Making a Difference?

The Mural of the Good Samaritan at the University of Nairobi

Before we left for Kenya, the question was “Do you see a difference?”  We definitely have in this place called Tenwek Hospital.   That question was also answered by the Bill GatesAnnual Letter 2014.  The Gates Foundation has a clear purpose and with partners is making a difference.  It is worth reading!

I just finished the book “The Unwinding:  An Inner History of the New America” by George Packer.  These stories of success and loss in America chronicle the “unwinding of America that is not encouraging.    The metric is income, foreclosures and financial loss.

What should we do with these divergent views of the world?   My short answer is that poverty and purpose are two different outcomes.  What I have seen here at Tenwek is a clear purpose that results in an increasing impact of this institution in this region.   So reduction of poverty, availability of clean water, medical care and education are all important; but it is a clear purpose that sustains the work here at Tenwek.  That purpose is found in the lives of the staff and sustained by their faith.

Marvin

Another Beautiful Day in Kenya

Reconciliation and Healing

“Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”  Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

Matthew 22: 36-40 (The Message)

God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.  

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (The Message)

Reconciliation is big word and we have heard a lot about this word with the celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela.  We also heard about the healing mission of the church when Pope Francis was recognized as Time’s Person of the Year.

This was a wonderful opportunity to re-examine these words and consider the implications for our lives.  My first thought is that both men approach their tasks with different strategies.  With further reflection, we see the common concern for the “poor”, those who were excluded politically and those excluded economically.  Both men are concerned with the systems that separate us from each other!  Both have a deep sense of love for their neighbor.  We have been surprised as to who “they see”!  For me, the vision of their neighbor is the common element of the ministries of both these men.  

We need to pray for help to understand that our obligations are more than just obeying the rules. Help us to be those individuals and communities that witness the larger dimensions of healing by teaching us the power of forgiveness.   Expand our ideas of justice and peace and forgive us for being part of the walls that prevent us from becoming your healing agents. 

Marvin

References

http://reconciliation-mandelasmiracle.com/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/11/us-usa-pope-personoftheyear-idUSBRE9BA0JF20131211

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

Hage, M. L. (2012). Fear, Freedom and Reconciliation. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/03/fear-freedom-and-reconciliation.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). Rx Ubuntu. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/04/rx-ubuntu.html

Big Healing

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.     Psalm 63:1 (NIV)

[ A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. ]

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  Isaiah 35: 1-2 (NIV)

I recently (11/5/2013) had the opportunity to hear T.R. Reid, author of The Healing of America, describe his world-wide experience with health care.  He was able to combine data, history and personal experience in support of a moral argument for a more just health care system. 

With a different focus, Richard Rodriquez in his book, Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography, reflects on the events and etiologies of 9/11.   He is able to weave his stories of personal formation with an understanding of the traditions that have given birth to religious conflict. For him, relationships are the keys to healing and ultimately, like the psalmist, it is his relationship to God!

Both of these authors address the big idea of Healing. They help us reflect on where and how healing happens and why it doesn’t.  Healing is one of those big ideas that needs to be woven into the stories of all our lives.   Thanks to both of these men for there works.

Marvin

References

Reid, T. R. (2010). The Healing of America (Reprint ed.). Penguin Books.

Rodriguez, Richard. Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2013). Healing Spaces. Retrieved from      http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/11/healing-spaces.html

Hage, Marvin (2010-12-01). Healing Agents: Christian Perspectives. Kindle Edition. 

Difficult Conversations

In Vitro Fertilization Image

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

In her recent book, No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Parenthood and Faith in a Age of Advanced Reproduction, Ellen Painter Dollar describes the difficult conversations with modern health care as well as with her faith communities.   She describes the dilemmas in painful detail but is able to conclude:

"For Christians, one story—about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—prevails over all the hurts and joys that influence how we frame our life story on any given day. Being a Christian is about continually and consciously choosing to believe that hope, healing, and life conquer despair, brokenness, and death no matter what each day brings. Christian faith is ultimately an invitation to believe the better story, about a God who fixes what is broken, heals what is hurt, and brings what is dead to life. That is the story I cling to, and to which I turn when I’m trying to make sense of my childbearing decisions and the promise and peril of reproductive technologies."

The challenge for all of us is to listen and respond.  One response that was missing in this narrative is a healing prayer with this family by and with her health care providers.  They did not acknowledge the mystery of the lives that were shared with them.   We need be able to appreciate the invitation that this book gives to all of us in a technologic medical world.

Marvin

References

Dollar, Ellen Painter (2012-01-17). No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Parenthood, and Faith in an Age of Advanced Reproduction (Kindle Locations 2900-2905). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition. 

Hage, M. L. (2013). Praying for Stem Cells. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/02/praying-for-stem-cells.html

Hage, M. L. (2010). Healing Agents: Christian Perspectives Second Edition (2 ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Healing Spaces

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Psalm 23: 1-3

King James Version (KJV)

“In a church we learn to do ministry together.  We teach each other what Grace looks like and how it feels to be treated like a child of God.”

Rev. Dr. Douglas Brouwer, “One hand washes the other” September 3, 2006

Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana

Dr. Esther Sternberg in a conversation with Krista Tippett (On Being) describes the importance of the healing environment.   She used as as her first example the wisdom of the Psalmist.

We all continue to look for those spaces in our lives that bring wholeness.  What we frequently miss is the origin of these spaces in God’s creation.  We attempt to duplicate these holy spaces in our churches, cathedrals, temples and hospitals.   We know that these spaces are important.   

For me, a holy space has been “educational” in the encounters with both patients and students.  It is a holy space that many times is corrupted by power, competition and credentials.  What is awesome is seeing the results even years later in their healing lives.  It is life-giving.

Marvin

References

Sternberg, E. M. (2010). Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being (1 ed.). Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Verhulst J.  Kramer D.  Swann AC.  Hale-Richlen B.  Beahrs J. The medical alliance: from placebo response to alliance effect. [Review] Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease.  201(7):546-52, 2013 Jul.

Larkin GL.  Mello MJ. Commentary: doctors without boundaries: the ethics of teacher-student relationships in academic medicine.  Academic Medicine.  85(5):752-5, 2010 May.

God's Grace Revisited

Surgery Board at Tenwek Hospital, Kenya

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  

Ephesians 2:19-20 (NIV)

“From an African perspective, to NOT make a spiritual connection with patients is 

essentially medical malpractice.”

    Suzanne R. Snyder, MD Medical Missionary to the Masai

It is often difficult to relate to patients but it is an essential part of caring for patients no matter where you practice.  Language, cultures and the limited knowledge of the patient’s history makes establishing a relationship a challenge.

What I have found is that the organization that you represent is an important ingredient in how that relationship is understood.   When you are identified with a medical organization with a clear statement of its mission, you have a basis for the beginning of a relationship that has the opportunity to transcend the barriers of culture and language. 

So beside the diplomas and credentials, it is important for patients to know that we are more than just competent!   We must  build a relationship in the belief that the outcome will be healing.  For Christians this is done for the glory of God and his Kingdom.  It is  in those relationships, a living mystery,  that we have the privilege to experience God’s Grace. 

Marvin

References

Jolles EP.  Clark AM.  Braam B.  Getting the message across: opportunities and obstacles in effective communication in hypertension care. [Review] Journal of Hypertension.  30(8):1500-10, 2012 Aug.

Abedini NC.  Gruppen LD.  Kolars JC.  Kumagai AK. Understanding the effects of short-term international service-learning trips on medical students. Academic Medicine.  87(6):820-8, 2012 Jun.

Hage, M. L. (2012). God’s Grace. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/10/