Health – Page 2 – Episcopal Cafe

Love came down at Christmas

December 31, 2009 2 Comments

I looked out at the congregation, most in wheelchairs, some not able to speak out loud, but God was there – in their eyes, in their smiles, in the Spirit of Love that connected all of us. We blessed the bread and the wine and as communion was distributed, we sang more Christmas carols. We thanked God for the meal and for sending Love down to dwell among us and closed with a rousing verse and chorus of Angels we Have Heard on High.

Health care: if you can’t save everyone, who do you save?

December 11, 2009 3 Comments

For me, this has focused my attention on a very personal question: what is my life worth? Actually, for me the question has been less abstract and more comparative: why is my life worth more than someone else’s?

The Alchemy of Effort and Grace

November 15, 2009 No Comments

A well-planned rule of life can become the life-killing law that Paul warned about, a method of measuring our spiritual inadequacy when we fail to keep it perfectly (or worse, a source of smugness when we do). Sometimes we are not ready for change; we instead to stew awhile longer in our unhappiness in order to learn a lesson at a deeper level. Sometimes we can’t see what is best for ourselves, and so any plan we might come up with is worthless.

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Malawi

November 11, 2009 6 Comments

One Anglican priest read in the newspaper that there were “10,000 gay people in Malawi.” With a population of 13,000,000, we’d guess that Malawi has more gay people than that. But what we in the U.S. need to hear was where that priest took the news story. “What would Jesus do for those people?” Jesus would listen to them,” he said, “to understand their experience and then find a way to welcome and serve them.”

Does this car make me look fat?

October 2, 2009 4 Comments

If you’re like me there’s no excuse for not making more responsible personal health-care choices. I’m just taking advantage of the system. I would suggest, however, that some personal health-care practices are not due to freedom of choice so much as they are due to a paucity of options. The poor don’t choose to be poor, and many of their options are bad ones.

The necessity of outrage

September 18, 2009 11 Comments

We have fallen far if anyone, but especially an elected Representative, should show such disrespect for the Office of the President, whoever currently occupies that office. But quickly I was outraged at something else: I was outraged at the opposition to making provision to provide care for illegal immigrants.

Health care reform as Christian imperative

August 26, 2009 2 Comments

Dear Congressman Wilson: I am writing to you as a constituent and the pastor of a church in your district. I am also writing you as a father and husband, and the son of aging parents. With these responsibilities in mind, I beg you to do all in your power to pass substantive health care reform. Please don’t listen to the hysterical voices that try to sidetrack us from this crucial debate.

Not a pretty sight

July 20, 2009 8 Comments

Debriding is tough love. Twice daily with a sterilized pair of tweezers Ellen methodically pulled dead skin from the wound. Dead skin is attached to living skin. It hurt Peter. My job was to help him lie very still on his stomach while she worked.

The Christian response to a pandemic

May 6, 2009 No Comments

The collect or opening prayer at Episcopal Sunday services asks God to “grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads.” Where are we led in the face of such paralyzing fear, illness or even death? We have some examples.

Bound tight through blood

April 29, 2009 1 Comment

They pushed fluids … gave round after round of epinephran and took turns doing chest compressions for over two hours. They would get a pulse for a moment or two, just long enough to decide to keep going, before her heart would slow to a stop again. It was the longest I ever saw the medical team in the pediatric intensive care unit attempt resuscitation.

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