The Significant Death of a Nurse: Genesis 24:56-67 and 35:1-8

The Significant Death of a Nurse:  Genesis 24:56-67 & 35:1-8

Celebrating the Love, Life and Legacy of

The Late Edna M. Vaughn

Offered by

The Reverend Victor Michael Singletary, Pastor

Cambria Heights Community Church

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Quite interestingly, the Bible contains several stories in which nurses play a pivotal role in God’s overarching plan of salvation for humankind.  Nurses often appear to us as insignificant persons in the larger scheme of life.  Many of us who have been hospitalized consistently remember the names of our doctors.  We can even recall where some of them went to school and the nature of their specialization.  But, we fail to remember the names of any of the nurses who assist us during one of the most vulnerable times of our lives. 

Moses’ mother serves as his nurse and ensures he escapes the death sentence Pharaoh declares for all Israelite male babies.  As a nurse, Moses’ mother nurtures and he survives.  I imagine she prepares him for his divine destiny that he fulfills in leading the Israelite during the wilderness years.  Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, nurses Ruth’s son, Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse, the father of David, the descendant of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, within the tribe of Judah.  Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan, the son of King Saul, survives because his nurse faithfully and diligently cares for him.  Joash, who assumes the throne of Israel at seven years of age, survives to become king because his nurse hides him within the temple for six years.  Like Moses, Joash would have been murdered as an infant had not God intervened through the direct compassion and protection of a nurse.  Whereas we know the name of Obed’s nurse, we do not know the name of the nurses in the other three stories. 

Yet, in biblical times as well as today, nurses play a critical role in the lives of many people.  Countless nurses care for the sick and dying each day with most people hardly expending the energy to remember their names.  As midwives, agents for healing and restoration, listeners, and counselors among a myriad of professional responsibilities, nurses personify God’s presence in the health challenges of millions of people.  Arguably, we praise doctors and take nurses for granted.  In the cacophonous, longstanding and continuing national healthcare debate that began in January 1981, our nation did not consider the significant role of nurses until we experienced a shortage of nurses.

Practically speaking, nurses run hospitals.  In the summer of 1989, I served as a chaplain intern at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.  It was a rather tense season at the hospital because revenues were down, budgets were cut as savings measures and the contracts of all employees were being renegotiated.  Most surprisingly, even the surgeons were complaining about their level of compensation.  However, the chief of staff for the hospital made it known to the 1199 Union of Service Employees and all other interested parties that he would not settle with any group until he had reached an agreement with the nurses.  He said, “I can manage the hospital without some of you.  But I can’t run this place without nurses.  The lack of nurses will shut this hospital down.”  Not surprisingly, the nurses negotiated a really good contract for themselves.  However, on the systemic level as well as the personal level, nurses provide the essential difference in quality care for patients.

The late Reverend Doctor Samuel Dewitt Proctor, former president of two universities, a trained theologian and the Pastor or Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem for eighteen years, told the story of the pivotal role that a surgical nurse played in his life.  In 1990, Dr. Proctor underwent a triple by-pass heart surgery.  This surgical nurse came to him during the pre-op period.  She said to him, “Dr. Proctor, you are a Pastor and theologian.  I imagine that it is difficult for you to admit that you are scared about this procedure.  I feel led to pray for you.”  Dr. Proctor recalled the nurse’s prayer immediately gave him the comfort, reassurance and peace of God.  He knew the surgery would be successful.  Regrettably, we do not know the name of that nurse.  But we know that her spirituality, professionalism and care greatly assisted Dr. Proctor in a time of dire need.  Perhaps, it made the difference in his life and enabled him to live more productively in the twenty years that he enjoyed after major surgery.

Dr. Proctor’s story appropriately transitions us to a consideration of this nurse, Deborah, found in the book of Genesis.  Deborah, the nurse, obviously had a profound influence upon the lives of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel, Leah and their burgeoning family.  We discover Deborah in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis.  She serves as the nurse to Rebekah who would soon be betrothed to Isaac.  Nurse Deborah leaves the land of her birth and familiarity and travels with her mistress, Rebekah, as she becomes the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau.  The Bible does not provide the details of the many years that Deborah spends with this family as it grows.  Not only does she care for her mistress, Rebekah, Deborah also cares for her twin sons, both of whom would become the fathers of two great Abrahamic nations.  Several chapters later, as Jacob returns to Bethel with his family.  He reflects upon God’s saving grace and protection when he first came to Bethel as Jacob was fleeing the bloodthirsty vengeance of his brother, Esau.  We easily surmise that Nurse Deborah serves this family for many years and in multiple generations.  At the pinnacle of Jacob’s spiritual journey in which he leads his entire family back to Bethel and introduces them to the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and Almighty God changes Jacob’s name to Israel because Jacob shall become the father of the twelve patriarchs of the nation, the Lord, through the biblical writer, finds its necessary to mention the death of this nurse, Deborah.  Herein, we find the significant death of a nurse. 

Most people probably would not have recorded this incident in their narrative summary of the life of Jacob and the development of the Israelite people.  As a nurse, Deborah would have been relegated to a standard of worth just above a slave.  In the estimation of our contemporary society with its concomitant emphasis upon wealth, material possessions and social status, Deborah would not have gained specific mention.  At best, her name would have appeared in a footnote in very small print.  Yet, Almighty God sees her as a significant figure in the whole schemes of Israel’s religious, social and cultural history.  He determines that she played a pivotal role in His plan of salvation for the world through the light of Israel.  Nurse Deborah’s service equipped Jacob and others to assume their divinely ordained roles in the plan of salvation.  Her nurture, hard work, faithfulness, humility and labor of love may have been the decisive factor in Jacob’s acceptance of the Lord’s providential plan for Jacob’s life.  Accordingly, Genesis 35:8 records the significant death of this nurse, Deborah. 

Today, as we celebrate and commemorate the life of our dearly departed sister, Edna Marietta Vaughn, we also acknowledge the significant death of a nurse.  Each of us obtains various spiritual, mental, emotional, intellectual, artistic and athletic gifts in life.  God graciously gives us potential.  As we actualize these gifts through discipline and development, we offer the world and the people whose lives intersect with our own a unique piece of God’s love for humankind.  When we reflect upon the life of a brother or sister who has transitioned to eternal life, we recall the gifts of life that he or she embodied.  We express our gratitude to Almighty God for the treasures He shares with us through the unique expression of that brother’s or sister’s life.  Accordingly, we gather today in worship to recognize the significant death of a nurse, Edna Marietta Vaughn, whose service influenced the lives and careers of many nurses, generally, and countless patients, particularly.

Sister Vaughn’s life offers us five enduring lessons about which I will comment briefly.  First, she was a superlative mother.  The surest testament to her incredible example as a mother are Darcelle’s own words, shared with me last Friday as we planned this service of celebration.  Darcelle said, “My mother was a great mother.  I will probably never be able to match her example.”  Sister Vaughn’s example challenges all of us to live in a way that our children will honor us similarly.  Second, Sister Vaughn reveled in being the matriarch of the Vaughn Family.  She maintained a mental flow chart of the activities and challenges of each member of the family.  Zealously, she extended care and compassion to all family members in need.  She equally challenged all members of her family to match her love and concern.  Third, Sister Vaughn was a very proud nurse who practiced her profession with high standards of professionalism for many years in various venues.  Simply put, she knew her stuff and she performed with her level of excellence.  Just as we mention the care of the foregoing biblical nurses, we must appreciate the care Edna Vaughn gave to innumerable patients during her nearly four decades as a nurse.  Although many of her patients probably did not recall her name, hopefully they passed along her love and compassion to their loved ones and others whom they encountered.

Sister Vaughn’s fourth lesson was her care for broken humanity.  She saw a diseased society in need of healing and wholeness.  Accordingly, she proactively joined the struggle to create a more just society in which all people have a right to fulfill their divine gifts and abilities.  She served as President of the 227^th Street Block Association for many years.  Actually, she relinquished the position just six years ago serving until 2005.  Each month, she faithfully attended the general membership meetings of the Cambria Heights Civic Association.  Today, we heard condolence letters from two of our publicly elected officials, Assemblywoman Barbara M. Clark and City Councilman Leroy Comrie, who commend her legacy of public service and community activism. 

The great analytical psychologist, Carl G. Jung, characterizes Sister Vaughn’s fifth lesson as “Individuation,” the process of intrapersonal maturity and spiritual development whereby a person accepts herself unconditionally and lives with integrity in accordance with her principles. As the Obituary reflects, Sister Vaughn refused to compromise her standards and beliefs as it related to achieving success in her singing and artistic career.  Her formidable example challenges us to strive for a similar character.  Her incredible example leaves us with the gifts of courage, creativity, and commitment.  Her life teaches us that all of us can achieve any dream or goal to which we aspire if we set our minds to the task and keep the pilot light of hope aflame in out hearts.  The Lord Jesus, through the pen of the Johannine evangelist, says that He came that we might have an abundant life.  As a practical application of that spiritual maxim, Sister Vaughn’s life instructs us in the necessity of striving for inner healing and wholeness in order to experience the Lord’s promise.

Additionally, Sister Vaughn leaves as a lasting testament her affirmation of the Lord’s promise of resurrection as read in today’s gospel reading, John 11:17-26.  The last time I saw her she was in the hospital.  In a moment of private conversation, she said, “Pastor, here I lay on this hospital bed.  I know that Lord will not leave me here.  He has never failed me yet.  I believe He will see me through this challenge.”  Her words affirm the Lord’s promise of resurrection.

Summarily, the text in Genesis 35:8 reminds us that every death is significant in the eyes of Almighty God.  The nurse of Rebekah, Deborah, plays a very pivotal role in the life and development of the Israelite people.  Similarly, we gathered in worship, with thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, to commemorate the death of a significant nurse, Dr. Dorothy Coley Edmond, who accomplished tremendous personal and professional goals.  She played a most vital role in the personal and professional development of many nurses.  Interestingly, her life teaches us how to have a significant death.  If one lives meaningfully, purposefully and joyously, serving God and humankind, and fulfilling a mission greater than one’s own interests, then one will naturally compel others to gather and celebrate the significant loss of a person who gave so much.