Trinitarian Prayer from John Stott link
Good morning heavenly Father, good morning Lord Jesus, good morning Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me.
Amen.”
A Prayer from the Awkward Season link
O God, who makes all things new,
new stars, new dust, new life;
take my heart,
every hardened edge and measured beat,
and create something new in me.
I need your newness, God,
the rough parts of me made smooth;
the stagnant, stirred;
the stuck, freed;
the unkind, forgiven.
And then, by the power of your Spirit,
I need to be turned toward Love again.
Amen.
Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayers- Andrew Reed, 1787-1862 link
Spirit divine, attend our prayers, and make this house Thy home;
Descend with all Thy gracious powers, O come, great Spirit, come!
Come as the light; to us reveal our emptiness and woe,
And lead us in those paths of life, whereon the righteous go.
Come as the fire, and purge our hearts like sacrificial flame;
Let our whole soul an offering be, to our Redeemer’s name.
Amen
Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD
Dr. Warren Kinghorn, co-director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative, is the Esther Colliflower Professor of the Practice of Pastoral and Moral Theology at Duke Divinity School and Associate Professor of Psychiatry in Duke University Medical Center. He is an expert in the care of substance abuse. I also have had the pleasure of hearing him speak on a number of occasions through a Christian medical group.
Benediction from St. Francis of Assisi link
Now, wherever we are,
and in every place,
and at every hour,
throughout each time of each day,
may all of us honestly and humbly believe,
holding in our hearts
to love, honor,
adore, serve,
praise, bless,
glorify, exalt,
magnify, and give thanks
to the Most High and Eternal God,
Trinity and Unity.
Amen.
1
Above All: Harp. Instrumental.
https://youtu.be/qZwzsZhTjW8
Ps 13, how long shall my enemy be exalted over me to steal the bread of life from the mouths of all orphans and widows; enemy = those who shut heavens like brass with their dominionism and moralising (materialism).
Most people read Augustine as saying the same as Pelagius – apparently nothing about Holy Spirit providence and gifts.
Thanks, Dee. In the teaching segment, I was especially struck by the section starting in the 21:-22: timeframe where, mentioning Eph 3:10, Prof. Kinghorn envisions (my paraphrase/interpretation) the possibility of Christian community being a context that promotes human thriving. That’s IMO a much deeper and richer aspiration than what I think is the prevailing metaphor of “lifeboat”.
Will we be seeing more in this series at “e-church”?
Samuel Conner,
You just made it happen. I’ll feature another guy I know, Farr Curlin, next weekend.
Looking forward to this.
And there are varieties of thriving beyond materialism, but all laden with the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
From the get-go, thriving as a Christian is never keeping up with the Jones, living out vice fantasies, nor encroaching on others’ agencies (power trips).
Ppt from the vid: “What Christian Faith Offers to Health Care”:
1. Jesus was a healer.
2. Christians invented the hospital.
3. Christian faith can help us to diagnose modern medicine.
4. Christian faith encourages us to ask the why, not just the how about modern medical technology.
5. Christian faith reminds us that we are not machines but wayfarers.
6. Christian faith gives us resources for engaging suffering. (Psalm 13)
7. Christian faith proclaims the ineffaceable dignity of every human being.
8. Christian faith draws us into friendship and community. (Ephesians 3.10)
9. Christian faith reminds us that we are loved and known by God.
10. Christian faith calls us from control to wonder.
Regarding the reference to Psalm 13, the anawim are those who stay faithful to God while waiting for God to act on their behalf while here on Earth. They are the least of the least through no fault or action of themselves. Their genuine needs may not be met until Heaven (Hebrews 11) but nevertheless they choose to keep looking to God. They walk the closest to God of anyone on Earth because they literally seek God the most of anyone. They have to (if they so choose). The parable of the rich man and Lazarus illustrates.
On the other end of the spectrum of experience and society here on Earth are those who live with NOT anticipating the Day of the Lord: The parable of the rich man and Lazarus illustrates.
A Hebrew word, the anawim are referenced throughout the OT and illustrated throughout the NT.
#6. “Christian faith gives us resources for engaging suffering, Ps. 13” is important but the speaker doesn’t go into it very much. 1) Perhaps it’s another whole Ppt slideshow. 2) Perhaps the medical profession doesn’t have much to offer here. 3) Perhaps it has to do with #10, the control to wonder postures. In this case, IMHO, it is a matter of control vs. humility. Suffering people are not “wondering” or in “awe” during their suffering – Book of Job. But suffering can be a very humbling experience, both for the suffering patient and for the patient’s family, as relief spins out of their control. Humility.
Interesting that the speaker, with his many degrees & credentials (nothing wrong with that), never mentions humility. Or, did he?
What Christian Faith Offers to Health Care?
#11. Humility.
We’ve known a few health care professionals in our experience who could use a dose, whatever their faith. Humility would only improve their practice.
For those interested:
Stories of faith during suffering, including dealing with the question of “Who sinned?”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/113196027?h=02a4b8f4a6
Another comment regarding faith and suffering.
Faith actually presents an enormous problem regarding suffering: How is it that here is a person suffering beyond comprehension and there is almighty, all powerful God looking on, (in apathy)?
the healing of the soul . . .
Human ‘health’ is so much more than just the physical, and in appreciation of the faith of the Centurion who asked Our Lord to heal his servant ‘with a word’, there is an ancient liturgical prayer, sometimes still said at communion, this:
“Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof,
but only say the Word,
and I shall be healed. “
Ava Aaronson,
My interpretation of this problem is that God’s response to suffering is to “send help”. Ordinarily, the help is a human helper. The period of the Judges provides serial OT illustrations. The book of Nehemiah is another one. Jesus sent to Israel is a vivid NT example.
But what if there is no-one willing to be sent? What if the creaturely agents are the apathetic ones?
My intuition is that if christian believers want God to have a reputation for “caring about what is happening in the world”, it may be necessary for them to care, and perhaps to even be the care that they think God would want to provide.
Helping and care-giving vocations might be wonderful ways to do that, and I’m sure there are many ways accessible to “laymen” as well.
The talk sounds like window dressing and propaganda (and rushed at that, after too much intro). Your question is realistic. The resurgents and their lookalikes did a “deal with God” reversing the intent of St Paul mentioned in Eph 3.
Christianity taught us not to supplicate. Genuine supplication is action, because it is not contriving. Earthly powers can now only do what bad religious leaders have caused to be decreed, defacing God’s name. Patients don’t “respond” according to some glossy catalogue.
It will have to be a different kind of “christian” faith than the “christian” one, that will offer what the doctor claims.
“What Does Christianity Have to Offer to Modern Health Care?”
Good question.
How about making Modern Health Care available to all through insurance plans that make the patient top priority, and not investor confidence on Wall Street?
Samuel Conner,
Thanks for your thoughts.
The Rich Man and Lazarus parable, Luke 16, seems to say there are Eternal consequences for this whole dilemma you mention, that may occur far too commonly on this Earth.
Some folks seeking God completely from Earth will finally have their solution in the Day of the Lord.
Some folks ignoring God completely from Earth will finally wake up to human need (their own, of course) in the midst of Eternal consequences, in the Day of our Lord. Too late, unfortunately.
Muff Potter,
In our little world in the US, our friends abroad have communicated to us that they highly value their NHS, (National Health Services or System). Not political, not perfect, but their NHSystem functions much like public education in the US. Essential for society overall, the Common Good. Their NHS plays an important public societal role even as there are still private choices for those who can afford more.
My understanding of history is that both the first public hospital (St. Basil) and the first public education for all (St. Jean Baptiste de La Salle) were put in place by Catholic saints.
Ava Aaronson,
Our NHS is a beautiful thing, something that has taken so much suffering & anxiety off the common people. We may not have it much longer though, given that our current ‘government’ prize money above anything else whatsoever.
Our former Children’s Poet Laurate, Michael Rosen, who had a very close run battle with Covid & for whom NHS staff fought long & hard, wrote this homage to it:
For the 60th anniversary of the NHS
These are the hands
That touch us first
Feel your head
Find the pulse
And make your bed.
These are the hands
That tap your back
Test the skin
Hold your arm
Wheel the bin
Change the bulb
Fix the drip
Pour the jug
Replace your hip.
These are the hands
That fill the bath
Mop the floor
Flick the switch
Soothe the sore
Burn the swabs
Give us a jab
Throw out sharps
Design the lab.
And these are the hands
That stop the leaks
Empty the pan
Wipe the pipes
Carry the can
Clamp the veins
Make the cast
Log the dose
And touch us last.
Michael Rosen
Michael in UK,
I have a more sympathetic interpretation of the talk (perhaps in part because it reminds me of themes, such as the inadequacy of a purely medical account of the human condition and “faith interpreting medicine rather than vice versa“, that I have encountered in other teaching settings that I found very helpful. Funny thing, even the speaker’s appearance and speaking style reminds me of a beloved old teacher, now departed, so perhaps that shapes my reactions.)
I think that Christian faith ought to be able to provide caregivers with internal resources that would help both care-givers and, derivatively, cared-for. This might be an argument for believers preferentially seeking training to serve in “provision of care” kinds of vocations; whether that is an argument made later in the series remains to be seen, but it might be implied in Prof Kinghorn’s remarks in connection with his citation of Eph 3:10.
The mention of past glories (“the impious Galileans care not only for their own poor, but for ours also”) might simply be boasting on the basis of reflected glory, but it might foreshadow a future call, in a subsequent talk, to the churches to live up to what their forebears achieved (a sort of institutional version of Paul’s appeal in Phil 3:16).
I look forward to further talks in this series, in hope that I will find them edifying.
Yes, and unheard of back in those days. And, some of the earliest voices for the abolition of the slave trade were Catholic.
This is a good point. We, too, have known health care professionals that respond badly to patient questions and requests for options other than what’s on the protocol menu. But, we’ve also encountered those who love patient questions and lean in well to addressing them honestly, which may not be completely. And we remember good doctors and other health care professionals who left us feeling very well taken care of.
When the speaker mentions, however briefly, that medical professionals need community and learning also, I think this might fall into the humility category. But, whether this humility is present when encountering patients and whether the community part of the patient need is meaningfully addressed with consultation and direction given to the patient by the health care professional is a question that I am left with. And this question, along with others, leads to an additional question. For persons with non-acute illnesses, where is their time and money toward seeking help with health care best spent?
American friends living in the UK agree.
Yes, this happens.
It’s also true that the medical profession simply does not have answers for many medical issues. Doctors are not gods. So, the natural response would be humility. One would think.
(Both of the above are also true in many professions that directly serve people. So, kindness is good, as well as the understanding that only God is God and there are no demigods no matter one’s profession or expertise. Thus, humility.)
“Lifeboat” to me is too Rapture-specific.
I see it more like “Fire Insurance and nothing else”.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
I agree that for many, “faith” is about “fire insurance”, but the metaphor I was reaching for relates to the church as a community of fellow-believers. That community is not thought of as the ‘fire insurance’ (not saved because ‘part of a church’ but because ‘prayed the prayer’); I think that for many it’s regarded to have the character of a refuge from the decadence of a world or age that is passing away. I think that ‘life-boat’ works for that.
Ava Aaronson,
Warren Kinghorn has spent much of his time dealing with veterans who have substance abuse problems. That job, in itself, demands a high dose of humility since it is not a position that many in the profession seek. In that environment, there is often very little positive feedback on many fronts, including from those who are being treated. My father was a doctor at an alcoholic hospital and I used to work summers there. It’s tough.
Warren went on to get his theology degree and teaches at both the medical and theology school at Duke. He is kind, quiet, and thoughtful with a self-deprecating sense of humor. He was always one of my favorite speakers at our Christian medical group.
BeakerN,
Thank you for that. I will share it with my hsband.
I did not know that. Thank you.
Very tough. And definitely a labor of love.
Thanks for sharing and filling in some of the gaps.
dee,
I admire his, your dad’s, and your work with these clientele.
Samuel Conner,
Agreed; doctors and patients alike, when approaching religion, need to equip each other to be alert to impostor versions.
. . . that caressed me as I went for my appendix to be had out (the night of Neil’s small step)
Very interesting. Many christians use the bait and switch trick against themselves. Rapture by integrity, laid down (like a pearl) how?
Ella,
What between the near collapse of many practices especially since 2017, the disappearance of many specialities for years at a time, mistreatment of patients for half or a whole lifetime because one can’t shop around, dodgy contracts, a Trotskyite “semper reformanda” mentality resembling one of my old movements, nonsensical diag nostic criteria, fake statistics in our DSMs as well as yours, politicised ignorance in reading different kinds of side effects . . .
It has had employment consequences when one didn’t take one’s obviously ill making antibiotics. Medical administration actually prevents one’s chosen companions join in caring for one.
However, in instances when the right pills are hit on, the present charges can be cheap (I used to buy a three month subscription for my pills).
Only providential belief (when it exists) (and not the conventional kind) will help.
One of my older sisters, retired RN here in the US, says in the 80s or early 90s, the doctors were more free to treat as they saw fit, with I’m assuming, care taken for the patient’s perspective. The doctors were the expert authorities. For a while now, the pharmacists and administration have been telling doctors what to do, what meds to use.
I’ve heard good things about the European systems, especially over the last couple of years and quality of data collection and sharing. I’ve also heard that, in general, there is more openness to some types of alternative treatments(prior to pandemic) and better accountability(prior to pandemic) regarding manufacturing of drugs, although I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. I, also, have friends who would remind me that having (supposed) competition means options and higher quality care and procedures (for those who can access and afford it or who might want it). My adds in ().
It’s complex. I have some intersectionality with some of my friends regarding some health care issues, being against mandates, that is.
Faith and prayer help tremendously. It is especially encouraging and hopeful to connect with doctors who treat and think (and listen) more holistically and conservatively and in real time. Although, it is tricky to navigate different systems in terms of cost and try to have part of the cost covered by insurance we’ve already paid for.