An Idea Whose Time Has Come

I've always heard "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

But what happens when it is broke and no one seems able to fix it? Healthcare is definitely broken — it's a disaster. And the more people try to fix it the worse it gets. Everyone who reads this column is concerned about healthcare. If you pay insurance premiums, if you provide medical insurance for your employees, and if you are facing a medical issue even with insurance — you are concerned.

Maybe you have heard about FaithHealthNC. This idea was introduced to Lexington in 2012 and initially focused on the faith community. But as the healthcare crisis has continued to escalate and as the FaithHealthNC dream has continued to evolve, we are realizing that this is much greater than local churches. FaithHealthNC has the potential to impact the entire community; churches, businesses, government, education, and the healthcare providers. It is an idea whose time has come.

I'm convinced that FaithHealthNC is one of the best things that can happen in our churches. When you consider that Jesus spent at least a third of his ministry healing the sick, when you recognize that the ministry of healing should be a major focus of the church, and when you realize that almost every family in a given church is dealing with a health-related issue, FaithHealthNC makes perfect sense. Remember the story of the four friends who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus? When they couldn't get him through the front door, they cut a hole in the roof. Now that is FaithHealth in action.

But why should the business community be interested in FaithHealthNC? The number one reason is "wellness." The best way to deal with the healthcare crisis is to stay healthy. Do you realize that approximately 80% of illness is preventable? Eight of the nine leading causes of death are preventable illnesses. Ninety percent of healthcare costs are related to preventable illness and disease.

FaithHealthNC focuses on healthy lifestyles—making wise choices in diet and nutrition, exercising, avoiding harmful habits such as smoking. It also stresses the importance of timely health screenings. Keeping a check on blood pressure and cholesterol, having routine blood work, mammograms and colonoscopies may save your life. The first colonoscopy I had ten years ago saved mine. A smart business owner will want his or her employees to stay up to date with health exams and screenings.

A second reason is access. FaithHealthNC gives you access to relevant health information. Educational opportunities are provided through FaithHealthNC. Since our church has been a member of FaithHealthNC, we have been able to provide excellent educational resources to our members. Outstanding speakers have educated us on proper diet and nutrition, heart-related illnesses, caregiving skills, advance directives, neurological disorders, cancer, and other timely topics. FaithHealthNC will also give you an inside door into the healthcare system. Should someone need a specialist, or if you have an employee having issues accessing services, FaithHealthNC can facilitate the process.

Networking is another reason to be involved in FaithHealthNC. You will be connected with dozens of churches, businesses and healthcare services that enable you to provide the very best care and access to your employees. If you are dealing with a need that you cannot meet, chances are someone in the network can.

While this community has suffered through the worst economic crisis in modern times, we have not lost our care and compassion. The best reason to be involved in FaithHealthNC is simply because we care about one another. Just like those four guys in the Gospel story who found a way to get their friend the help he needed, FaithHealthNC is designed to help us help others because we care.

The Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes the great potential that this has for our community. On May 20, the Chamber will sponsor a forum during a luncheon at the YMCA to introduce FaithHealthNC to the business community. I will be there. I hope you will, too. It's an idea whose time has come.

What Does the Word "Easter" Mean?

        Joyce was getting ready to post something on Facebook this morning and she said, “I’m going to wish everyone a happy “Resurrection Day.”

“Why don’t you say Happy Easter?” I asked.

“What does the word Easter mean?” she asked me.

My answer was, “Gee, I don’t know.”  So I looked it up.

        According to the Venerable Bede, an English Monk and historian from the 8^th century, the word Easter came from the goddess “Eostre” whose festival was celebrated by pagan Anglo Saxons at the vernal equinox and was associated with spring and fertility.  Perhaps this is a reason that some people don’t want to use the word “Easter.”  The only problem is that there is no other record of this goddess in antiquity. 

        The English word “Easter” is related to the German “Ostern” which refers to the east—the dawning.  That makes sense.  But there must be a better reason. 

        The strongest tradition relates Easter to Passover.  Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover feast and the Gospel writer John makes of point of telling us that at noon, the hour of Jesus crucifixion, the paschal lambs were also slaughtered.  The Hebrew word for Passover is “pesah” and in most European languages it is the origin of the word for Easter. 

        Just as the Paschal lambs were sacrificed to atone for the sins of the people, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross becomes the atonement for our sin.  Easter then means more than “resurrection,” it means forgiveness of sin through the cross and abundant life and life everlasting through the resurrection.  The cross loses its meaning without the resurrection.  The resurrection loses its power without the cross. 

        I’m often asked why we use the term “Maundy Thursday.”  That question is one I do know without having to look it up.  The word “Maundy” is Latin for mandate.  It was on Thursday night of Holy Week in the Upper Room that Jesus gave his disciples a new mandate, a new commandment, “That you love one another as I have loved you.” 

        I can’t think of a better way of celebrating Easter than following Jesus mandate to love one another, can you?  Especially since our sins have been forgiven and we have the dawning of a new day to live!

Why Do We Call It "Good Friday?"

          So why do we call it “Good Friday.”    The crucifixion was anything but good.  It was the most terrible form of execution, designed to inflict the greatest amount of suffering, humiliation, and pain.  The Germans call this day Karfreitag. The Kar part is an obsolete word, the ancestor of the English word care in the sense of cares and woes, and it meant mourning. So in German, it is “Mourning Friday.” And that is what the disciples did on that day—they mourned. They thought all was lost.

        It is only in English that we talk about a “Good Friday.”  Some have said that good can also mean holy, but I think that is a stretch.  There are a number of cases in set phrases where the words God and good got switched around because of their similarity. One case was the phrase God be with you, which today is just good-bye. So perhaps Good Friday was originally God’s Friday.

        But perhaps the reason we can call the day of crucifixion “Good Friday” is because of the good that was accomplished through this horrific act.  In the crucifixion Jesus became our sin.  He died to give us life.  Through his death our sins are forgiven.  The crucifixion led to the greatest good.  “For God so loved the world that he gave . . .”  

        If we call this day “Mourning Friday” with the Germans, we are facing reality head-on.  We live in a world of pain, suffering, injustice, and sadness—in the darkness we are left to mourn.   But if we choose to call this day “Good Friday,” we are also facing reality, but with a different outcome.  Because of the cross we have hope.  Because of the cross the darkness becomes light. 

        Dr. Thomas Long wrote about the two worlds that are colliding in the cross and resurrection.  He says of the women who came to the tomb on Sunday morning, “Without even knowing that they had crossed the border, they left the old world where hope is in constant danger, and might makes right, and peace has little chance, and the rich get richer, and the weak will eventually suffer under some Pontius Pilate, and people hatch murderous plots, and the dead people stay dead, and they entered the startling and breathtaking world of resurrection and life.”  

        On this “Good Friday” let us remember who we are!  In the words of Pope John Paul II, “We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!”

 

 

Well Done Good And Faithful Servant

 

        I remember Joyce telling me that Ardell Lanier was on the phone.  If Ardell is calling me, I thought, it must be something important.  It was.

        One of Lexington’s most generous and faithful servants is being laid to rest this weekend.  Ardell Lanier was a successful businessman who believed in giving back to the community who supported his business.  He was a cornerstone in First United Methodist Church.  Ardell and Edna have been generous benefactors of numerous agencies, charities, and worthy causes in the community.  My son’s agency, Carolina Cancer Services, is indebted to the Lanier’s for the house where they are headquartered. 

        Lanier Hardware is an institution in our town.  No visit to Lexington is complete without time to browse through Lanier’s.  If Lanier’s doesn’t have it—you probably don’t need it.   A few years ago I was getting ready to go to Belize when I got a phone call from a missionary in Belize telling me about a part he needed.  I had never heard of it.

        “It will be hard to find,” he told me.

        I went to see Ardell.  He knew exactly what I was talking about, but did not have it in stock.  “When do you need it?”  He asked.

        “I’m leaving for Belize in two days,” I told him.

        When I got on the plane I had the part with me, thanks to Ardell. 

        But perhaps nothing tells you more about the heart of this great man than the reason for the phone call that day.  Ardell told me that the prison needed a chapel and he was committed to raising the money to make it happen.  He wanted me to serve on the committee.

        I had every reason to say no.  I was already serving on two hospital boards, several community boards, and had more on my plate than I could remember.  But saying no to Ardell never entered my mind.  As Max Walser said, “The members of the prison board all told me that God was leading them to do this.  I wasn’t sure I heard the voice of God, but I heard Ardell’s voice and that was all I needed.”

        Raising money to build a chapel at the prison was an impossible task.  Lexington’s economy was at an all time low.  The recovery from the recession had not even started to materialize.  And this was a very unpopular cause.  Many people would not even consider investing in a chapel for prisoners. 

        But Ardell didn’t worry about popular opinion or economic forecasts—he had a greater calling.  He accomplished the impossible and a beautiful chapel is in use at the prison today.  I don’t know of anyone who could have accomplished that other than Ardell Lanier.   And nothing tells you more about the heart of this humble servant than his desire to build a prison chapel for the “least of these.”

        Hear the words of Jesus from Matthew 25.

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

  Well done, good and faithful servant.