GOD AND PAIN ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10
May 3, 2009
Friday May 1-Paul hosted and made us all comfortable. Sarah cooked a mighty fine pasta primavera, and Ulla brought apple pie to finish it off. Dan led the ritual.
¬† From Dan: Given the swine flu scare, it seemed right for this week’s ritual to focus on sickness and healing. I had been feeling the flu all week, a flu that I’ve managed to mostly beat after a week in the dumps. But I noticed that I was very down on myself all throughout, on my own back, irritable, grouchy, cursing everybody who was in a good mood, (especially joggers!) and feeling very sorry for myself.
¬† Then I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she asked me to rank my pain on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being next to nothing, 10 being absolutely exruciating. On the wall was a vertical scale with a happy face next to the 1 at the bottom, and at #10 the face of what looked like agony, absolute friggin’ agony. I don’t think even Christ had it as bad as whatever #10 face went through!
¬† So the doctor asks me “Where would you say you rank?” And my immediate response was “4.” Then I thought, “4? After all this grouchiness and wallowing, it’s only a 4? I demand a recount!” And I realized that my perspective was as much in need of healing as my illness.
  So I wanted to talk Friday about emotional healing in the midst of sickness.
¬† One of the biggest themes was the need to let people in. Paul talked about a surgery he’d had around Christmastime: a group of carolers was making rounds at the hospital and wanted to stop by. At first, he told himself, “Screw them. I’m cranky. I don’t want to hear any Christmas music.” But he yielded to it and actually got into their rendition of “Jingle Bells.”
¬†¬† Ulla talked about how important personal items were to her healing one time when she was hospitalized. The little things like her towels from home that someone had brought her, and hearing Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love Of All” helped her get through an otherwise lonely time at the hospital.
  Isaac had my personal favorite story. He was about to go into the hospital for kidney stones, and he was in agonizing pain, crying his eyes out. Before he left the house, though, he stopped and applied some hair gel. That way even if he was a crying mess, he could at least keep some dignity and style.
¬† The next Transmission will be in two weeks at Bowie Snodgrass’ house.¬† Please e-mail transmissionchurch@gmail.com for further information.