In Sickness and in Health

On a day work was pretty dead, I decided to take off a little early in the afternoon and check out a movie from the library (I COULD check out a book I know, but film remains my medium of choice when I want to veg). The movie of choice on the said afternoon was “Warm Springs”, an HBO film about Franklin Roosevelt’s struggle with Polio and his attempt to find treatment at the Warm Springs spa in Georgia. Although it was later believed that FDR suffered from a disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome and not Polio, history usually credits FDR’s illness with an increased attitude of compassion towards disabled people. The movie deals with him coming to grips with his illness and also finding hope to face the future.
The topic of health is one that is prominent in the Bible and in most other religious traditions. Rev. Rita preached a sermon once on the significance of Jesus’ healing in the New Testament given that even a minor cut or injury could spell disaster for someone before the time of clean water, Neosporin, and urgent care clinics. Beyond that, I think disease can be seen as a “great equalizer” in that there are many diseases that know no race, gender, or economic lines. After all, Ronald Reagan’s political accomplishments didn’t spare him from Alzheimer’s and Bob Marley’s talent as a musician didn’t prevent him from getting cancer.
Many people at Spirit of Peace have training in Medicine and Biology and I think they can agree disease in its myriad shapes and manifestations in an inescapable part of the human condition. Although the advancements in medical sciences towards understanding and curing disease is enough to make my head spin, at some point we must remind ourselves that we will probably never rid the human race of disease all together and, in truth, doing so would almost be against nature since part of being a living thing is being vulnerable to injury, disease, and death. I am reminded of my Maternal Grandmother, a woman who was always accomplished at maintaining her health, who went for her physical and her doctor detailed out a list of problems he had noted with her body chemistry, liver function, and circulation. Her response was (paraphrasing) “I’m in my late 70s, what did you expect?”
We focus a lot on God’s ability to heal, but we could also argue God can use disease as a way to direct people to do things they otherwise wouldn‘t. After all, if FDR was not stricken with his illness, would his wife Eleanor be thrust into public life and become the force for women’s rights that she was? Likewise, if not for Howard Hughes persistent (and, arguably, pathological) fear of illness, would his wealth have been used to begin the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a organization known for funding cutting edge research in the biomedical sciences? That is not to say God paralyzed FDR or gave Howard Hughes an irrational fear of getting sick. However, such things can be part of the human condition and, out of them, individuals have to dig deep to access the gifts God has given them.
Overall, I see life as a “package deal” from God, just as we experience joy, love, and pleasure we also have to experience pain, sickness, and loss for the good things God has given us to be more meaningful. Unfortunately, we cannot pick and choose what parts of God’s gift we really want. All we can do is have faith that, just as obstacles have been up in our way, we have been given depths of strength by God to face the adversity in life ill-health can bring.

Giving the Devil His/Her Due

Being someone who gets most of my insight and inspiration through television, one of my usual habits is to get into a particular series that is out on DVD and fly through the episodes with reckless abandon. The most recent series to get this treatment from me is the show “Carnivale,” which aired on HBO in the earlier part of this decade.
Set in the Great Depression, the show depicts two different people: one a farmer who loses his land and starts to travel with a carnival and the other being a Methodist minister who looks to expand his ministry on a massive scale. One twist to this whole drama is that the farmer (Ben) and the minister (Brother Justin) are the avatars for Good and Evil respectively and their eventual meeting will be the battle between Good and Evil carried out.
This TV show stuck out to me because it deals with the subject of evil, something that we don’t spend too much time dwelling on at Spirit of Peace Church. It is understandable, the subject receives considerable attention from many of the conservative denominations we came from and don’t care to go back to. When I was in college, I would attend a few meetings of a more conservative religious group and a subject of frequent discourse was the concept of “Spiritual Warfare,” the idea that Christians are in a constant battle with the forces of evil and we must remain ever vigilant against their attacks.
Although I do have trouble accepting the idea that we are constantly under attack by evil, I cannot deny that the presence of the Devil and demons is a part of our sacred story and their activities on Earth are usually associated with pain, sadness, and injustice. Still, the stories that discuss evil in the Bible such as Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert and Jesus casting out the Legion from the possessed man remain very black and white while we live in a world of Gray. For example, going back to “Carnivale,” Ben is certainly not without sin since he joined the traveling carnival after escaping from a Chain Gang he was sentenced to for murder. Likewise, although Brother Justin seemed preordained to be the avatar of evil, he really didn’t embrace his role until an act of violence committed by someone he trusted pushed him over the edge. In our society, an individual who commits a violent crime may use past, economic status, mental state, and other factors are often offered up as potential explanations (albeit not excuses) for committing a crime.
Therefore, I believe we are left with the question of what exactly to do about evil. While it is not something that should be ignored given its tendency to fester if it remains unchallenged, how do we reconcile that with not focusing so much on it that we forget the good news, which is Jesus’ message of salvation? As part of our service, Rev. Rita usually says the light has never been overcome by the dark. Evil is, unfortunately, an inescapable reality of life on Earth, but knowing that good is a greater force that it can never overcome gives us the confidence to know that evil’s hold over the world can and will be overcome.

Introduction

To whomever is reading this,
Hello and welcome to my BLOG. My plan to do this activity is to write out reflections that have become to long and cumbersome for my moderator reports for Spirit of Peace. In case you haven't heard about us, Spirit of Peace is a United Church of Christ church that is small but remains a vital and relevant part of the San Antonio Faith community. We are a just-peace, open and affirming church who welcomes all of any gender, age, ethnicity, origin, orientation...you get the idea. I am moderator of the church council and, when not leading the church through that dark tunnel that is life in hopes the light is not a train, I watch alot of TV, Movies, and (once in a while) pick up a book. Such media is usually part of my inspiration to write on matters. PLEASE NOTE, THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS BLOG ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE POSITIONS OF SPIRIT OF PEACE CHURCH OR ITS MEMBERS. I hope you enjoy my BLOG, feel free to comment, and I trust you are healthy and happy.
Your Servant
Floyd