Psalm 103:8-14
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was a nineteenth-century obstetrician disturbed by the fact that so many of the mothers at a Viennese hospital were dying from an infection shortly after childbirth. He noticed though, that women who were treated by midwives were less likely to contract the infection. Also observing that the medical students who attended the women killed by the disease were not washing their hands, Dr. Semmelweis suggested that all medical students working on the maternity ward “wash their hands in a solution of chlorinated lime [before seeing patients]...The rate of infection plummeted from 18 percent to 1.5 percent over several months...”
“You might think Ignaz Semmelweis would have been lauded as a hero. Instead, his brilliant observations...stirred up such controversy that he lost his position at the hospital and ended his career in disgrace...” write Dr. Dale Matthews and Connie Clark, in their book, The Faith Factor. "He was ultimately confined to a mental institution and tragically, he took his own life. It wasn’t until 1879, thirty one years after Semmelweis' death, that Louis Pasteur successfully defended obstetrician’s research, that he was vindicated. As medical researcher Matthews and Clark put it, “Semmelweis couldn’t fully explain how or why his remedies worked. He only knew through experimentation and observation, that they did work...”
Today, we begin a new worship and message series in which we look at what impact that faith in the God we know through Jesus Christ can have on our everyday lives.
In recent years, in fact, there has appeared mounting scientific evidence, gathered by medical and psychological researchers, demonstrating the positive impact of faith on every aspect of life--mental, emotional, physical, and relational as well as spiritual. None of this is to say that faith in Christ makes this life perfect. For perfection, we’ll have to wait for heaven. But in the meantime, a real faith in God can help us in every aspect of living. We, like Semmelweis whose research showed that good hygiene helped people be healthier, may not be able to explain how or why faith in God helps us in our lives. But the evidence that this is so is too compelling to ignore or dismiss.
In The Faith Factor, Matthews and Clark present a summation of countless scientific studies examining the impact of faith on how people experience life.
For example, a study of more than 90,000 people from one county in Maryland “found that those who attended church once or more a week had significantly lower death rates from...coronary-artery disease (50-percent reduction), emphysema (56-percent reduction), cirrhosis of the liver (74-percent reduction), and suicide (53-percent reduction)...”
Generally, research shows that people of faith also recover from disease more rapidly than others, experience less depression and recover from it more readily, are more resistant to addictions and more capable of successful recovery from them, report being more personally happy, have happier marriages, and even with the onset of terminal illnesses, are better able to cope.
Faith also has an impact on longevity. Our time on this planet ends, of course. (As one of my seminary professors, Walter Boumann used to tell us, "Among human beings, the ratio of deaths to births is still one to one." But “one study that followed 5286 Californians over 28 years found that, after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and education, frequent religious attendees were 36% less likely to have died in any year.”
Lutheran pastor Michael Foss looks at all this research and concludes, “practicing faith is good for you.” I believe that. It’s good to have God in our lives. I can’t explain it, yet like the author of today’s Bible lesson, taken from the Old Testament song book, the Psalms, we can say:
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits...[God is the one] “…who forgives all your iniquity, heals all your diseases, …redeems your life from the pit, …crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, …satisfies you with good as long as you live…”How this works, we can’t say scientifically. But I’d like to give you my guess about the answer. It’s based in part on what the Psalm says next:
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins… For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear (worship and trust) him; as far as the east is from the west so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.Around Friendship, we talk about seven habits of joyful people. It’s people who cultivate the habits of faith--prayer, regular worship, reading God’s Word, serving others in Jesus’ Name, telling others about Jesus, encouraging others with the love of Christ, and giving to Christ’s cause in the world--who enjoy a close relationship with God that sustains them through all the days of life, good and bad.
Her name was Francis and she was a member of my former parish. Several years before I arrived there, she’d suffered a stroke. Physically, she was strong as a horse. But her mind had been severely effected. Every month for five years, I visited her in the nursing home. Every visit began the same way. “Hello, Francis,” I’d say, “I’m Pastor Daniels from Bethlehem. I’ve come to visit with you.” Each time, Francis would be a bit wary of this stranger she’d never remembered seeing or talking with before.
But I’d coax her to take a seat by the window in her room and we would sit down for a chat. Francis told me about all the work she’d done out in the fields with her husband that day, recounting precisely how many acres she had planted or cultivated. I would ask questions and she would tell me about things that had happened long before as though they were the latest news items. Occasionally, she would interrupt herself and ask me, “Who are you again?”
After a time, I would ask her if she would like to receive Holy Communion. She wasn’t sure what I was talking about at first, but by this point in our visit, she was fairly agreeable. We would begin the Communion liturgy and when we came to the Lord’s Prayer, I could hear her softly reciting every word. After she received the body and blood of Jesus, her reaction was always the same. With a smile on her face, she would look me directly in the eye and a clear cogency in her demeanor, say, “Thank you!”
I’m convinced that even as the stroke and dementia beclouded her mind, Francis was a happy person. Long before, she let Jesus into the center of her life. She had cultivated those habits of joyful, faithful people and so faced each day with confidence and hope.
A few moments ago, people who direct various ministries for our congregation explained what they’re doing and how you can get involved. This fall, don’t miss out on the chances with which these leaders have presented you, to grow in faith that sustains you in real life. Pray about it and then get involved. You won’t regret it!
[Pastor Mike Foss' sermon on this text inspired my message and caused me to delve back into Matthews' and Clark's excellent book, which I'd read several years back.]
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