Mennonites, Medicine, Faith, and Worldliness
The following email is something I posted earlier tonight on MennoMed, a group of conservative (relatively speaking, of course) Mennonite health care workers and students. Feedback is welcome.
The email's query about Mennonite patients looking for Mennonite doctors brings up another issue that I've been thinking about some. There is a Mennonite surgeon in SC who advertises in the Budget and has a fairly significant Mennonite patient base. As I get closer to being finished with residency (Ok, I'm only half-way there, but still), I spend more time thinking about what I want my practice to look like after I'm done. I don't think that I want a practice with primarily Mennonite patients. Doesn't that limit both my ability to be a witness to non-Mennonite patients, as well as the ability of Mennonite patients to witness to non-Mennonite health care providers? We've had several Mennonite patients at this hospital, and they have almost always left a very positive impression for faith on the staff that have provided with them. I strongly believe that we're called to be "in the world" while remaining "strangers" in it.
John 17:13-19
"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."
I Peter 1:1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world
I Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
In fact, worldliness isn't defined by whether you're relating to people inside or outside of the church. When people within the church are acting like humans rather than children of God, they are worldly.
I Corinthians 13:1-3
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
What does this passage say about the ever present divisions and quarreling among Mennonites? A nearby church recently went through some quarreling and divisions. It is dismaying when Christians act like "mere men," and the church becomes worldly.
I think where we as Mennonites run into trouble, is that we equate not "conforming to the world" to not being "in the world." Therefore, when the world gets into the church, the significance of what has happened isn't recognized.
The older I get, the more I think that existentialism (To use a dirty word, though I use it in the sense that Kierkegaard meant it as a Christian and the father of existentialism), is at the core of faith. Our faith is existential, in that its basis is rooted firmly in relationship. If we do not have a relationship with Christ, we will become worldly regardless of whether or not we're in the world.
2 Peter 2:20
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
Relationship cannot be seperated from actions. I John 2 clearly shows that "knowing Christ" leads to "keeping his commands." In keeping with that theme, I John 4 is a beautiful chapter. Like so many of John's works, the existential nature of God and faith (ie love) is linked to works.
I John 4:16,17
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
So any way, that all got rather long-winded, but my point as it relates to seeking God's will for my career is that God calls us to show Him to the world by being in it. I think that I can best meet the calling by interacting with people who do not know Him. Having said that, I am not trying to criticize people who desire to have a practice comprised primarily of Mennonite patients. Doctors like Nolan Byler can fill a very special and important role in those communities. That gets back again to the existential nature of our relationship with Christ, and therefore His ability to give all of us different callings while using the totality of the end result to build His church.
Anyway, I guess I ought to bring this to a close. I'm on call tonight, and have NOTHING going on. Its the kind of thing where if I try to sleep, I'll be hounded endlessly with calls whereas if I stay awake and write really long messages, they'll leave me alone.
Hans
The email's query about Mennonite patients looking for Mennonite doctors brings up another issue that I've been thinking about some. There is a Mennonite surgeon in SC who advertises in the Budget and has a fairly significant Mennonite patient base. As I get closer to being finished with residency (Ok, I'm only half-way there, but still), I spend more time thinking about what I want my practice to look like after I'm done. I don't think that I want a practice with primarily Mennonite patients. Doesn't that limit both my ability to be a witness to non-Mennonite patients, as well as the ability of Mennonite patients to witness to non-Mennonite health care providers? We've had several Mennonite patients at this hospital, and they have almost always left a very positive impression for faith on the staff that have provided with them. I strongly believe that we're called to be "in the world" while remaining "strangers" in it.
John 17:13-19
"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."
I Peter 1:1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world
I Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
In fact, worldliness isn't defined by whether you're relating to people inside or outside of the church. When people within the church are acting like humans rather than children of God, they are worldly.
I Corinthians 13:1-3
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
What does this passage say about the ever present divisions and quarreling among Mennonites? A nearby church recently went through some quarreling and divisions. It is dismaying when Christians act like "mere men," and the church becomes worldly.
I think where we as Mennonites run into trouble, is that we equate not "conforming to the world" to not being "in the world." Therefore, when the world gets into the church, the significance of what has happened isn't recognized.
The older I get, the more I think that existentialism (To use a dirty word, though I use it in the sense that Kierkegaard meant it as a Christian and the father of existentialism), is at the core of faith. Our faith is existential, in that its basis is rooted firmly in relationship. If we do not have a relationship with Christ, we will become worldly regardless of whether or not we're in the world.
2 Peter 2:20
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
Relationship cannot be seperated from actions. I John 2 clearly shows that "knowing Christ" leads to "keeping his commands." In keeping with that theme, I John 4 is a beautiful chapter. Like so many of John's works, the existential nature of God and faith (ie love) is linked to works.
I John 4:16,17
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
So any way, that all got rather long-winded, but my point as it relates to seeking God's will for my career is that God calls us to show Him to the world by being in it. I think that I can best meet the calling by interacting with people who do not know Him. Having said that, I am not trying to criticize people who desire to have a practice comprised primarily of Mennonite patients. Doctors like Nolan Byler can fill a very special and important role in those communities. That gets back again to the existential nature of our relationship with Christ, and therefore His ability to give all of us different callings while using the totality of the end result to build His church.
Anyway, I guess I ought to bring this to a close. I'm on call tonight, and have NOTHING going on. Its the kind of thing where if I try to sleep, I'll be hounded endlessly with calls whereas if I stay awake and write really long messages, they'll leave me alone.
Hans
posted by The Mad Hatter at 8:36 PM
2 Comments:
hey hans, interesting thoughts. I agree that the essence of our faith and the saving work of Christ must be found in and through relationship(s). I'd like to hear more about how this relates to existentialism as you see it defined.
I agree with your general view of things. I think that we can tend to live in our Christian or Mennonite rabbit holes and pop out our heads only when absolutely unavoidable. However, I appreciate your openness to some people being called to provide a specific service within that community. This is sometimes almost required because of a general reluctance to step outside of the community. You have some great thoughts
Dad
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