A THEOLOGY FOR PROSTATE CANCER
          After 10 years of tests and biopsy reports, they finally got me. I’ve joined the club no man wants to join but is liable to no matter what. I have prostate cancer, hopefully early stage and low grade. The only thing worse than knowing you have it is not knowing you have it. You can live with what you know better than with what you don’t know.
          One of the things you learn as a minister is that a whole bunch of people have big time problems. Most of us don’t know about them. Spend a half-hour in the waiting room of any of the specialties in a health clinic and you’ll get the picture. Most people endure their difficulties pretty much quietly. And most can find others worse off than themselves.
          I have to admit that the news (that wasn’t that big of a surprise) set my philosophical and theological wheels spinning. Philosophically I realize that being alive is a life-threatening condition. Something is going to hasten our exit from this world, sooner or later. We all hope and pray for “as later as possible.” And usually, the thing you think most likely to get, you won’t.
          The theology of the matter is something to think about. I have evangelical friends that assured me of their prayers at the time of my biopsy. One seemed shocked to discover that his prayers hadn’t been answered. He talked about Jesus having his time for everyone, and he guessed maybe Jesus had other things in mind for me. 
          I said, “I don’t happen to think that way. I don’t think Jesus is in the business of passing out cancer or removing it.”
          He was still listening, so I kept talking.
         “I don’t think there’s a God or anything out there that makes specific intervention on behalf of selected individuals. If that’s so, there are bunches of people who ought to be way ahead of me in line.”
          Of course, one doesn’t want to cut off whatever supportive “energy” may be available as the result of caring and sharing of love, thoughts and prayers. It can’t hurt, and there is some evidence that it may help. I can tell you, however, of innumerable situations in my churches where many people prayed for healing results that never came. 
          It might be nice to be a recipient of a “miracle.” It would also be embarrassing. I have always thought that testimonials from people who claimed special healing were both speculative and self-serving. To believe that the world is subject to the random whims of a divine puppeteer requires a stretch of faith that I don’t have.
          What I do believe is that life is an amazing thing, and that life tends to want to live. I believe that there is healing in the world, and more specifically, within ourselves. How to claim this healing is not always clear. We are fortunate to live in a time when modern medicine has given us life-extending options, to go along with the spiritual and mental gifts within. That doesn’t assure healing, but we are far better off in that regard than anyone could have imagined 100 years ago—or even 50.
          Psalm 90, one of my favorites, suggests that “the years of our days are three-score and ten, or by reason of strength, four-score.” You know, until recent years, most people didn’t get that many. I’m pushing hard on three-score and ten. It looks like I might have to push a little harder to make four-score. The reality is, there’s no safe place. There are no certainties. We are thankful for what we get and hope we use them well.
          My morning mantra is “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” My advice to myself (and others) is “Do not be anxious for tomorrow…Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for itself.” I add a line from our Moment closing song, “To take each moment and live each moment…” Each day of life is a great gift. The best way to appreciate a gift is to use it.
   — Art Morgan, May 3, 2000