John wrote on Sun, Mar 26, 2017 at 11:21
PM
Hey
Dana
It was a warm fall day back in 1993
when Carol and I went to Washington, DC for a day of touring. In the early years of our marriage, we went frequently
for several reasons. Secretly, I always thought we would return and live there.
I, having worked in DC, was familiar with the confusing roadway system
(although the highway department would argue that). And I think this is the
greatest city in the United States, having visited and or lived in or near many
that people consider “great:” Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland,
Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Honolulu to name some. We had a “route.”
Our route, once we crossed the
boundary from Maryland into the District on Georgia Avenue, was to first go to
the National Cathedral, and then down Wisconsin to Massachusetts Ave and down
to the Mall area, sometimes detouring to pass the Watergate. In addition to
several of the museums and monuments on or near the Mall (Carol likes Natural
History because of all the birds and I like the Jefferson because of its fluid
stateliness and the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin), we always went to The
Wall—or The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It never failed to bring me to somber tears. Some think The Wall is in the shadow of
the Lincoln Memorial, not me. But on that warm November day there was something
different. A new memorial had been added just off the grounds of The Wall. The Vietnam Women's Memorial had only recently been dedicated.
I am close to weeping even now
thinking about it. Because The Vietnam Women’s Memorial (also referred to as
the Nurses Memorial) had just been dedicated, it was surrounded and overflowed
with flowers, notes from soldiers, airmen and Marines who were helped, saved,
by nurses during the war, or mementos of various kinds that recalled someone’s
treasured memory of some Nam event. It was hallowed ground, as much so as The
Wall. The bronze memorial is of the three women, one cradling a wounded
soldier, all of them on top of a pile of sand bags. How many of our warriors would have died, but
for the selfless giving of the nurses?
Perhaps you remember the television,
dramatic series China Beach, that I
believe made Dana Delany the star she is. That show was set at an evacuation
hospital during the Vietnam War. It
focused on the lives of the medical personnel and Red Cross volunteers working
to save lives and boost morale. (Donut Dollies, as they were affectionately
called, were with the Red Cross as part of its Supplemental Recreational
Activities Overseas program. It was one of several ways American women
participated in the war. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/opinion/combat-nurses-and-donut-dollies.html?_r=0 )
And of course, there was M * A * S *
H. and Margaret Houlihan and her team of dedicated Army nurses. I find it
interesting that as I tried to research the many other actresses who played
those nurses, many were nameless due to the rules of broadcast. Isn’t that the
case so often in medical situations or emergencies—who remembers the nurse’s
name that helped you?
What got me thinking about those
angels in khaki? Did you know that Florence Nightingale was a Christian? I’m
still reading the book They Were
Christians, The Inspiring Faith of Men and Women who Changed the World, by
Cristobal Krusen.
https://www.amazon.com/They-
Were-Christians-Inspiring- Changed-ebook/dp/B012H1050E
So often while reading what Krusen wrote about Florence
Nightingale, I found myself thinking of the great needs within the Veterans
Administration today, and how those who secure our freedoms—in this case the
military men and women—are often despicably treated once they return and are
almost tossed away and forgotten as a paper napkin after wiping one’s mouth
after a big meal.
Florence
Nightingale, or Flo, as she was frequently referred to came from an upper crust
British family in the 1800s. Because of the era, women were expected to not
have any kind of professional life, and were only to marry and underpin a
husband. According to Krusen on page 62, while a teenager she was converted in
1836 “...after reading The Cornerstone,
a book by an American Congregational minister named Jacob Abbot.” Then, during
the flu epidemic in England in 1937, while she was “nursing the sick around
her,” she heard a voice calling her, God’s voice, into service for Him.
She wanted to be
a nurse, a career path that at that time in England was compared to being as
low as a prostitute. While her mother flipped out over her choice, Flo never
waivered in moving in that direction. Krusen wrote that at that time in
England, “Hospitals were known to be places rank with disease and dirt more
than places of healing.” pg 64
Years past and
Flo wrestled with God, frequently questioning Him as to why He had yet to open
the door to service. That came after Britain entered the Crimean War in the mid
1800s. (Did you ever see the Errol Flynn movie “The Charge of the Light
Brigade,” which was loosely based on an heroic event during this war?) “Sick and wounded (British) soldiers
typically had to wait for days or weeks...” to be transported from the front
back to a temporary military hospital, travelling on mules or in carts. Once they
reached what was supposed to be a place of succor there were almost no medical
supplies, no running water, no operating table and the wounded were often
placed on “the vermin-infested floor and never washed or attended to.” pg 68
They were just left to die.
Into this medical maelstrom,
Florence Nightingale brought order, cleanliness, sound medical practices, hope,
peace, and tireless attention to duty—in spite of the medical men of the day
who, in essence, let those conditions develop and didn’t want any help from a
nurse...a woman to fix things.
According to Krusen, at the end of
her life, when she was around 90 years old, she is reported to have said with
resolve and good cheer, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord...will give me on the day of his return.” (2 Tim.
4:7-8 NLT)
Right now, I’m afraid I don’t have
her resolve. But I hope I’ll be able to say that when my time is near.
Yours for the Harvest,
John
+++++++++++++++++++++
Dana
answered on Tue,
Mar 28, 2017 at 3:18 PM
Hi John,
Thanks for the interesting read on
Florence Nightingale. Her’s is an
inspiring story indeed that really deserves its own book rather than just a
chapter. I’m surprised that someone in Hollywood hasn’t optioned her story.
She was also called “the lady with the
lamp,” by wounded soldiers who saw her making her rounds at night by lamp
light. With her Christian faith being
the motivation and underpinning of her devotion to patient care, and health
care reforms in her day, that title has a lot to say. It is unimaginable to us today to even begin
to comprehend the horrors of being an injured or sick soldier in the 1850’s in
and around Eastern Europe and Turkey.
Miss Nightingale was convicted that she was “called to God,” and one
would have to be to embark on such a mission into the teeth of such butchery as
was ascribed to the Crimean War; a war, which surprisingly, in itself had
religious factors in its cause. The inspiration
to bring light into dark places is at the heart of all Christian endeavors.
The national shame of how we treat our own
homecoming veterans is something for which our country will have to pay, and,
for which we may already be paying, given the state of things. Our reprehensible
national leaders will have a lot to give account for when they stand before God
and His searing light is shined on their callous, bordering on criminal
negligence. And we too will have to answer for not marching on DC in mass, with
pitchforks and burning effigies of each and every one of them, and demanding
reform. The suicide rate among veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq is
staggering, but ranks in the public consciousness about 50 places behind who is
on “Dancing with the Stars” this week.
This could easily turn into a political
rant, in light of our own Congress’ complete ineptness to adequately address
America’s health care problems, and to put political gain above the needs of
the sick. It beats me how our overpaid, elite, corrupt masters in Washington,
who laud themselves as knowing
everything, cannot come up with a system that is fair to all concerned (the
patients, the health care professionals, and the insurance companies). Office workers
hanging around the water cooler for ten minutes on Monday mornings are more
likely to come up with more viable solutions than our lawmakers have in a
decade.
Here’s my water cooler solution: if we
were to pass an edict in this country mandating that every single American,
regardless of age, race, creed, sex, income level, or political affiliation or
rank; whether politicians in the government or just all the rest of us, but
EVERYBODY had to be on the exact same medical insurance plan, with the same
benefits and restrictions as everybody else—then we’d get the health care
problem fixed. And, I’m guessing we’d have pretty good health care, and have it
pretty quick. I know, why don’t we get the business men and the lawyers and the
politicians out of healthcare altogether, and let the doctors run it? Or, horrors of horrors, why don’t we let the
churches attend to it like they used to do?
My money’s on the fact that I’ll probably find gold at the end of the
rainbow before I’ll see any of that ever happen.
Moving away from the political minefield
of the national healthcare debate, let’s hop over the fence to another piece of
ground, sure to have its own abundant supply of landmines. And since this might
end up a Blog topic, let me extend its applications more broadly to any and all
who may read.
Am I the only one who thinks it notable
that Miss Nightingale, as I said, was “called to God” and what that actually means? It is truly astounding what all she
accomplished against such overwhelming social odds in fulfilling her “call.”
Of late, I tend to feel more and more
uncomfortable when I hear someone say they were “called to preach.” Don’t get
me wrong, I thought I was “called to preach” once too, but after decades of
walking with God while trying to heed that “call,” I see things somewhat differently
than I did when I was a younger man. That is not to say that God never wanted me to
preach, and that I just interpreted His leading incorrectly, or that I went
astray and abandoned the “call.” The
“call,” to me, has come to have deeper meaning.
Now, before anybody out there who feels
“called to preach,” goes and gets a burr under their saddle, let me explain. I
am neither saying that God doesn’t enable and equip certain people who dedicate
their lives and gifts towards the preaching of the Gospel, nor do I doubt that any
preacher’s ministry is given by the Lord. OK? I’m just not satisfied with the notion that said
preachers, whether pastors, missionaries, or evangelists are the only ones who
are “called.” Miss Nightingale never
stated that she was “called” to be a nurse, or even that she was “called” to
reform healthcare practices in her day and time; she was “called to God.” That’s
the correct model!
Like Miss Nightingale, people are “called
to God.” Then those whom God “calls” to
Himself, He equips, empowers, and directs to the place and ministry where they
will exercise the most fruitful service for His Kingdom, whether it’s as a
nurse in the Crimean War, or as a universally known and loved evangelist such
as Billy Graham, or as the fellow or lady who gets to church at 4:30 AM to
start breakfast for after the Easter sunrise service, or the children’s Sunday
School teacher, or the church custodians and sextons, or the pastors, or every
other believer in every other church on earth.
In my own Sunday School class we’ve
discussed the subject of evangelism, which in some ways can be like a debate on
the end times, as heated as it is fruitless.
Many do not want to engage in evangelism because they feel it’s the
pastor’s job, or perhaps it’s the fear of lack of eloquence, reluctance to
engage the public, or the fear of hostility, etc. Too many times some well-intentioned someone
has written a guidebook on how to do evangelism, which either gives stock 1, 2,
3 step formulae on how to perform such activities, or serves to shame those who
do not feel comfortable participating.
Neither is all that helpful in my opinion, and only serves to dampen
potentially enthusiastic spirits, and/or throw guilt trips on those who feel
fearful or inadequate to the task.
News Flash: we’re all inadequate to the
task. The last I checked, only the Holy
Spirit was up to it. The way we’ve
tackled the issue of the layman’s spread of the Gospel is wrong-headed. First off, there is way too much of a gulf
between the pulpit and the pew. The
distinction between clergy and lay persons is terribly out of balance. It’s not that I believe there should be no
established and recognized church leadership, but it should not be held in
esteem above other gifts and jobs dispensed among all citizens of the Kingdom.
Following the example of Miss Nightingale’s
life, what if we taught people that all of us who are saved are “called to
God,” how might that change things in the church? What if we stressed the biblical thought that
God gives to all in His extended family, a variety of abilities and talents
that the Holy Spirit will “enhance” to further God’s purposes and plans? (1
Corinthians 12)
What if there were no lowly positions in
the Church, just lowly attitudes? What
if the church grounds keeper (or or or or or ) viewed his or her tasks as
coming from his or her “calling” [to God] and was viewed the same way by his or
her brothers and sisters in Christ in the performance of their duties?
All of us are “called,” Brothers and
Sisters. The calling is to God, who made
us, and who, by the way, made us intentionally just the way we are, and can and
does overcome all obstacles, both physical and spiritual to get the job done. And,
no job in the furtherance of the Kingdom of God on this earth before the return
of Christ is unimportant. Not one.
Getting back to evangelism for a minute, I
would like to reiterate something I’ve commented on previously, but it bears
repeating. What if a Christian who is not particularly gifted in speech, and
doesn’t hold any degrees in Bible or theology, but really loves to mow grass, used
their lawn mower (and their God given abilities) to mow the grass of an
unbeliever down the street? A random act
of kindness! What if a Christian of
means undertook to help a nonbeliever caught in a financial crisis? What if a
Christian plumber knew someone with leaky pipes, and offered to lend a
hand? Can you see where I am going with this? The possibilities are almost unlimited.
There are myriad ways every believer can
help out someone in need, and thus befriend a nonbelieving relative, neighbor, co-worker,
or friend. No religious assaults
necessary, no awkward memory verses, no programs; just that which would serve
to build a relationship, which at some point might prompt said nonbeliever to ask,
“Why are you doing this?” Shazam! Now
the door is open! And, isn’t it easier
to carry on a conversation with a friend as opposed to a complete stranger? And wouldn’t it seem more conducive for an
unbelieving person to accept new or foreign ideas from a friend, rather than
someone who meets them on the street and publically puts them on the spot?
Unfortunately the world gets it, and the
church is slow to catch on. There are TV
commercials by insurance companies and sausage breakfast biscuit purveyors
alike, depicting everyday “Joes” and “Janes” just doing some random act of
kindness to someone who neither solicited nor expected it, and showing how said
act positively affects all who either receive and/or witness it. It’s not a hard concept, loved ones. People like being treated as if they matter,
and to the “world, the flesh, and the devil” they matter little. The church needs to exploit this. We need to exploit this.
For the church to do this doesn’t require a
reinventing of the wheel, or receiving a proposition from Lichtenstein. Simply train up all Christians to know that
they are “called” to God, to be one of His own, and to use their God-given talents,
traits and abilities, whatever they may be, to serve an oh so important role in
spreading the Kingdom on earth before Jesus returns.
It’s important to read about Christian
heroes and heroines like Florence Nightingale, but it’s also important to
strive prayerfully to be one. You [each
and every one of you] are good at something, from brick laying, to brain
surgery, to basket weaving, to baking cookies. Something!
You may think you or your abilities may not count for much, or are
unimportant or insignificant, but does God, or can God ever do anything that is
unimportant or insignificant? So in light of that, keep your eyes open—there’s
an unbeliever out there somewhere in need of a friend with your abilities and your
love. If you cannot see such a one, ask God to put such a person in your path.
Go be a Florence Nightingale!
+++++++++++++++++
John
replied on Tue,
Mar 28, 2017 at 9:58 PM
Hey
Dana
I’m glad you went in the directions
you did. These things need to be aired out and the problems solved. And they
can be, I believe, with a person like President Trump because he is a business
man and not a professional politician. But as you wrote above, “Moving away
from the political minefield...” I would like to add something about being
“called to God.”
At a church we used to attend, I had
a nursing home ministry for nearly 20 years, leading it much of that time.
Carol took part in it for about around seven or eight years. Once a month, our
church’s nursing home ministry team would go to three nursing homes in West
Chester, PA. The “team” varied from month to month and was made up of anywhere
from two to six to eight adults. Before leaving the church to minister, we’d
fast and pray. Then pack up and jump in the van to scoot around town from
facility to facility. We had a large, LL Bean canvas bag of cast-off hymn
books. Carol would bring her portable, electric piano. I would have my
harmonica. And everyone would have love, God’s love, for the elderly, for the often
dementia puzzled and/or bed ridden residents of those three elder care facilities.
As you know, although I went to
Bible college, I was not “called” to be a preacher, pastor or evangelist. I was
just a “regular Joe,” a pew sitter who wanted a bit more Biblical training so I
could be a better servant of the Lord. I was called to God.
When we’d enter the meeting rooms—in
the various care facilities—that served as church, I made sure every team
member went around to ever resident and gave them some kind of Christian
greeting, and when possible (some of the residents were grabbers or even
biters) shook their hand, gave them a hug or meaningfully, but tastefully, touched
them all. Some residents might go a long time without a loving touch. Then
Carol would play several hymns, and I’d “preach.” My messages were short,
usually only 10 or 15 minutes at most, because we only had one half hour at
each home and then 15 minutes to pack up and get to the next one, and do the
same thing all over again.
And then, during the preaching,
members would go down the hall and greet residents in wheel chairs or who were
bedridden in their rooms. When time allowed, we’d pray for whatever needs we
could.
The team consisted of all
volunteers: an office administrator, a singer, an IT person, a car salesman, a
homemaker, and retired executive. From month to month, it often varied, but
they all wanted to serve God, somehow.
I fear for the electronic Church.
Why get up and get out on Sunday morning when most churches today have live
streaming? Why pack up the kids into the car and head to church when they have
some all important sport on Sunday morning that interferes with being in
church, and they can go home and see a taped message? Why gather, face to face
with friends and actually talk eyeball to eyeball when they can be texted to
find out how the service was? I’m trying not to be legalistic, and no, God
never outright condemns electronic gathering. But is it any wonder why Church
attendance continues to shrink and there are fewer and fewer members or
attendees who are willing to volunteer for the various needs and ministries in
the Church, and its outreaches?
When I got saved, I had only recently
separated from my first wife. I only knew two people in the large church God
“led” me to—my next door neighbors who aksed me to go with them. I had to work on Sundays—although in time, in
the off season (I worked at marina and marine store and summer was our busiest
time) I was able to attend church first and then go to work; although I was
always there Sunday evenings and Wednesday nights. So what did I do? We had a
large kitchen and often put on dinners for the church or other ministries, such
as the Railroad Ministry—people who literally worked on or retired from the
railroads—and I washed the dishes and pots and pans and bused the tables and
took out the trash. Was I called to that kitchen? No. I was called to God, and
that kitchen was a place to serve others and Him. How does one do that on a
tablet or a cell phone?
***************************
Dana
adds a post script on Wed,
Mar 29, 2017 at 9:03 AM
I
hear you, John. Technology can, when
used rightly be a good thing. Think of
how difficult our Blog would be to put out if we were still writing on paper,
and going back and forth through the mail.
It might take us weeks to work all the bugs out of just one Blog
article, and once the “paint dried” on the finished product, then how might we
disseminate it to our readers?
But while I thank God for the
where-with-all to do what we do, I also see the darker side of technology. Staying clear of all the nefarious ways
unscrupulous people might use it to harm others, one of the biggest dangers is
that of it fostering “virtual” relationships, hence, I believe, the meaning of
your ending comment.
To be clear, I am very thankful for all
the friends and acquaintances I’ve made via the internet’s bringing the world closer
together, and I wish I could meet and shake the hands or give a hug to all
those I’ve met. But to many, who have
not had to hammer out a real relationship with a friend or loved one, or
spouse, “virtual” relationships may be all they know, and the virtual actually
becomes reality. It’s easy to have
virtual friends, because we can tightly control the image of ourselves we
present.
You and I both know that what makes our
friendship as good and as satisfying and as durable as it has been for decades,
is that we cannot hide from each other.
We know each other’s good and bad sides.
We’ve shared times of laughter and tears, and stood shoulder to shoulder
in times of lean and plenty. We’ve encouraged each other, and we’ve yelled at
each other, and yet, whenever we talk, despite the miles and the years between,
we pick up the conversation where we left off last time. I fear the younger generation risks the loss
of that, by substituting the virtual for the real. And to that degree, the church faces the same
risk, if it doesn’t get proactive to the contrary.
And that is something I believe the church
has going for it. At least for now, the
church can still, if it desires to, offer real relationships in place of
virtual ones. In a world where everybody
is getting more and more detached from everything and everybody, having
someplace they can go where people genuinely love, and tangibly demonstrate
that love can be a real oasis in the desert.
Humans are losing their sense of meaning. Knowing God through Christ, affirms humanity,
because God created humans, and even though rebellious and fallen, He loved us
enough to die for us, and He wants to share all of eternity with us. No matter how you cut it, that’s not a bad
deal, and everybody’s looking for a good deal.
Satan’s got plenty of deals to offer—we just need to make ours more
attractive, and we do that the way God does it, by overwhelming love.
When it’s all said and done, perhaps our
evangelism would be better executed by showing that genuine, heartfelt love and
friendship and kindness to all the isolated, and detached, and the alienated
humanity who wander our streets and towns, offices and factories, and yes,
dancehalls and bars…rather than just firing off a string
of Bible verses at people who are not believers, and cannot understand the
significance of them anyway, and worse still, threatening them with a hell in
which they already live. We need to live
those Bible verses, not just quote them.
Love them. Get them in out of the
cold. Get them to Jesus, by showing them
Jesus. Get them in, and then we can tell
them about Him.
Your point is well taken,
Dana
+++++++++++++++++++++++
John
adds a post script on April 1st.
I was talking to someone about this
(forthcoming) post. This person favored the virtual church because, if I
understood correctly, they had been hurt by the phonies in church pews; i.e.
those who looked good and sounded good on Sunday morning, but were far from the
living and loving example of Christ and were more like tools of the enemy,
either knowingly or unwittingly. I understand this person’s point of view. Both
Carol and I have been hurt by both church attenders and leaders. Christ, also, knew the phonies. He knew those
who looked good and sounded good. And what did Jesus do? He spread His arms on
the cross and died for them too.
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