{"id":651,"date":"2014-04-28T22:09:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T03:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/?p=651"},"modified":"2017-04-18T14:57:42","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:57:42","slug":"the-flesh-surrendered-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/?p=651","title":{"rendered":"The Flesh\u2014Surrendered\u2014Cancelled\u2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 24, 2014, Dr. Jerry Umanos, a Chicago pediatrician who worked at Lawndale and later continued to provide\u00a0health care\u00a0in Afghanistan, was killed in the hospital he was working at in Kabul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Chicago<\/a>
Chicago in the winter of 2014 (Photo \u00a9 Henry Del Rosario)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Departed\u2014to the Judgment\u2014
\nA Mighty\u2014Afternoon\u2014
\nGreat clouds\u2014like Ushers\u2014leaning\u2014
\nCreation\u2014looking on\u2014<\/p>\n

The Flesh\u2014Surrendered\u2014Cancelled\u2014
\nThe Bodiless\u2014begun\u2014
\nTwo Worlds\u2014like Audiences\u2014disperse\u2014
\nAnd leave the Soul\u2014alone\u2014<\/p>\n

– Emily Dickinson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
\nWhen you sow, you do not plant the body that will be,
\nbut just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else…<\/p>\n

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.
\nThe body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
\nit is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
\nit is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
\nit is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…<\/p>\n

Listen, I tell you a mystery:
\nWe will not all sleep, but we will all be changed\u2014
\nin a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…<\/p>\n

– 1 Corinthians 15<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

Although I have never personally met Dr. Umanos, I spent one month during my fourth year of medical school working at Lawndale Christian Health Center<\/a> in Chicago. Lawndale is a FQHC<\/a>\u00a0focused on community health and providing jobs for the underserved west-side. I enjoyed\u00a0the rotation\u00a0because it was so different than my previous rotations\u2014 people there worked with\u00a0a mission that was\u00a0much more than medicine. They wanted to provide affordable and quality health care but\u00a0also build\u00a0the community up. Despite medical illiteracy, intermittent visits, social conditions, and cultural\u00a0frustrations there was a permeating aroma in the air\u2014 hope, life, and joy lingered as people worked. These doctors, nurses, secretaries, and staff weren’t just “doing” their jobs, but were “healing” their brothers and sisters who were sick.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Hearing the news of his death on NPR and later in the Chicago Tribune<\/a> made me sad because of the loss of such a passionate\u00a0and humble man in terrible circumstances. According to the Lawndale press release<\/a>, Dr. Umanos was one of the first doctors to start Lawndale and continued working there for 25\u00a0years until he decided to work in Afghanistan. There, he worked for\u00a0nearly a decade at CURE International Hospital, caring\u00a0for patients and training\u00a0doctors (there are only 2 medical residencies in Afghanistan<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a7<\/p>\n

Death is sometimes senseless. It takes the best of us and spares the worst. It’s passionate and yet at times indifferent. As I reflect on this doctor’s death, I am reminded of a particular poem by Emily Dickinson that is breathless and beautiful. Dickinson paints death as the\u00a0end of a musical performance in a grande hall. The audience is ushered\u00a0out, everyone lines out, and\u00a0the performer is figuratively left behind by the rest of the world. Paradoxically, “Creation” is the audience of the narrator’s death. The loneliness of death is appropriate yet ironic, carthartic yet unsatisfying.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In the same meditation, these verses from\u00a0the bible came to mind. I love how we are compared to a seed that must die in order to grow. In\u00a0death, we\u00a0“clothe” our mortality with immortality, our perishable with imperishable. There\u00a0is a splendor in life and a splendor in death. There is a glory in life but a sublime glory in death. It is only at the end of our performance do we receive the applause and glory. Dickinson’s words and these bible verses describe death through\u00a0paradoxes to help us understand death as a\u00a0sublime transformation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a7<\/p>\n

Dr. Umanos’ death is horrifying and tragic, beautiful and painful, and mysterious. As I meditate on his life and the work that is happening in Lawndale and in many other places in the Chicago, I am reminded of the “death” we carry in ourselves when we love and serve others. How many sacrifices has he made in his personal life? How many trials and tibulations, persecutions and abandonments, has he prayed through and suffered through? Something tells me that this “death” was not his first for it was once written “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”<\/em> (2 Cor 4: 10<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Thank God that there is hope to something more than nothing after death\u2014<\/span> there is life, glory, and victory.<\/p>\n

Where, O death, is your victory?
\nWhere, O death, is your sting?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

– 1 Corinthians 15<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 24, 2014, Dr. Jerry Umanos, a Chicago pediatrician who worked at Lawndale and later continued to provide\u00a0health care\u00a0in Afghanistan, was killed in the hospital he was working at in Kabul. Departed\u2014to the Judgment\u2014 A Mighty\u2014Afternoon\u2014 Great clouds\u2014like Ushers\u2014leaning\u2014 Creation\u2014looking on\u2014 The Flesh\u2014Surrendered\u2014Cancelled\u2014 The Bodiless\u2014begun\u2014 Two Worlds\u2014like Audiences\u2014disperse\u2014 And …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[29,28,27,23],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-verbal","tag-biography","tag-health-care","tag-missions","tag-verses","column","threecol","has-thumbnail"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago.jpg",2113,766,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-300x108.jpg",300,108,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago.jpg",660,239,false],"large":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-1024x371.jpg",660,239,true],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago.jpg",1536,557,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago.jpg",2048,742,false],"slider-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-1140x395.jpg",1140,395,true],"blog-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-700x300.jpg",700,300,true],"teaser-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-332x205.jpg",332,205,true],"gallery-1-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-432x432.jpg",432,432,true],"gallery-2-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-268x268.jpg",268,268,true],"gallery-3-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-268x164.jpg",268,164,true],"image-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-700x253.jpg",700,253,true],"video-thumb":["http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/blackwhitechicago-700x393.jpg",700,393,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Del Rosario Henry","author_link":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"On August 24, 2014, Dr. Jerry Umanos, a Chicago pediatrician who worked at Lawndale and later continued to provide\u00a0health care\u00a0in Afghanistan, was …","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1392,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions\/1392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}