BISHOP HALL SPEAKS TO THE CANCER SOCIETY

Tuesday, January 10^th, 2012

Please know that I am responsive to the honor conferred upon me by your kind invitation to address this August body.

Your work on the national basis has distinguished your group beyond question, and I add my voice to the chorus of commendations you deserve.

Admittedly, I was a bit amused at first – what can a preacher say to the Cancer Society?

Yet upon reflection I believe we have a lot to say to each other. The problem of pain and suffering; physical wholeness and spirituality, are all intertwined.

On a serious note your invitation is a poignant recognition that the spiritual dimension of life is fundamental to all life itself. And even a basic Sunday School understanding of the God of our Christian faith reveals that God, although shrouded in mystery, is involved with all aspects of human life.

Dr. Colin Archer, in a daily devotion on Love 97 Radio each morning, notes that we are not only human trying to be spiritual, but in-fact, we are spiritual beings trying desperately to be human.

Listen to an admonition the Apostle Paul gave to the church at Thessalonica – chapter 5:23 reads (KJV)

“And the very God of peace sanctify you

wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit

and soul and body be preserved blameless

unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Living Bible renders it:

“Now may the God of peace make you holy

in every way, and may your whole spirit and

soul and body be kept blameless until our

Lord Jesus Christ comes again.”

The Message Bible renders it:

“May God himself, the God who makes

everything holy and whole, make you holy and

whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body

and keep you fit for the coming of our Master,

Jesus Christ.”

Contrary to what some churches with a diminished view of God’s sovereignty teach, God wants each of us whole, complete and well-balanced.

The abundant life which Christ lived and invites us to embrace, impacts all dimensions of our mortal existence.

Any sickness or anything that takes away from our living on levels God our Heavenly Father, intended must not only receive our full attention, but we must seek to fully eradicate it.

As a Preacher for some 45 years and Pastor for the past 30 years, you can imagine the many corpses I have buried; the thousands I have consoled and counseled; grieving over loved ones and especially those dying of cancer in its many forms.

On a personal level two sisters-in-law of mine died of cancer. The last of the two lived with us the last six months of her life.

I am safe within the mark to assert that there is hardly a Bahamian who has not had a family member sick or who died of cancer.

The prevalence of cancer throughout our land is one of the greatest threats to Christian faith in the love and power of our God.

Persons who are cancer victims as well as family members are wrestling with the polemical problems of human suffering.

The problem of sickness, in all its multitudinous forms, demands that Christian Pastors speak biblically and clearly about sickness, healing and death.

I do not share the common view that all sickness is a divine judgment on some particular sin. I know all too well if that were true I would not be here.

Neither do I share the view that healing comes by some “mambo-jumbo” declaration by someone from out of town claiming to be a healer, especially at a cost. Neither do I believe in some Atheistic or agnostic view that God stands idly by, indifferent or unmoved by the suffering of His creation while evil forces wreck havoc on the innocent.

Please know that ours is a fallen creation. As most seasoned Theologians would tell you: “all creation is subject to futility.”

Each of you would be familiar with that Genesis passage which states that: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” and it says; He created every living creature and when He was finished he stamped his approval on all creation and said “that’s good.”

It must be said strongly all creation is God-created. All creation is under God’s sovereign purview. Therefore creation must be treated with the utmost respect. The earth; the living creatures on the earth – man, God’s highest creation and our bodies, all things are God-created. And, all in their original form, is good.

I am of the humble opinion that cancer and all sickness have their genesis in the devilish disrespect man has for the earth, human life and living things.

There are those who are of the opinion that attempting to kill cancer by nearly killing the host of the cancer – as we do with chemotherapy – cannot be wise, cannot be good – certainly is not respectful of what God has given us. A God-respecting approach must entail strengthening, not weakening the health of the person with cancer.

‘Curing’ cancer cannot mean eliminating cancer at all costs irrespective of the impact on the person harboring the cancer. Attempting to ‘cure’ cancer by permanently harming the tissues and organs of the cancer patient’s body – as we do with radiation –is not an approach to cancer that is respectful of God’s creation.

But let me leave that and go to the area in which I have some expertise.

The wonderful thing is that even though in this life on the cursed earth where we are subjected to diseases like cancer, we still have hope. Psalm 103 has a wonderful passage that gives us a confident assurance that there will be an end to the ills of this world. Psalm 103:1-4:

"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost

being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord,

O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who

forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit and crowns

you with love and compassion."

I recall so vividly the cancerous death of my two sisters-in-law. The first was at a time when Mrs. Hall was pregnant with our last child. We embraced life at two critical extremes “birth and death.”

Mrs. Hall attended her oldest sister’s funeral just days before giving birth to Sanderia. The joy and ecstasy of a new arrival was punctuated by the gloom of the death of a dearly beloved sister. We live much of life like that.

Another sister came to live with us just months before dying. You can preach about death and speak eloquently and philosophically about it, but when it takes up residence in your house you truly feel it.

Both my sisters-in-law were Christian believers. Their faith, though it grew thin sometimes sustained them.

Christian faith teaches us that in this fallen world, in which everything is subject to futility and decay, we can have hope God is still shrouded in mystery and by His permissive will, some things are concealed and some things are revealed. Yet we can embrace hope.

I recall my sister-in-law as she pressed her way to that land to which no traveler ever returns, fixed her hope on the eternal will of God; believing that no one dying and believing in Christ will be made ashamed.

Those who are inflicted with cancer should do all they can to seek wholeness – but many will face death. But my word to you is place your faith; your hope in a God who is bigger than all of us.

One of the great lessons I learnt from both of my sisters-in-law was that the human spirit when it is nurtured remains stronger than anything adversely that might happen to it.

As I sought to minister to the sister-in-law who lived with us I remember reading somewhere this powerful truth: “Cancer is a word not a sentence.”

Listen again to those words of Paul to the people of Thessalonica.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you

wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit

and soul and body be preserved blameless

unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”