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August 2000, Page 2.
Index of articles.
Healing:
index,
A time to heal,
Homeopathy?
In this issue:
(August 2000)
Vicar's Letter,
A small world,
Healing,
David,
Question.
A time to heal
It is impossible to read the gospels without being struck by the healing ministry which Jesus exercised. As he went about he preached about the Kingdom of God, and he healed the sick who were brought to him. Sometimes they are individuals, sometimes whole villages bring their sick people out so that he can restore them to wholeness.
And Jesus clearly doesn’t keep this ministry to himself. He chose his twelve apostles “to have authority to drive out demons” (Mark 3:15), “and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1), and later chose 72 others to go ahead of them, and told them (among other things) to heal the sick and tell them that the Kingdom of God was near them (Luke 10:9). And at the end of his ministry, he told his disciples that these signs would accompany those who believe: “they will drive out demons, ... they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well” (Mark 16:17-18).
And the early Christian Church, so the bible says, experienced this healing ministry. Peter heals a crippled man in Lydda, and raises a lady from death in Joppa (Acts 9), Paul restores the feet of a lame man (Acts 14:10), and the church in Ephesus saw many sick people cured (Acts 19:12). Various Christian writers (Irenaeus AD130-200, Origen AD185-284, and Augustine AD354-430) mention that the healing ministry of the church is still continuing in their generations. And indeed, there are many Christian paperbacks in our own days which tell of how God is still healing people nowadays.
And so it is that the Church of England’s General Synod has commissioned a working party to report on the subject, and PCCs have been asked to study their report “A Time to Heal” and consider how to put it into action. Our own PCC will probably be considering it during the autumn. Here are some quotes to give you the flavour:
“Healing, we might say, is what the church’s mission is all about. Healing, wholeness, salvation - these words embrace what God has achieved for us through ... Jesus Christ. ... The New Testament shows that Jesus’ healing of the sick and casting out demons were vivid demonstrations of the coming of the kingdom.” Healing is not just about physically healthy bodies, but it is also about minds and attitudes and relationships. And healing takes place within the whole business of restoring man’s relationship to God, and must not become separated from this.
“Jesus’ charge to continue that ministry was part of his commission to the apostles. Through the ages the church has responded by caring in many different ways - through pastoral care, prayer, the sacraments, spiritual gifts, deliverance ministries, practical friendship and so on.” Healing Services and special prayer for healing are always only a part of what the church should be offering to those in need of care.
“The healing ministry is always in need of renewal as the Holy Spirit leads us to learn afresh what the bible teaches. ... Sharing the vision with the congregation is essential ... every member of the congregation has a role in this ministry ... we need to ask what needs doing to establish and develop this ministry as part of normal everyday life in this parish.”
“The healing ministry is part of the broad mission of the Church, expressed in the following ways:
*publicly as part of services:
- healing services, including the Eucharist, baptism and confirmation
- in hospitals, hospices, nursing & residential homes, and prisons
- at healing centres etc.
- at Christian holiday venues;
*privately in homes, hospital visiting, church side chapels etc.;
*ecumenically;
*in cooperation with the medical and caring professions.”
At St Luke’s, our task is to work out how best to put this into practice. I hope we might decide to set aside regular opportunities for prayer for healing, at or after church services; that our housegroups might become places where such prayer can happen; and that we might form a team of people entrusted with the ministry of praying for healing in private settings. Please pray we find God’s way forward in our church in Eccleshill.
John Hartley