My Dear Friends,

As we continue our ramble along the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, we encounter the Gift of Healing. 
Fr Rodney is much better placed than I am to speak about such matters, but I am certainly happy to share my thoughts.

The early church without doubt continued with the ministry of healing, which had been so beautifully expressed throughout the life of Jesus. Jesus laid his hands upon people and brought about healing and wholeness. His disciples followed in this patter, and we have plenty of descriptions of people being healed at the hands of the followers of Christ, and as a consequence of prayer. If that were not the case, Paul would not have included it in this list.

It is clear that Jesus understood the need for healing of both body and soul and a great example of the is story of the Gerasene Demoniac from Luke 8:26-39.

However as history developed, the church started to focus more on the soul, leaving the body to the medical profession, and the healing ministry of the church went in to a bit of a decline. But it never disappeared, and has always been part of the lives of a goodly number of people who understood both the power of prayer, and the Christian tradition, gift and ministry of Healing.

James writes in chapter 5
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

The Gift of healing however must not be misunderstood. It is always through the Jesus Christ that healing comes about, as is evident in the story of the lame beggar from Acts 3 1-10

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

As the Christian Healing Ministry has developed over the centuries, our understanding has grown. Sometimes people in the past have seen it as a sort of magic answer, and then been disappointed when their prayer was not answered in the way that they had hoped. Others had been led to believe that healing was dependent on a particular level of faith, and then when their prayers did not come to fruition in the way they hoped, they then felt guilty about not having enough faith.

Others thought that the sacrament of Unction, anointing with oil, meant that they were about to die, and so that went out of fashion!
So let us briefly look at what we might hope for within the practice of the Churches Ministry of healing.

We believe that God loves us, and wants the best for us. But we also know that suffering of all kinds, and ultimately death are conditions from which we cannot escape.
But God is not distant, and in the life of Jesus he shared our experience of suffering, pain and death, and because of that he can draw close to us in such times.
But his resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit give us hope that we may experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven here and now, and through the ministry of healing we shall receive the love, strength and healing touch of Christ. What form that will take we cannot tell.

It may be ‘help to carry us through a prolonged illness or disability

A recovery more rapid than expected

Experiencing our fear of death being driven out by God’s love

A healing which is so unexpected that we immediately want to thank God
(From a Time to heal, Church House Publishing)

The forms of the Churches Ministry of Healing that you would be most familiar are widely use. In particular the prayers of intercession. These are used at every service in church and many people have a list of those in need, and they bring them to the Lord in prayer. I am sure that you have been asked to pray for someone who is poorly, or going through a tough time. The tradition is that we address those prayers to the Father, through the Son and in the Power of the Holy Spirit. They combine our love with Gods’ love, and our will with his. In so doing we embrace his desire that we might work to bring help to those in need.
So, for example, we couldn’t pray for someone who was hungry, but not try and share our abundance of food. Or pray for someone who was lonely, and ignore them.
Similarly, we could not pray for the sick, and not do our best to offer medical help.

The Church also offers the Laying on of hands. Sometimes actions speak more clearly, and touch can convey a message of love and assurance, and it can link with Christ’s command to heal the sick. This, among other things can make a person feel less fearful or alone as they go through their suffering.

This may well be accompanied by Anointing during which we pray that as we are outwardly anointed with oil, we shall be inwardly anointed with the Holy Spirit. This sacrament allows us to experience that outward and visible sign of Gods inward and spiritual gift of grace.

The church also offers the ministry of Reconciliation, sometimes known as confession and absolution.
The Anglican tradition values the use of a general confession as a communal act within the regular service, but it also makes provision for private confession to a priest. For some this can be really helpful, and it may include spiritual guidance and counsel.

Add to all of these, friendship, listening, acceptance and affirmation can also have a healing grace, and so we can all be involved in different ways with the healing ministry of the church, and practice that Gift which is given to you.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you, 

As ever,

Fr Marcus