2019
November 17 / 33rd Sunday ●●
Malachi 3:19-20a ●●● Psalm 98 ●●●
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 ●●● + Luke
21:5-19 ●●
Title:
died in the past year.
[__01__] What does it take to win…. What is a “win” …
what is a “loss”?
Shortly after my mother had back surgery in
late March – disc surgery on her spine – due to arthritis, we were in her
hospital room in NYC. Given that my mother has Parkinson’s the movement
disorder in addition to this back problem, we were quite concerned about our
mother’s care, what would be the next step, et cetera. Spoiler alert…my mother
did well with the back surgery and has progressed quite well in the past 7
months.
On this particular evening, 48 hours
after the operation, I noticed that the nurse in the hospital -whose name was
David – he taught us about what was a “win”
in that moment.
David was able to care for my mother,
who was able to come back a bit and make her feel somewhat victorious after
surgery, able to answer all my questions, and do all of this while we watched
Michigan State win against Duke in a consequential NCAA March Madness playoff
basketball game. My mother also enjoyed watching the game and it took our minds
off of immediate concerns about her health rcovery, upcoming recovery, et cetera, et cetera. It was a good day
also for for Michigan State.
I am not absolutely opposed to Duke
winning one more basketball game, but I was rooting for Michigan State in this
particular case. And, Michigan State was
also the underdog or less favored team in this game.
[__02__] What is defeat and what is victory?
In his non-fiction book and research
study, Being Mortal, and in his
writing on the subject of death, mortality and medical care, the Harvard
physician, Dr. Atul Gawande, shared his own education in caring for people who
are in a situation of dying, of incurable disease, of very old age and shared
that he had realized again and again that he was asking diagnostic questions
often in terms of “defeat” and “victory”. He was asking his patients: , either
explicitly or implicitly in the medical care field: “should we fight or should
we give up?”
Although the question is usually asked
more formally as – should we prescribe more medicine, do more surgery ….[OR]
should we just help you to be more comfortable?
Should we fight or give up?
Dr. Gawande’s point is that – for the dignity
of you or me or himself – or any patient, we do not really think of our lives
in terms of “do I fight or do I give up?”
In fact, every one of us is going to
die one day. None of us gets out of this competition
/ GAME …. alive.
[__03__] In
the Gospel, Jesus acknowledges this as well using the metaphor of the house &
Temple. But, it’s not just a metaphor, because he’s talking about the overthrow
or the defeat of the Temple Jerusalem.
And, the Jewish people are used to
this. Because the Temple has been destroyed / invaded before.
And, every time it is destroyed, it’s
the “end of the world”
Or as the band R.E.M. once sang …”the end
of the world as we know it”, whenever the Temple is destroyed. And unlike the
song, they don’t
feel fine.
So, Jesus is using the Temple
overthrow as an example of defeat.
Now, the people may think … we are
going to get one more extreme makeover out of this, we are going to re-build
the Temple, like on HGTV. But, the end of the Temple is the end of the world as
they know it…but the New Temple is Jesus Christ’s body.
[** pause **]
[__04__] Dr.
Gawande’s experience was enriched by his encounter with one particular patient
whose “chart” sparked the same question: “victory or defeat” / “do we fight or do we give up?”
He encountered a a piano teacher who had an
incurable cancer and tumor.
He was told by some other doctors to
interview her in the following way to ask the patient , “What are your goals?” / “What are your
objectives?”
Because – it is nice for the doctor to
ask you the patient about your goals rather than for the doctor to impose
goals.
So, he asks this question and the
piano teacher and patient says. What do you mean, what are my goals? I’m going
to die, I don’t have any goals.
Dr. Gawande was confused …the other
doctors did not tell me what to do if the patient had no goals.
So, he goes on to the next
question. What are your fears? What are
you afraid of?
Then, the patient started talking,
explaining how she feared dying in the hospital, being left alone, being alone,
being in pain, being incontinent.
[__05__] All
of this helped Dr. Gawande come to a greater understanding of what he calls –
and what we already know – is the reality of mortality.
Because the reality of mortality is
not about immediate defeat or victory.
In
other words, the real and
When we factual truth that we are all going
to die. The reality of mortality. While
we come to church, to faith, to hear the Gospel with a hope of eternal life, we
also come with some understanding that we are mortal, with reality of
mortality.
But, I would suggest that Jesus in the
Gospel is also adding another dimension to this – teaching us about the overthrow
of the Temple … and that the overthrow/demolition is not just going to lead to
one more “extreme makeover” like “flip-this-chapel” or “fixer-upper” like on
HGTV. Jesus is speaking of the
MORTALITY
OF REALITY.
In other words, that the structures we
know today – whether it is a financial structure or a health structure (body) or
a physical structure (house, tower) is not going to last forever.
The writer – Reinhold Neibuhr – wrote
a famous prayer that summarizes this quite well – for many years, I really only
new the first part – Part One – of the prayer which is often an encouragement
given to those in 12-step programs or the journey to sobriety. The prayer also
reminds that we are in God’s hands:
[Part
1]
God, give us grace to accept
with serenity the things I cannot cannot, Courage to change the things I can, +
the Wisdom to know the difference. [Part
2] Living
one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a
pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This
sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all
things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in
this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
[__06__] So,
it is our hope to be happy not only in this world, but also in the next world
and in the next life.
But it is also in our approach to
dying and the days we have left – all the time we have left – that we testify
to the value of our lives and service we can render to each other.
Is it simply about immediate defeat or
immediate victory? We know ..that our redeemer lives.
What are your goals? That’s a hard
question to answer.
That’s a hard question to answer. But,
sometimes, we can simply answer this question – what would be a good day for
you?
It was a good day watching Michigan
State defeat Duke in OT at Mount Sinai hospital and go to Final 4, while David – the nurse – gave me his opinion
on the Michigan State offense, and keep my mother interested in not only her therapy/care
but in three point shots / basketball.
[__07__] Dr.
Gawande’s testimony is that sometimes we reduce our goals only to the comforts
of the patient rather than to the connections of the patient.
He continues with the story of the
terminally ill piano teacher, who was not just any piano teacher, but his
daughter’s piano teacher, his 13-year old daughter’s piano teacher, and he now
had to explain that she would not be taking lessons from Margaret any longer.
He explained this.
Then, something remarkable happened. A
few days after Margaret returned home, her pain was more under control and
Margaret called the Gawande home and asked to speak to her student, invited her
to come for a lesson.
In the final weeks of her life, she continued
to give lessons, meet students, give away music, even hold two recitals in her
home.
And, while her total time at home was only
about 6 weeks, this was about a month longer than expected. While everything – in fact – was taken from
here in the reality of mortality and mortality of reality. There was also – in the dying process – a
giving back and gift giving to her students.
Those who die not simply leave us, they teach
us how to live, when not a stone will be left upon another stone.
Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at
a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This
sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all
things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in
this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. [__fin__]
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