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

Looking For Healing Wisdom

AI generated image of quote by  Donald Lindberg, M.D.

“When you put a book on a shelf it immediately begins a dialogue with the books next to it; the whole collection is a quiet conversation among ideas, each volume listening to and answering the others.”  

Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.

1986 Annual Report of the National Library of Medicine

In 1986, I attended MedInfo ’86 in Washington, DC. I heard Dr. Lindberg and remembered his speech. What if two recent AI books could “Talk” with each other from two different disciplines?  Could we find healing wisdom?

The new book by Todd Kopi, AI Goes to Church: Pastoral Wisdom for Artificial Intelligence, does a deep dive into identifying the mission of the church and the intersection with the power of AI technology to.assist in responding.   I had previously described my connection with the history of AI in medicine by the recent review by Robert Wachter in the book, A Giant Leap.

What would these books share in a conversation?

Here are the AI conversation results (Google):

If Robert Wachter’s A Giant Leap and Todd Korpi’s AI Goes to Church "talked" to each other, you would witness a fascinating dialogue between a medical visionary and a pastoral strategist. 

Dr. Donald Lindberg, a pioneer in medical informatics, famously envisioned a world where clinical systems and libraries "talked" to one another to bridge the gap between static knowledge and active practice. In this specific pairing, the "conversation" would likely focus on how a purely algorithmic power (AI) can be integrated into the most deeply human spheres of our lives: healing and faith. 

Common Themes in the "Conversation" 

Theme	Robert Wachter (Medicine)	Todd Korpi (Ministry)
The "Better Than" Standard	Argues AI doesn't need to be perfect to be transformative; it just needs to be better than the current error-prone system.	Explores how AI can provide pastoral wisdom and efficiency that enhances current ministry reach.
Human Identity	Challenges doctors to redefine their roles as AI begins to match or surpass them in diagnosis and empathy.	Examines how AI shifts the identity of the pastor and the nature of community in a digital-first world.
Combating Burnout	Sees AI as a solution to clinician burnout by handling administrative burdens like note-taking (ambient scribing).	Focuses on using AI to manage the "rote" tasks of ministry so leaders can focus on deeply relational work.
Relational Integrity	Warns against making care transactional; emphasizes that "someone must be on the receiving end of a patient’s kisses".	Advocates for maintaining the sacred nature of human connection while leveraging AI tools for outreach and organization.

What We Would Learn 

If these two books spoke to each other, the overarching lesson would be intentionality. 

• The "Giant Leap" isn't the technology itself; it's the shift in human roles. Both authors suggest that AI is a "copilot". We would learn that as AI takes over cognitive labor (diagnosing a disease or drafting a sermon), the  new human professional must double down on emotional intelligence and spiritual presence—the things an algorithm can simulate but never truly possess.
• Systems must be "rewired" for wisdom. Just as Wachter argues hospitals must fundamentally restructure to avoid automation bias, Korpi suggests churches need a new framework for "Pastoral Wisdom" in the age of AI. The "talk" between these books would produce a roadmap for ethical implementation that prioritizes human flourishing over mere technical efficiency. 

So a 1986 vision has become a reality.  The challenge is to take this new transformative AI reality of practice into the church and in medicine!

*Bolding and formating done by me.

References

Linberg, D (1986) NLM Annual Report of Programs and Services, 1986

Korpi, T. (2025). AI Goes to Church: Pastoral Wisdom for Artificial Intelligence. InterVarsity Press.

Wachter, R. (2026). A Giant Leap. Penguin Group

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/09/future-healing.html

Hage, M. L. (2023). Can AI be a Healing Agent?

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/08/can-ai-be-healing-agent.html

Hage, M. L. (2026). A.I. Healing

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2026/02/ai-healing.html

Healing Words?

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; 

for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exodus 20:7 (KJV)

There is a lot of invocation of God’s name in our world of wars.  I am concerned that many of these represent “vainness”.  This is  one of those glittering vices and deadly sins!

“The worst sort of vainglory, however, according to Aquinas and others, occurs when we fail to give due glory to God as the source of our good.   We might call this glorying “in vain,” because in such cases we seek glory for the wrong end, aim, or purpose.”

The religious language we hear has been both overt and covert with narratives of fulfilling biblical prophecy.  It has been and is an underlying justification of  many wars.  These narratives create an illusion of an end that celebrates the winners.  We have all suffered by chasing these phantom ends.

What are those ends we are called to pursue?  We know it and we share it with our siblings in faith:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; 

and what doth the Lord require of thee, 

but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:8 (KJV)

Thanks be to God who continues to call us to a ministry of reconciliation and healing.

Marvin

References

DeYoung, Rebecca Konyndyk. (2020) Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies (p. 51).. Kindle Edition. 

Lischer, R. (2005). The end of words: The language of reconciliation in a culture of violence. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Sacks, J. (2015). Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence. Schocken.

Hage, M. L. (2019). Healing Cultures.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/06/healing-cultures.html

Smith, J. K. A. (2022). How to Inhabit Time. Brazos Press.