Healing Colors

Indoor “Basket Series”    

“Walla Wallahs”

Blown Glass, 2014

Chihuly Glass displayed at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

Personal Photos, September 2026

God spoke to Moses: “See what I’ve done; I’ve personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I’ve filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood—he’s an all-around craftsman.

Exodus 31: 1-5 (NIV)

Life feels harder!  Even with all  the progress in our technological world, it seems like we are more disconnected from each other and the larger stories of our faith and communities.  What and where is the catalyst for healing in our post-pandemic world? 

There was an idea that there would be a renaissance after the pandemic like that had been reported with previous plagues.  If AI was that renaissance, it has come with some real “birth pangs”.  Even our communication tools that “reduce the distance between us” have failed to create the belonging that we desire.  

While in Michigan, we returned to Meijer Gardens on a cloudy, overcast day.  What greeted us was a place filled with the brightest and most transparent colors of glass!  The Chihuly displays were both outdoors and indoors.  Even in the dull light of a cloudy day, the colored glass became more vivid.   We left that space renewed and reminded again of the healing power of creation!

Thanks for the creators of spaces that renew our souls and transcend our categories of isolation.

Marvin

References

Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

https://www.meijergardens.org/

Fujimura, M. (2021). Art and faith: A theology of making. Yale University Press.

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/07/healing-images.html

Hage, M. L. (2014). Healing Art.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/11/healing-art.html

Beginnings and Ends

“Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics”

Travis Pickell

I love this time of year of new beginnings of learning!.  The recent reminder was the Facebook Post (Click to watch) of the oath of the Medical and Dental School Classes of 2030.  It contains sacred words of “calling” and “healing” found in the best traditions of these professions.

At the same time as the Facebook Post, I was reading the book Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics describing the challenges that will be faced by these beginning medical and dental students.  One wonderful revelation in the book were efforts at Loyola University to engage medical students in addressing these critical issues of care.

I was reminded of the work at Duke University Medical School and the challenges of creating the curricular space for this education.  Even now, it is difficult to see how the agency of these beginning students will be implemented in our technological cultures.  Maybe the best answers are found in the ancient prophets!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

 “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Thanks for all the Beginning Healing Agents,

Marvin

References

Pickell, T. (2024). Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics.

Harvard Medical and Dental School entering Classes of 2030 - Oath (August 24, 2026)

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=harvard%20medical%20school%20oath

Wasson, K., Bading, E., Hardt, J., Hatchett, L., Kuczewski, M. G., McCarthy, M., Michelfelder, A., & Parsi, K. (2015). Physician, know thyself: The role of reflection in bioethics and professionalism education. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 5(1), 77–86. doi.org

See: https://www.luc.edu/stritch/bioethics/medicaleducation/physiciansvocationprogram/

Hage, M. L. (2015). Healing Missions.

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/05/healing-missions.html

Hage, M. L. (2016). A Healing Curriculum.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-healing-curriculum.html

"Holy Smoke?"

“Wildfire Smoke”

Screen shot July 17, 2026

Holland, Michigan

He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, 

and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

Genesis 19:28

God, come close. Come quickly!

    Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!

Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;

    my raised hands are my evening prayers.

Psalm 141: 1-2

“Smoke” has a new meaning since our recent exposure to the smoke of the wildfires from the North.  It is hard to describe all the effects it had on our usual activities and expectations for our summer days in Michigan.

The explanations and implications are many and are not associated with anything that would be considered “Holy”.  The most recent Refugia Newsletter notes the overall change in temperatures that are coincidental with the number and intensities of the wildfires of Canada. Whatever the cause or mechanism, it can be a time to reflect on the creation that we have taken for granted.

For me, the most immediate effect was the slowing down and stillness.  I paid attention to the larger weather patterns and appreciated the winds from the South.   This was all reminiscent of my experience with the pandemic.  It wasn’t as long but demonstrated again the fragility and the interconnectedness of our lives.

So today, I am giving thanks for the clean air and the blessings of another day.

Marvin

References

Rienstra, D. Refugia Newsletter #124

https://refugianewsletter.substack.com/p/refugia-newsletter-124?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1264980&post_id=208335713&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=erqln&triedRedirect=true

Hage, M. L. (2023). Small Healing

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/09/small-healing.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). God’s Grace.

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

Awe of Healing

The Golden Hour Awe

Lake Michigan

Elizabeth Hage

Watercolor, 2026

"I get tears in my eyes every time I pass a barbecue joint.”

Lewis Grizzard, 1982

“As the beneficiaries of this kind of passion and dedication, 

we owe our scientists a lot. We owe them gratitude, awe, respect.”

Mary Roach, 2025

A lot has changed in medical devices since I first confronted them as a resident at the University of Michigan.  What hasn’t changed is the awe that surrounds their use as recently reported by Mary Roach in her book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.  She, like Lewis Grizzard, is a wonderful writer that captures the seriousness of these “replacement parts” and the devotion of those looking to bring healing with their use.

  

Another Michigan connection was her report of ECMO (heart-lung machine) with its inventor, Robert Bartlett (1939–2025).  The title of that chapter is “Heart in a Box” where she describes the evaluation of portable ECMO for a more effective transfer of donor hearts to their recipient using a pig heart experimental model.  The pig heart is removed and perfused with the ECMO device.  She looks for a  single word to describe the experience of holding that beating pig heart: “Is there a word for awe mixed with tenderness? That’s how it feels”

Maybe, there aren’t words for this “larger awe” of creating that is better described by the creative arts that have their source in a deep faith and vocation.  This is the argument of Hokoto Fujimara in his book, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making.  Here is the first part of his benediction to those healing creators:

A BENEDICTION FOR MAKERS 

“Let us remember that we are sons and daughters of God, 

the only true Artist of the Kingdom of abundance. 

We are God’s heirs, princesses and princes 

of this infinite land beyond the sea, 

where heaven will kiss the earth.”

Thanks be to our Creator God,

Marvin

References

Roach, Mary. (2025) Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy (p. 198). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

Grizzard, L. (2010). They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat. NewSouth Books. Originally published in 1986

Grizzard, Lewis (2011). I Took a Lickin' and Kept on Ticking (And Now I Believe in Miracles). Green E-Books. Kindle Edition.  Originally published in 1993

Laros RF, Hage ML, Hayashi RH: Pregnancy and Heart Valve Prosthesis. Obstet Gynecol 35: 241-247, 1970.

Fujimura, M. (2021). Art and Faith: A Theology of Making. Yale University Press.

Surprised by Healing

  

Basilica of St. Adalberts

Grand Rapids, Michigan

"Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est”

“Where God has met me in my musical journey 

has mostly been in the quiet stillness of comforting words 

set to grace-filled melodies and harmonies.”

Scott Bosscher, Choir Director on this retirement, May 17, 2026

It began as part of a family celebration of birthdays that included a concert at St. Adalberts.  What I didn’t know was the impact that a concert can have!

Our extended family was seated in a single pew in the middle of the Basilica.  We sat for an hour and one-half and listened to the beautiful voices of men and boys with the organ that filled the space both within the basilica but in each of the attendees.  We also sang together.

The theme was a Latin phrase, "Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” - "Where charity and love are found, there God is.”.  The hymns and the spoken word echoed the healing that is needed and found in the beauty we all experienced.

The event also celebrated the transition of choirmasters and closed with a final beautiful selection entitled “Effortlessly” by Taylor Scott Davis with words by Mechtild of Magdeburg.  You can hear it sung on YouTube by VOCES8.

Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into man,
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in His world
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings—
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.

~ Mechthild of Magdeburg
(trans. Jane Hirshfield)

Thanks to The Grand Rapids Choir of Men & Boys for the beauty so freely given. It was a healing moment.

Marvin