Lived Life Lessons

 The Vigeland Park

Oslo, Norway

“Tenderness IS tending to the other”

Father Greg Boyle

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:   

Philippians 2:5 (NIV)

It is no small task to compose a curriculum.  It is also well known that what transpires  frequently changes from what was written.  The question of content becomes more problematic  if the material presented is controversial. 

Then here comes Greg Boyle’s new third book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.  It is similar to his prior descriptions of his ministry at Homeboy Industries. (Click and hear from this community).   With this book, we get closer to the essential components of the “curriculum”.  He describes how much he has learned and seen.  He makes the case that the healing results are most connected to the extravagant tenderness lived within that community.

The invitation is extended to all to become part of a community like Homeboy Industries where extravagant tenderness becomes the catalyst to healing life lessons.  It becomes a way of living that is more than what is written.

Thanks be to God for these lived life lessons.

Marvin

References:

Boyle, Gregory. The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness (p. 221). Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

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

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

Healing Authority

  

“Changing our views”

Cloud Gate - Chicago Millenium Park

 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ 

you find yourselves cared for.” Matthew 5:7 (MSG)

“Because being moral is crucial to maintaining important relationships and being part of a community, recovery from moral injury is not an individual achievement. It is a relational process that restores our sense of worthiness to be loved, sustains our families and communities, and nurtures creativity, curiosity, and a love of beauty and life.”

Rita Nakashima Brock, from “An epidemic of moral injury”

When I first began medical practice, medical authority was unquestioned and it seemed like “authority” was good.  Unknown to me was that  the “authority” I inherited was partially the result of white male privilege.  As my professional path continued more authority rested on the merits of the scientific method and the rewards its technology brought to patients.  In the 60’s we began to hear the phrase “Question Authority” and  in the information age we all have tools to challenge that authority.

But now we have moved from “question” to “rejection” with threats and real violence.  We have our conversations limited and witness reports questioned.  We have all felt a deep loss that is described as moral injury.  The real problem is not the diagnosis of moral injury, but the prescription.  Can we build new understandings and relationships that will promote well being?  Who will be the partners in the health care responses?   

One encouraging recent example comes from the state of Colorado.  The Colorado report emphasizes the importance of partnership, dialogue and listening as the modus operandi of faith communities with the healthcare institutions.  Trusted relationships are repurposed to address pandemic challenges.

Professional privileges have always been contingent on the relationships to those we serve.  For faith-based providers (healing agents),  practice begins in the community of faith.  It is the foundation for healing authority.  

Marvin

References

Brock, Rita Nakashima An epidemic of moral injury. The Christian Century.  

September 1, 2021

Williams JTB; Miller A; Nussbaum AM  Combating Contagion and Injustice: The Shared Work for Public Health and Faith Communities During COVID-19.

 Journal of Religion & Health. 60(3):1436-1445, 2021 Jun.

Hage, M. L. (2011). Gift Reflections

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/10/gift-reflections.html

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

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

Hage, M. L. (2021). Listening Again.

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2021/04/listening-again.html

Timing Connections

North Carolina Sea Turtles

“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.” 

African Proverb

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

It was an odd coincidence!  After remotely listening to a sermon on “Belonging”, I switched live-streams and was introduced to a new book by psychologist, Lisa Miller, PhD, “The Awakening Brain”.  The book addresses the neuroscience of our “connectivity”.  In this book the spiritual dimension of our lives is examined with scientific rigor in a personal memoir format.  One of her fascinating  recurring experiences is the synchrony of events.  She makes the argument that there is an underlying “time” reality that connects us with each other and the world around us.

I have lived within the reality of obstetric time - obstetric seasonality and circadian rhythms.  Most of my interest was “within” not “between” individuals.  But now, there is a new approach in obstetrics!  “Centering antenatal care“ is a group care model designed to improve obstetric outcomes using facilitated support groups.   It has worked well within specific demographic groups.  Could it be that there is a biologic power of deep connectedness that maximizes obstetric outcomes?  Maybe that synchrony is the mechanism of action.

For me, this strategy for healing goes beyond the individual to the power of a connected community.  They have the power of healing.  It is what communities of faith have done in building deep spiritual connections.

Thanks be to God for timing connections,

Marvin

References:

Hage, M. L. (2011). Faithful Minds.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/05/faithful-minds.html

Hagerty, B. B. (2010). Fingerprints of God: What Science Is Learning About the Brain and Spiritual Experience (Reprint ed.). Riverhead Trade.

Miller, L. (2021). The Awakened Brain. Random House.

Wolchover, N.  Scientists Discover Exotic New Patterns of Synchronization

https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-discover-exotic-patterns-of-synchronization-20190404/

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/07/healing-time.html

Hage, M. L. (2019). Healing Time - Part II.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/09/healing-time-part-ii.html

ACOG Committee Opinion No. 731 Summary: Group Prenatal Care. Obstet Gynecol 2018;131(3):616-618

Healing Memorials

  

Plague Column - Pestsäule 

Vienna, Austria Dedicated 1694 

“Art in Lockdown”

Collage by Nathan Wyburn 

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 2016, I was introduced to Pestsäule, the memorial monument to “one of the last big plague epidemics in Europe”.   It was a short introduction that seemed remote to my experience.  Now, I have a new appreciation of the importance of memorials particularly as they relate to the uncontrollable events in our lives.

I would suggest that we have some real work ahead to respond and create icons of the Covid19 pandemic.  The United States used existing memorials to remember 400,000 deaths with flags, lights and songs.  We have told stories of lives lost on social media as we all recounted how our lives have changed.   How will we capture in a more permanent way the meanings of these moments?  What icons will work across the multiple cultures effected by this pandemic?  Where will the new art and knowledge take us as a world?  It could be a time of great creativity, a pandemic renaissance.

Healing memorials are effective places of active remembering that help us see and create in new ways!  So even as the “endgame” is still unclear, memorializing the healing responses are a critical component of this pandemic’s history.

Thanks be to God for places and images that heal.

Marvin

References

Plague Column, Vienna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_Column,_Vienna

Joe Biden holds memorial for 400,000 Americans who have died of Covid-19

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/biden-coronavirus-memorial-us-deaths-ceremony

Sonnevend J. A virus as an icon: the 2020 pandemic in images. Am J Cult Sociol. 2020 Oct 6:1-11. doi: 10.1057/s41290-020-00118-7. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33042541; PMCID: PMC7537773.

Art in Lockdown

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-the-incredible-art-created-in-lockdown-11987230

How Pandemics Wreak Havoc—and Open Minds

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-pandemics-wreak-havoc-and-open-minds

Hage, ML(2021). All is Grace.

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

Kofman, A; Kantor, R; Adashi, EY

Potential COVID-19 Endgame Scenarios: Eradication, Elimination, Cohabitation, or Conflagration?  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2781945

Transitions

God’s business is putting things right;

    he loves getting the lines straight,

Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,

    we can look him straight in the eye.

Psalm 11:7 (MSG)

This has been the time of the year for graduations for the younger generations.  Transitions also happens to the senior citizens but at less predictable times both by choice and by uncontrollable events.  

 

For the graduates and senior citizens alike, transitions are filled with unknowns and uncertainty.  There are plans and expectations.  What seems most real to me is the disorientation of changing locations.  Where you are present is an important part of our idea of what you do and your identity.  

My current experience is that of leaving where I have lived and worked for the last 22 years.  It was a good chapter.  Today is a kind of limbo of the betweenness of places.  It makes me wonder how the nomads of then and now adjusted to these multiple dislocations.  It was the reason that the recent movie, “Nomadland” was so popular.

In an extensive investigation, author Bruce Feller explores his own life story as well as looking to others.  His emphasis is that life stories are not linear - predictable or clear in the direction they take.  It helped me to see the broader dimensions of my own story and life chapters.  What seems to be missing* is the idea of vocation that I have addressed before.  That vocational  reality in my life has been the reason I have failed retirement multiple times!   

In summary, this current transition is another life chapter change but still the quest of being a healing agent remains.  That quest is still straight ahead!

References

Nomadland

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150

Feiler, B. (2020). Life is in the transitions: Mastering change at any age. Penguin Press.

Hage, M. L. (2010). The “Telos” for Christian Healing Agents.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2010/12/telos-for-christian-healing-agents.html

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

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

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/06/healing-purpose.html

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/09/healing-work.html

• Feiler, Bruce. Life Is in the Transitions (p. 117). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. There was one brief mention of “vocation” as reported by Tami Trottier: “I never doubted, because there’s a difference between a vocation and a calling. Once I discovered what I was supposed to be doing, I knew nothing could stop me.”

 

Strangers-Neighbors-Kin

Circle of Life - Chinese Paper cut

Personal Copy

“Which is most important of all the commandments?”  Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”

Mark 12:28b-31 (MSG)

In a recent edition of Christian Century, Ashley Makar shares reflections of Congolese immigrants during a civil rights pilgrimage.  She also reflected on her own history and friendships with immigrants from South Sudan escaping to Israel.  Here is one summary message from one of the teenagers:

“Some histories are brutal, doing the beautiful takes forever.”. Gladys Mwilelo

This caught my attention because of a friendship with a Congolese family over the last five years.  This friendship is on multiple levels given the ages of individuals.  What is most rewarding has been the transition from strangers to neighbors and now kin.  It takes time and a community.  It takes patience to learn together.

At its best, our journey is more than just learning.  It is captured in part by this quote from the novel, Transcendent Kingdom.

I wanted, above all else, to be good. And I wanted the path to that goodness to be clear. I suspect that this is why I excelled at math and science, where the rules are laid out step by step, where if you did something exactly the way it was supposed to be done, the result would be exactly as it was expected to be. “If you are living a godly life, a moral life, then everything you do can be a prayer,” my mother said. “Instead of trying to pray all day, live your life as prayer.”

This kind of prayer life is where joy finds all of us - thanks for the gifts of new kindred relationships.

Marvin

References

Makar, A. From Kinshasa to Montgomery: A civil rights pilgrimage through the eyes of Congolese refugee teenagers

https://www.christiancentury.org/issue/apr-21-2021

Makar, A. (2014). You were strangers: Dispatches from exile. Amazon Kindle.

Gyasi, Yaa. Transcendent Kingdom (p. 52). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Boyle, G. (2017). Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. Simon & Schuster.

Listening Again

Church School Vaccination Station

Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart,

    and good news gives health to the bones.

Proverbs 15:30 (NIV)

This past Sunday afternoon, I was a guest volunteer at a neighboring Church School.  We provided the first Covid vaccine doses to a predominantly Latinx community.  This school location was another “location chapter” in my new vocation of vaccinator.  

It felt like the times in Honduras being part of a “brigada médica”, the last being in 2014.  It was busy and as before the lines were long with very patient people.  They were younger than at the other locations and very appreciative on receiving the vaccine.  Their arms were muscular.  

What I heard again were questions and stories of what and how this vaccine would change their lives.  For many, it was a key to safer employment.  For senior high school students, it was a door to their future education.   This school became again a place of hope.

For me, it was a place to learn again the lessons of the past and celebrate the renewal of a  friendship of “hermanos y hermanas”.  Churches, schools and medical care are still deeply related to each other.

Gracia a dios.

Marvin

References

Hage, M. L. (2021). Promised Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2021/03/promised-healing.html

Hage, M. (2014). Hearing Stories.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/04/hearing-stories.html

Imber, J. B. (2008). Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine (1 ed.). Princeton University Press.

Duckett K. Behind the Mask: New Challenges to Gaining Patient Trust.

Home Healthcare Now. 38(6):327-330, 2020 Nov/Dec.

Promised Healing

Vaccination Stations

He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds,

Psalm 147:3 (NIV)

This Lenten - Easter 2021 has been a particularly strange combination of Covid-19 fatigue and the hope of vaccinations. Two weeks after my own vaccination, I was chosen to be a vaccinator as a retired physician with a medical license.   It was a new medical role!  

I became part of a system that was being built with other volunteers and donated space.  It was an efficient system with robust documentation.  It was a part of even larger systems of reporting and monitoring.  Safety was critical with preparations for unexpected and rare reactions.

What I saw at first were only the arms in front of me and the task of the jab.  My first group were K-12 teachers and then college professors.  They were part of the larger priority allocation plan.   I worked in a donated theatre lobby near the food concessions.   The next experience was a “drive-in” at the backside of the the theatre with individuals of limited mobility.  The challenge was not just arms but this outdoor setting.  Wind and documents are incompatible!  

My last location was in a hospital surgical entrance giving the second dose.  It was in this setting I started to hear stories in response to the question, “How will this vaccination change your life?”  Most had specific ideas of what the future would hold.   This is when, by hearing their answers, I started to be part of the larger story of promised healing.   We are all invited into this bigger Easter 2021 story.

Thanks be to God.

Marvin

References

NHRMC Giving Community Vaccinations At Local Movie Theater 

Wilmington Business, Jan 21, 2021

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/coronavirus/2021/01/21/nhrmc_giving_community_vaccinations_at_local_movie_theater/21396

Hage, ML. (2020). Easter Blessings 2020.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/04/healing-blessings-2020.html

Hage, ML. (2020). Public & Personal Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/11/public-personal-healing.html

Hage, ML  (2021). All is Grace.

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

Healing Hearing

Audiogram of Hearing Loss

Whoever has ears, let them hear. 

Matthew 11:15 (NIV)

We live in a highly visual world with technology that can deliver a steady stream of images.  If you have ever tried to produce a video story, you know that the audio track is critical in holding the images and story together.  It makes you realize the critical nature of hearing as it connects us into and with the lives of others.  

I also know about hearing loss and hearing aids.  I would love to tell you that these “aids” fix the underlying  pathology.  They don’t!   The healing of our “generic hearing loss” in our society must occur at an even deeper level closer to the pathology.

What seems endemic is a kind of “generic (not geriatric, presbycusis) hearing loss”.  It is not that there is lack of audio input.  It is something deeper in the processing of the signals.  It seems that there are so many inputs that it is impossible to hear those that are right in front of us.  This environmental cacophony blocks our hearing at the deepest level.

So what is the  prescription for this “hard of hearing”?  Here is my list:

1. Turn off or at least turn down the noise
2. Focus on the sound in front of you - don't talk to machines
3. Make a time/place for reflection on what you heard
4. Listen for the beauty 
5. Engage and act on your response 

My prayer, during this time of Lent, is that my deeper hearing will improve and may even be healed.

Marvin

References:

Brooks, A. C. (2019). Love Your Enemies. HarperCollins.

Hage, M.L (2014). Hearing Stories.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/04/hearing-stories.html

Hearing Link

https://www.hearinglink.org/your-hearing/implants/cochlear-implants/

Hage, M. L. (2017). The Beauty of Healing.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-beauty-of-healing.html

Healing Scars

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

 (Caravaggio  1601-1602)

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

At the end of last year in a series of essays in the Christian Century the authors shared stories of their scars.  One particular essay, caught my attention.  It was a narrative of cesarean deliveries.  It is a beautiful and painful story.

As a practicing obstetrician gynecologist, I created many scars, some seen and many unseen.  In addition, I taught others how to perform these procedures and systematically reviewed the outcomes.  These surgical acts were done realizing scars would result.  Simultaneously, we prayed for a healing result.  We understood the wisdom of our surgical predecessor, Ambroise Paré who wrote:

Je le pansai, Dieu le guérit ("I bandaged him and God healed him”)

I also have seen and evaluated many scars, some of my own making and many from others.  They all carry a physical story.  When I would see an abdominal scar that is broad, thick and indented, I knew that the scar went deep and has associated with a history of compromised healing.  Those scars required review of the surgical records and the patient’s experience.

So beside the biology of wound healing and scars, there are important narrative truths as demonstrated by the essays.  Confusion and uncertainty are frequent initial responses that only resolve with being able to tell and share scar stories.  For Christians, the story of Thomas and Jesus describes both the physical and spiritual reality of our scars and healing.   For me, the painting by Carravaggio tells that story.

Thanks be to God for healing all our wounds.

Marvin

References

Wikipedia:  The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (Caravaggio)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas_(Caravaggio)

Scar: Essays by Readers. Christian Century 12/30/20

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/readers-write/scar-essays-readers

Wikipedia

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

Hage, M. L. (2016). The Healing Challenge.

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

All is Grace

 

“Celebrating the Gift of COVID-19 Vaccines” NIH

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, 

for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

My earliest introduction to pandemics was the death of a cousin (age 19) in 1949 from the severest forms of polio.   I was seven years old and still remember the great grief of his mother and the long lasting impact on our extended family.  Fear remained until vaccines were made available in the 1950’s.   Professionally and personally, I next learned about the HIV pandemic beginning in the 1980’s.  I was most concerned with the perinatal transmission of the disease.  It didn’t change until there was introduction of antivirals and their widespread distribution.  I saw glimpses of the H1N1 influenza, SARS and Ebola but these were more peripheral to my direct experience.

The Covid pandemic (like the HIV pandemic) has separated us more than social distancing,  “quarantine”, “being high risk” or even our political affiliation.  The pandemic experiences seem so varied.  The faces of the disease are still being identified.  So any proclamation on the meaning of it all requires very careful engagement and the assistance of others.

The first task, it seems to me, is having a clear memory of what was before.  It is a history that is forgotten or ignored.  It is not just about the “wins”.   Life lessons are made out of losses as well as wins.  What makes it livable are the presence of others - for me,  communities of faith and healing. The memory must always include those who engaged and shared the suffering as well as the healing.

The second task is to be clear about the outcomes.  This is about the prognosis and not the diagnosis.  It comes in knowledge from clinical trials and careful listening.  It is what gives us hope as well as frightens us.  It is where uncertainty looks for guidance from those who have lived through other traumas.  These guides are our docents who know and share their knowledge with us.

Lastly, I look for the character of the responders and the responses.  Who are the heroes?  What disciplines have they learned?  What environments have been places of creativity?  What are the stories of pandemics that we have learned, ignored or forgotten?   We have been given great gifts in the knowledge that has been shared with us.  Their knowledge has been shared by the grace of their words and understanding.  And now we have the gift of vaccines.

Thanks be to God for being with us all in our pandemics and our current Continuing Pandemic Education.

Marvin

References:

Collins, F. (2020) Celebrating the Gift of COVID-19 Vaccines 

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/12/22/celebrating-the-gift-of-covid-19-vaccines/

Hage, M. (2008) STDs and NC State Law – A Provider / Public Health Partnership 

Hage, M. L. (2012). Healing Communities - “For the Greater Glory of God”.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/11/healing-communities-for-greater-glory.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). God’s Grace.

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

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2014/10/healing-ebola.html

Jones, S. (2019). Call it grace : finding meaning in a fractured world. New York: Viking.

Brueggemann, W. (2020). Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty. Wipf and Stock Publishers.

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

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