In Sickness and In Health

In Sickness and in Health…

So the right side of my body is acting all crazy.  Really crazy, like waking me up in  the middle of the night crazy.  Because I work out so much, I want to think it’s just a muscle or joint issue, but part of me thinks it may be something a bit more odious.  The reason I’m concerned, of course, is because of the history of cancer in my family, and the fact that the final iteration of the disease began its metastasis in my mother the same way, by inhibiting her ability to walk.  I always joke that my doctors want to examine me if I have gas, they want to examine me, but the reality is that some of my enzyme levels are through the roof high.  That could indicate a lot of nonspecific things,  but it could also indicate muscular dystrophy or certain cancers. 

And I’m spozed to be having testing done, but it just gets frustrating to have testing and testing and testing done with no definitive results.  My enzyme levels have just about doubled in the last year, though, and the joint and muscle issues are sort of forcing me to go take care of myself…

Which is cool.  If I have a sickness or an illness, I’ll deal with it, as I always have.  I’m not getting anything done until I come back from Jamaica, where I hope to go ziplining and to record it on my GoPro.

What is not cool, in my estimation, is the current national debate over Marriage Equality.  Look, I’m an observant Christian clergyperson from a denomination that neither welcomes nor affirms same-gender-loving relationships.  While I don’t agree with that stance of my church, I remain under vows (which I take seriously) and respect the Church’s right to its opinions.  Just as white folk used to use theological grounds to exclude black folk, so straight folk have the right to use theological grounds to exclude gay folk.  I’m not for a moment saying it’s right or that I agree with it; I believe one has to acknowledge a problem before it can be fixed.  Further, I believe that until we Christians begin to see the biases through which we interpret our Holy Scriptures, that there will always be an opportunity for distortion.

By now my more conservative Christian friends are either throwing oil at their computers or have stopped reading, but I’m not saying anything I haven’t said before.  And having said all that, we need to understand that every American should have equal rights.  Personally, I think that ugly people should not be allowed to marry (or at least not to procreate); fortunately, civil rights are not dependent upon my personal nor upon my religious beliefs.  I mean really – yes, I’m Christian and I happen to support marriage equality.  There are plenty of Christians who don’t support marriage equality.  Do we really want our civil government making determinations on theology, or do we want to live in a country that is based upon a commonly acceptable set of civic guidelines and then to apply those guidelines to all citizens?

The haters will say that the State has an interest in preserving male/female marriage because only men and women can procreate and the State has an interest in continuing humanity.  I would counter that marriage, in general, is on the decline in the US, with the overall number of married couples in the US dropping by nearly 20% since 1960.  In such an atmosphere where esteem for the institution of marriage is steadily declining, it is easy to see why people might feel it needs defense.  However, I would offer that Brittany Speers’ 55 hour marriage Kim Kardashian’s 72 day marriage, the 6 month marriage of Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman, or the three marriages of Newt Gingrich or the five marriages of Elizabeth Taylor do much more to undermine the institution  of marriage then does the wedding together of two people who love each other but share the same gender.  Really, do we want to be all up in other people’s bedrooms? 

For  those who continue to express concern regarding “traditional family values,” I would offer with these stats from http://www.sos-usa.org/about-sos/what-we-do/orphan-statistics/pages/global-orphan-statistics.aspx (retrieved March 26, 2013):

Approximately 25,000 children age out of the foster care system every year at age 18.

• 25% of these foster children will become homeless
• 56% of these emancipated foster care children enter the unemployment ranks
• 27% of the emancipated male children in foster care end up in jail
• 30% of the emancipated females in foster care experience early parenthood
• The total number of orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa is greater than the total number of children in Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Canada and Sweden.
• There are currently an estimated 53.1 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
• There are currently 68.9 million orphans in Asia, giving this region the largest absolute number of orphans in the world.
• Roughly 6% of all children in Asia are orphans, with 7.7 million orphaned in 2010 alone.
• In Cambodia, Laos and Korea the prevalence is even higher where 10% of all children are orphans.
• Roughly 5% of all children in Latin America are orphans (10.2 million in total), with 1.2 million orphaned in 2010 alone.
• Even before the tragic earthquake in Haiti, over 15% of children were estimated to be orphans, more than twice the regional average.
• In July 2012, the population  of the US was: 313,914,040. 

With approximately 69% of US Americans married, that gives us about 216 million married people in the US. Assuming that each one is married to another one, that gives us about 113 million married couples.

There are, by conservative estimates, over 139 million orphaned children in the world, including 25,000 who age out of the US foster care system every year.  Would it be such a bad thing to redefine family (as we have done with extended families and other non-families of origin) to include people who have vowed and professed to love each other despite what the world says, despite those who would deny, exclude, and hate on them?

I don’t know.  I just don’t get why it’s such a big deal.  I don’t get why gay marriage is perceived as a threat.  The Jesus I know demands righteousness form all of us, and He knows and loves His sheep from other folds.  He’s also the same Jesus who says “If I be Lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me.”  Does that mean I shouldn’t draw near to Jesus because I’m not a man, or does that mean I should find the universal truth in that statement an govern myself by it?  And if we are lifting Jesus, how is He lifted up by our excluding others?  How is Jesus lifted by our saying “if you love according to the Bible I believe, then you’re ok.  If you don’t, then you’re second class.”  Is that not a Pharisaic wielding of the Law, rather than the Love?

Anyway.  They’re in church history and I’m writing a blog, listening to someone who doesn't understand how you can be Christian if you don't fast. I'm also discovering that 100 years ago, the issue of kingship and rulers was what was splitting Christianity.  The idea of elected officials was simply not in the Bible and not Biblical -- it was anathema, and not supported by the Bible, just like the idea of one man married to one woman was not supported by the Bible.  A hundred years ago, people thought that taking away the king was a threat to one's Christian faith.  Today, allowing same gendered people to marry is being said to be a threat to the institution  of marriage.  Folks, we Christians have to look at the lens through which we view our Sacred Scriptures, we have to look at the biases we bring to the table, before we can start claiming any sort of monopoly on Jesus. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me, A Sinner....

FAITH IN HEALING: Breakfast with Dr. Oz

On Thursday morning, March 14, 2013, I had the privilege of attending the Sixth Annual Women of Faith Breakfast sponsored by NY City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.  The Breakfast, at Union Theological Seminary, featured Dr. Mehmet Oz as the Keynote speaker, He spoke on the importance of Faith in Healing.

The Mistress of Ceremonies for the event was Rev. Dr. Renee Washington Gardner, widow of the Rev. Dr. Preston Washington, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church.  Dr. Washington, an NYTS Alum and the wife of Rev. Dr. Sean P. Gardner, Sr, has the distinction of being the first woman to serve, simultaneously, as Senior Pastor of one congregation and First Lady of another. 

The morning began with a song by Exousia, the praise team at Rivers at Rehoboth Church.  This was followed by prayer by Rabbi Linda Goodman, who in March 2012 was installed as the first female President of the New York Board of Rabbis.  After the prayer, the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, the 16^th President of Union Theological Seminary and first female to hold the post, offered her remarks.  Following Dr. Jones was Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, former Pastor of Mariner’s Temple Baptist Church, and Founder of the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church.  Rev. Johnson Cook now serves as US Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom.  She is the first female and the first African-American to hold that position.  Rev. Johnson Cook brought greetings from President and Mrs. Obama, and offered a prayer for Assistant Deputy Majority Leader Inez Dickens. Ms. Dickens was a co-sponsor of the event, but due to the untimely death of her husband earlier that morning, was not able to be present.  All assembled joined Rev. Johnson Cook in prayer for her. 

Rev. Johnson Cook also introduced speaker Quinn.  On this morning of firsts, it occurs to me that Speaker Quinn may be the first legally married lesbian to run for Mayor of NY City.  While not allowed to endorse any candidate, Rev. Johnson Cook introduced Speaker Quinn as an advocate, activist, and analyst who is a competent, confident and charismatic candidate for Mayor of NYC, noting her extensive work with the Women of Faith Breakfasts. 

Speaker Quinn noted that this was the Sixth Annual WOF Breakfast; prior ones have resulted in increased awareness of HIV/AIDS, and enactment of a law that made Kindergarten mandatory.  The focus of the breakfast was to be twofold:  a prioritization of women’s health and a conversation between spirituality and health.  Speaker Quinn noted that women of faith (this was targeted at faith leaders) must lead by example and must help one another. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz, three-time Daytime Emmy® Award-winning host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University.,  He also directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital.  He is the author of over 400 original publications, has received several patents, and performs more than 100 heart surgeries per year. 

Dr. Oz began his presentation by telling of a time he visited a hospital in Camden, NJ.  He was surprised to see that, inside one structure, there was a hospital on one side and a church on the other.  He than explained that, until about the 1900s, this was not an unusual arrangement:  hospitals were places where people went to die, while temples were places of healing. 

He spoke about how women are often spiritual leaders of the community, using his own wife (a UTS alum and the spiritual head of his household) as an example.  He used this to segue into the importance of faith in healing, and spoke of his own experiences.  Dr. Oz went from putting mechanical heart pumps in people to realizing that those people needed more to stay alive.  He realized, he said, that when a heart gives up, it’s a “spiritual civil war.”  So he began to talk to people on the verge of death and listen to what they learned. 

One of the things he learned, he said,  was that most predictors of a heart attack are not medical.  The Life Force, the Energy (the soul or the Spirit) is important, and we, especially those of us in the West, need to take a more globalized view of medicine, which includes connecting with that Life Force.  He noted the three functions of doctor:  Doctor, from Latin Doctore, to Teach; Physician, from the Latin physica, or Natural Science, or having to do with physics; and Medicine, which is from the Latin for  HEALING.

Dr. Oz then went into one of the areas of his research interest, which is Complementary Alternative Medicine, the most common manifestation of which is PRAYER.  Since most patients choose not to discuss prayer with their physicians, this points to an increased need for Pastoral services in a hospital environment:  Rabbis, Imams, Reverends, etc – people need HOPE, he said, and HOPE translates into making sense of what’s going on in one’s life.

He then cited studies showing the role of music in healing.  These studies showed increased brain activity while music was played to patients, even to patients under anaesthesia.  Other studies showed that music and or recorded suggestions would help people to bleed less during surgeries.  Dr. Oz noted that he now uses audio tapes to help his patients feel more peaceful and to heal more quickly.  He cites as the basis for this a study with 750 people undergoing heart catheterization.  This was a double-blind study in which patients got additional treatments of music, imagery and touch (laying on of hands), and off-site intercessory prayer.  While there was no statistical difference between people who received conventional treatments and those who received treatments with intercessory prayer, the studies showed a statistical increase in results among those who prayed and were prayed for!

Dr. Oz talked about his relationship with Oprah Winfrey, and the lessons he learned from her.  These were particularly important to him as a male, since males and females often approach life issues differently.  The lessons he says he learned were:

·         Listen before attempting to fix problems
·         Feelings change minds
·         Ancient solutions work (hence the reliance on prayer and laying on of hands); and
·         Make it easy to do the right thing.

Dr. Oz then left us with Five Things we can do that control 70% of how well and how long we live.  They are:

·         Blood Pressure (ideal is 115/75)
·         No cigarettes or toxins
·         Exercise 30 minutes per day.  Especially in large metropolitan areas, take advantage of the opportunity to walk!
·         Healthy diet that is easy to love; and
·         Stress Control.  He had us do some deep breathing exercises which he says are at the core of Islam, Buddhism and ancient Christian practices.  He emphasized breathing from the diaphragm, four counts in and four counts out, explaining that this causes a rush of nitrous oxide to the brain, which is at the core of mystic healing practices.

Last but not least, Dr. Oz concluded his presentation by urging us to share the message, stating that if we do so, we would effect more healing than he ever could.

 

 

Last but not least, here's a link to the official NYC photos from the event. 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94254506@N07/sets/72157633051489595/