Please be
seated.
Thank you Father
Kitagawa, for inviting me to the pulpit today and for your encouragement. I am honored and yet humbled to speak to you
today when we commemorate and celebrate those in healing professions and ministries.
There are 3 parts to
this talk.
First, I will tell
you about the history of medicine and healing in Old and New Testament
writings. As for many of you, understanding the historical and cultural context
of scripture strengthens and enriches understanding of whom and what we believe
Jesus and the gospel message to be.
Second, I will talk
about vocation and the interplay of vocation and faith. I’ll warn you right now that you are going to
get a dose Lutheran doctrine.
Third, I will tell
you how vocation, faith and witness play out in my life as an audiologist.
We start with the
history of medicine[1]. Medicine, disease and the Divine are
intertwined throughout history and cultures.
In particular, disease or disability has often been viewed as punishment
from an unkind or even avenging God. And
conversely, healing and restoration to health have been perceived as being due
to divine intervention.
What are the roots of
medicine and healing as they were viewed in Jesus’ time? The Mesopotamians
practiced medicine, and some surgical fees are spelled out in the code of
Hammurabi, ca 1950 B.C.
Priests of the
Babylonian empire were physicians. There was a close association between astrology
and medicine. This persisted for 3500
years and influenced medical thinking in
The Egyptians were
praised throughout antiquity for their medical practice their techniques and
teachings were adopted by the Graeco-Roman culture of Christ’s time.
Torah and Mosaic code
and law were strongly influenced by the Babylonians and Egyptians. There are references to disease in the O.T.
to be sure, but not much emphasis on healing. In the Psalms, sickness and
affliction portrayed as consequences of human sin. In O.T., God is the cause of
disease: consider the plagues visited on the Egyptians. But God is also the
source of healing. In Genesis, God
speaks to Moses saying: “I kill, and I make alive, I wound and I heal”.
The view of
physicians is generally dismissive if not disparaging in O.T. For example, Jeremiah’s cry “Is there no balm
in
Today’s reading from Ecclesiastics,
praising physicians, is from the period in which Hellenistic medical practices
and philosophies had influence. In these
apocryphal writings, the physician is
the agent of God: that is, physicians have been created by God. Also, God has provided medicines “out of the
earth” which sensible people will welcome and utilize. But healing is still ultimately dependent
upon God. Healing is achieved by divine
revelation, not natural insight.
Jesus is depicted as
performing healings in such a way that directly violated Jewish (Pharisaic) laws. He performed healings on the Sabbath, he
assumed divine prerogatives in pronouncing forgiveness of the sins that were
believed to have caused the sickness. He healed people who were off-limits due
to profession or race, and those who were ritually unclean. He carried on healing activity outside the
There are some who
think that Jesus was part of the monastic Essene community. The name of this
sect is derived from an Aramaic term denoting physicians or therapists. Their
main remedies were prayer, mystic incantations and amulets. They were convinced that faith could cure not
only illness but also those conditions considered incurable such as insanity,
blindness, deaf-and-dumbness and lameness. The Essene therapeutic method was to
bring the patients soul nearer to perfection and to make it receptive to the truth
of God. It is clear that many teachings of the Essenes were adopted by early
Christians.
Instances of Jesus
and his disciples healing are a central factor in early Christianity. The role
of Jesus as healer was in continuity with OT prophetic understanding of what
God was going to do for the salvation of his people and the healing of the
nations. Jesus fulfills the prophesies of Isaiah: he cures the deaf, mute,
blind and lame. Jesus is pictured in the
gospel tradition as an agent of Yahweh the Healer.
There’s your history
lesson. Now time for catechism!
Any other
“Lutherpalians” in the congregation today?? How about fans of Garrison Keillor
and
(Hold up Luther’s
Small catechism). Anyone else here who
memorized this? And all of the Bible
verses (N = 200). Yes, two years of
catechism, with both written and (public) oral exams (aka, examination of the
faith), during middle-school years. It
was certainly more rigorous than many courses than that I had later in high
school or even as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara.
My work as an
audiologist and professor are definitely an outgrowth and expression of the
religious education I received in the Lutheran church and the faith and service
demonstrated by my parents, Norma and Bill Cone.
A guiding theme was
Luther’s teaching about the importance of vocation[2]: specifically:
All work is good and
holy and that there are many ways to witness and serve that could and should be
carried out in every day life.
Vocation is a tricky
notion. Rightly understood, it sets us free to give ourselves for the service
of the neighbor to the glory of God. Wrongly understood, it enslaves us to the
boss, who now has divine authority to press us to see more patients, write more
grants, publish more papers. Christian vocation is about giving oneself to the
other in love and service in the freedom of the gospel. God will welcome all
our efforts to that end.
Living our call, each and
every day (ELCA Website)
Our true vocation is
to follow Christ’s example, living a life of meaning and purpose in service to
the common good. Our vocation is also witnessing
to God’s boundless love by what we say and what we do.
The Gospel teaches that
our salvation depends only on what God has given us (and summed up in 3 words):
GRACE, GRACE, GRACE. Luther taught that
our response to the gift of grace is to answer God’s call for our life in
vocation.
And so it came to pass in
my life, that an opportunity for service presented itself to me not long after
my confirmation---volunteers were needed in an organization that provided help
to parents of children with severe brain damage. I became very interested in
brain function and treatment for congenital or traumatic brain injury in
children. I got to know parents of these
children, and they told me that the speech language pathologist had a huge
positive effect in their children’s and family’s life. So, at age 15, I decided that would be my
vocation. There is even written proof---on the occasion of a friend’s 16th
birthday we were asked to write down what we were going to be when we grew
up. My friend, Ellen, has kept these
notes, and brings them out at our high school re-unions (the 40th
was celebrated in November). Although marriage and children with my high school
sweetheart did not eventuate as predicted, a career in speech, language and
hearing sciences did.
I work in a field that
calls to mind some interesting Bible stories.
Was Moses a stutterer? Some think so, and that is why he called upon
Aaron to speak for him. Jephthah and the men of
Was Zachariah,
John-the-Baptists father, rendered speechless due to a stroke, and then did he
have evidence of spontaneous recovery?
Instances of this are documented in the scientific literature.
There are plenty of other
instances of communication disorders in the Bible, especially of those of us,
who, like the O.T. Israelites “hear” but do not listen. The
The poetic prophesies of
Isaiah regarding the deaf hearing and mute speaking, are certainly fulfilled in
our daily work as audiologists and speech language pathologists. We have really good science and technology to
back us up in this.
For example, the cochlear
implant, a device that is used to stimulate the nerve of hearing, has provided
hearing to nearly 100,000 deaf infants, children and adults during the past 3
decades. Professor Graeme Clark of
To sum up the catechism
lesson: Faith, grace, vocation, service.
Witness
How does faith plays out
in my work? For the past 15 years, my
work has been in the lab and classroom, rather than in the clinic, as it was
for the first 15 years. There are plenty
of ways to witness, such as doing one’s job with a spirit of thanksgiving for
the opportunity to work.
Having memorized all of
those Bible verses and Luther’s small catechism at age 12, I find occasion to
use them in conversation with students and colleagues---which I try to do in a
light-hearted, sometimes ironic, but hopefully, meaningful way. Given that a
sizeable number of my grad students are devout Latter Day Saints, it is fun to
surprise them with knowledge of scripture and doctrine, and to be able to
converse with them about faith.
I read Forward-Day-by-Day
and Sacred Space on-line meditations and assigned scripture passages before
going to work in the morning. I find
that the ideas expressed there can frequently be worked into conversation, such
as “I read a blog this morning…” As one
Forward[3] writer
put it:
Our job
is to witness to what the Lord has done in our lives. The Lord’s job is to take
our witness, grand or simple, and use it to get to the heart of the one hearing
us. The writer also reminds us that witnessing can be the most natural thing.
You fall into conversation with someone who brings up a problem or concern. As
you converse you remember how God helped you with a problem of your own. You
share that incident. Even if you fumble with words God can use your witness.
And so, just being able to talk to you today is
a witness. And your being here and listening is a witness. And your vocations, not only in your public
life, but also your personal vocations such as a child, sibling, parent, or
life-partner or friend are a witness.
And now, to close, it’s time to pray together,
which we will do in song, hymn #707---with the help of my friends and
colleagues Kay and Jeffrey---
As we sing and pray, let’s give thanks for those
in our lives who are trained formally to be healers and ministers, and also
give thanks for those in our lives whose friendship and fellowship heals and
ministers.
Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to
thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move, at the impulse
of they love. Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing, always, only for
my king. Take my lips and let them be, filled with messages from thee.
[1] The following sources were used for the discussion of history, and in some cases, paraphrased:
Kee, Howard Clark (1986) Medicine, Miracle and Magic
in New Testament Times.
Major, Ralph H (1954) A History of Medicine, Vol 1.
Charles C. Thomas, Publisher,
Rosner, F. (2000) Encyclopedia of Medicine in the
Bible and Talmud. Jason Aronson, Inc.
Rosner, F. (1977) Medicine in the Bible and Talmud.
[2] Material in this section was shaped not only by memory but also from the following web-sites:
htpp://www.ELCA.org/Growing-in-Faith/Vocation/Life-as-Vocation.aspx.
Retrieved
http://www2.luthersem.edu/Word&World/EditorialFall2005.aspx.
Retrieved
[3]
Forward-Day-By-Day, http://forwardmovement.org,