are realities and “time as distance” is one of them.   The responses to this “time limit” are many but a common one is some kind of marker or memorial.  These memorials are not just related to individuals but also communities.  They leave messages or ideas that can last well beyond individual limits or visions.

I was reminded and reflected on our visit to New York City this last year and particularly the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.  The 9/11 Memorial best captures who and what was lost.  The Statue of Liberty, not far away,  reminded me of what we valued.  Both carry powerful reminders of who we are and how we are seen.  One image that connected these memorials for me was the “Condolences from the Maasai”.  It connected me  over time, geography and cultures to the motto of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité” as a gift to the world.

Both national sites mark important moments in our stories.   Both carry important ideas of who we are.  Memorial art helps us remember and tell our stories.  It speaks across oceans.  It speaks when we are speechless.  It sometimes is the only thing that connects us!

Thanks be to God who continues to speak to us through art.

Marvin

Reference

“A Maasai Village Responds to 9/11 with Compassion”

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/maasai-village-responds-911-compassion

Deedy, C. A. (2018). 14 Cows for America. Holiday House.

Naming the Silences

The Bronze Serpent” CA. 1600 Anonymous 

Grohmann Museum

Museum of Work

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Personal Photo

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 21:9 (NIV)

“Naming the Silences: God, Medicine and the Problem of Suffering” by Stanley Hauerwas described a universal dilemma that leaves us all reaching for words when confronted with suffering and death.   If you practiced medicine, you know the reverence we experience is the other side of awe that inspires and breathes life into our lives.  I continue to look for new reports of this healing.

The psychiatrist, Robert Klitzman, in his new book, “Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?: Medicine, Chaplains, and Healing the Whole Person” explores the changing intersections of faith and medical care.  It is a personal report, a survey of spiritual care and descriptions of what is missing in the delivery of health care.

“I still regret my silence, which has continued to haunt, embarrass, and disturb me. 

Yet it made me wonder about the roles of religion and spirituality in patients’ and families’ lives.”     

  Robert Klitzman

He specifically reports on the “silences” in hospitals with the Covid 19 pandemic and his personal loss with the 9/11 attack.  The absence of meaning and new uncertainties surrounding the care of these patients and families left physicians, nurses, administrators and chaplains speechless.  What also happened as described in this book is a deeper search for purpose and meaning in the work we have all been called to do.  

This book resonated with my experiences in clinical practice and describes the healing responses to the many faces of suffering.  Thanks for these new stories of healing.  

Marvin

References

Hauerwas, S. (1990). Naming the Silences: God, Medicine and the Problem of Suffering. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Hage, M. L. (2024). Reverence.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/01/reverence.html

Klitzman, R. L. (2024). Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?: Medicine, Chaplains, and Healing the Whole Person. Oxford University Press.

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

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

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing the Spaces between Us.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/07/healing-spaces-between-us.html

"Let the Dead Teach the Living"

President Jimmy Carter’s Funeral

Washington National Cathedral

January 9, 2025

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

The actions we take in life are described in many ancient languages and ideas.  I took Latin in the 10th grade believing it would be important for a career in medicine.  It seemed to be of minimal help until I was faced with a task of understanding the stories of maternal deaths in an Egyptian research study..  The latin phrase “mortui vivos docent”, “Let the dead teach the living” became the justification for that report.

The recent book by Delphine Horvilleur,. Living with Our Dead, describes her encounters with death as a rabbi.   She uses her cultural, language and historical knowledge to unlock the dilemmas of our lives and deaths.  She is deeply aware of our contemporary culture that seems to be “at a loss for words”.  Here is what she said:

“Finding the words and knowing the gestures is at the heart of my work.”

Delphine Horvilleur

This last week, the world was witness to two reports, eulogies, from the grave.  It was a powerful teaching moment with words of resurrection that brought hope and healing in these difficult times.

Thanks for the life and witness of President Jimmy Carter,

Marvin

References:

Kane TT, El-Kady AA, Saleh S, Hage ML, Stanback J, Potter L: Maternal Mortality in Giza, Egypt: Magnitude, Causes, and Prevention.  Studies in Family Planning. 23: 45-57. January/February 1992.

Horvilleur, Delphine. Living with Our Dead: On Loss and Consolation (p. 9). Europa Editions. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Pandemic Mourning.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/10/pandemic-mourning.html

Steve Ford reading his father’s eulogy to Jimmy Carter.  Washington National Cathedral 1/9/2025

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFPBdoE7RBQ&t=5s

Walter Mondale's son, Ted Mondale, eulogizes Jimmy Carter, Washington National Cathedral, 1/9/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9z4CfN2wO0

 

Healing Words Revisited

 Gift from members of the “Medico Brigada" 

January, 1996

“Then to love the sick, each and all of them, more than if my own body were at stake.”

Paracelsus (1493–1541)

“To Love is to Act” - “Aimer, c’est agir” 

Victor Hugo, May 19, 1885

It is interesting to look back at what you have written and lived.  Sometimes you miss the significance or you just got it wrong.  Sometimes you need to re-examine the context, sources and meaning of those experiences.

I just finished the book, Changing my Mind by Will Willimon.  He has been a prolific writer and leader, but most importantly for me, a friend.  Part of our friendship centers on the formation and support of “Exploring Medicine” that sent medical, nursing , divinity students and faculty to join with local hosts to Honduras(1994-1998) as a medico brigada.  Willimon’s book challenges young clergy with the reality and the power of the good words and actions they deliver.  

This latest book of former Bishop Willimon, reminded me of another bishop character, Bishop Myriel in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables”.   This “bishop creation” of Victor Hugo closely parallels the life of Hugo who confronted the reality of suffering and concludes that “Love” is the basis for the lives that we are called to live.  See the wonderful book of Marva Barnett, To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience.

For me, the ancient admonition “to Love” is central to our healing vocations and exists only because we were first Loved and experienced it within our faith communities.  I had focused on the suffering and did not fully appreciate the centrality of the many “love benedictions” freely given to me during my life.

 

Thanks be to God, for “Good Words”!

Marvin

Benediction:

“And whenever I see people engaged in that work of love, 

I sense the divine presence brushing us 

with a touch so gentle you can miss it, 

and yet know beyond all possibility of doubt 

that this is what we are called on to live for, 

to ease the pain of those who suffer 

and become an agent of hope in the world.”  

Rabbi Jonathon Sacks

 Être aimé est toute Grâce - To be loved is all Grace

References

The Oath of Paracelsus

https://weeksmd.com/2009/08/the-oath-of-paracelsus/

Willimon, B. W. H. (2024). Changing My Mind. Abingdon Press.

Barnett, Marva A.. To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience (p. 56). Swan Isle Press. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2012). Healing Words.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/09/healing-words.html

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

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

Hage, M. L. (2013). The Nature of Healing

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-nature-of-healing.html

Sacks, Jonathan. The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning (p. 206). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Hage, M. L. (2021). All is Grace.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2021/01/all-is-grace.html