Isaac M.T. Mwase
Chair, CBF Global Missions Council (2024-25); Associate Pastor, University Baptist Church, Baltimore, Maryland
Yesterday I said hello to a friend from seminary days. He was calling to see how I was doing. In March of 2025, the year of my 65th birthday, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My friend proceeded to share with me the sad and terrifying news that he also had joined the throng dealing with some kind of cancer. He is grappling with breast cancer. This is also the cancer that led to the death of his first wife and left him a widower to raise three beautiful children by himself for several years, until meeting and marrying his current, devastated spouse. He works as a hospital chaplain. I prayed with him just as he had prayed with me when I informed him of my own cancer diagnosis in March.
We compared notes about our treatments. I am undergoing hormone therapy and preparing to undergo radiation treatment sometime during the summer of 2025. My prostate cancer was characterized by a Gleason score of nine with metastasis to the lymph nodes; that of former President Joe Biden metastasized to the bones. My friend is going to have surgery June 2025 followed by radiation treatment.
It is ironic that I moved to Maryland from Alabama to become a Cancer Prevention Fellow with the National Cancer Institute. My main cancers of interest you ask? Prostate cancer, because it has a high incidence among Black people and cancers of the brain because of the way these cancers affect our sense of selfhood.
Cancer diagnoses no longer spell immediate death. However, all affected must confront our mortality. The why me question is best answered by a hymn I implore my family to include in my memorial service when I depart from here to the heavenly realm, When Morning Comes.
When Morning Comes
1 Trials dark on ev’ry hand,
and we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us
to that blessed Promised Land;
But He’ll guide us with His eye,
and we’ll follow till we die;
We will understand it better by and by.
Chorus:
By and by, when the morning comes,
When the saints of God are gathered home,
We will tell the story how we’ve overcome;
We will understand it better by and by.
2 Oft our cherished plans have failed,
disappointments have prevailed,
And we’ve wandered in the darkness,
heavyhearted and alone;
But we’re trusting in the Lord,
and according to His Word,
We will understand it better by and by. [Chorus]
3 Temptations, hidden snares
often take us unawares,
And our hearts are made to bleed
for some thoughtless word or deed,
And we wonder why the test
when we try to do our best,
But we’ll understand it better by and by. [Chorus]
Source: Baptist Hymnal 2008 #615
If cancer is a test, then all affected can benefit from a blessing.
Blessing for a Cancer Diagnosis
At the time of diagnosis,
may our response be infused with serenity.
May we find a care team
equal to the cancer.
May family and friends
produce more solace than alarm.
May we be granted a passing grade
in dealing with the mixed emotions
that attend us:
anger,
discouragement,
hopelessness,
anxiety.
As we undergo treatment,
grant that our energy levels
are equal
to our past commitments.
And if commitments have to change,
let joy be found
in new activities.
Amen!