The Little Friar

I've had more than my fair share of doctors lately.  Waiting is a difficult thing for me to do.   In his ethical section of "Freedom for Life" ( Church Dogmatics , III/4, sect. 55), Karl Barth wrote: " Sickness, like death itself, is unnatural and disorderly.  It is an element in the rebellion of chaos against God's creation.  It is an act and declaration of the devil and demons.  To be sure, it is no less bound to God and dependent on Him than the creature which He created.  Indeed, it is impotent in a double way.  For like sin and death, it is neither good nor is it willed and created by God at all, but is real, effective, powerful and menacing only in its nullity, as part of that which God has negated, as part of His kingdom on the left hand.... "The realm of death which afflicts man in the form of sickness ... is opposed to His good will as Creator and has existence and power only under His mighty No.  To capitulate before it, to allow it to t...

Earlier this week I was diagnosed with an abscess growing just at the base of my skull, on the back of my neck.  I had presented with ear pain but when the growth went from golf-ball-sized to hockey-puck-sized, it was time for treatment.  Since that initial diagnosis I've had considerable pain, along with two additional growths -- one on the mirror side of my neck from the first, the other is a substantial 3-inch growth on the top of my head.  The pain is nothing short of excruciating. I have trouble sleeping and laying.   For those who know me best, this is particularly scary.  It's eerily reminiscent of cancer.  I've been "clean" for five years.   All of this puts me to mind of thinking theologically about illness.  Some Christians say we should celebrate our sickness; that it's a gift God is using to teach us God's will.  They try to emphasize  God's sovereignty by describing cancer as a "gift" and "blessing" which is "desig...