Healing Wisdom

“A New/Old Path”

Personal Photo, Pinehurst, North Carolina

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.  

James 3:17-18 (MSG)

It was an unlikely coincidence that the release of Francis Collin’s new book, The Road to Wisdom was released the week when the lectionary for Sunday, September 22, 2024 would include the pursuit of wisdom.(James 3:13-18).  What is more remarkable is that book makes a specific call for “healing”.  It didn’t take me long to purchase this book.

As a world renowned scientist, Francis Collins carefully examines the impact of the Covid pandemic on American and global health.  He provides personal reports with the data.  He believes deeply that this is more than science and describes in detail his faith filled responses.  He ends this book with a “Pledge” and a beautiful benediction.

The healing wisdom he describes is difficult and requires humility to start on a road of healing.  He connects his faith request with examples of institutions and individuals who apply this holy wisdom to earthly issues of isolation, loneliness and cynicism.  It is a prescription for healing the deep wounds of the Covid 19 pandemic.  The “broken road” is being repaired by the works of many people of faith.

Thanks be to God for Healing Wisdom and the faith of Francis Collins.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  James 1:5

References

Collins, F. S. (2024). The Road to Wisdom. Little, Brown.

Braver Angels  Road to Wisdom Pledge

https://braverangels.org/road-to-wisdom-pledge/

Selected Posts on the Covid Pandemic

Hage, M. L. (2020). M & M - “Who’s Presenting?”.

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/03/m-m-whos-presenting.html?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing Disconnections.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/05/healing-disconnections.html

Remembering Together

“Special Sauce”  Ingredients

Personal Photo - Holland’s Farmers Market

“The more we get together,

Together, together,

The more we get together,

The happier we'll be.

For your friends are my friends

And my friends are your friends.

The more we get together,

The happier we'll be.”

Lyrics of the song “The More We Get Together”

I just finished a recently published book, “Why We Remember”.  It offers insights into our everyday experiences of remembering and forgetting.  I was most excited to read the last chapter of the book, “When We Remember Together”.  It is in that chapter that I read about the “special sauce” that happens with our collective memories.

“The transformative effect of social interactions on life narratives 

might be the “special sauce” that explains

the efficacy of so many forms of psychotherapy”

Charan Ranganath

This past summer, I have done a lot of remembering together around events that have very long histories.  These events have centered around the celebration of the lives of friends and relatives.  Most importantly we celebrated their lives of faith and how they made a difference in the world we shared.  

What I experienced was not just the memories of the past but how these individual life events created a future.   We remembered more than just the events but the faith that was shared in the recitation of our core beliefs.  I left these remembering together events with a deeper appreciation of how our faith stories point to a future hope. It was the “special sauce” that made their deaths point to a future reality.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

1 Corinthians 15:55 (NIV)

Thanks be to God for the healing work of remembering together.

Marvin 

References

Ranganath, C. (2024). Why We Remember. (p. 180). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Lyrics of the song “The More We Get Together”

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

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

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/11/healing-memories.html