In the news sheet you can see some of the means by which the church’s ministry of healing is made available at St Giles, places where Our Lord ministers to people at their point of need through his church:
• through the sacraments – eucharist, confession and anointing
• through laying on of hands - now available first Wednesdays 6.30pm starting 6th July.
• through the last Thursday of the month visit to Burrswood
• Through people’s names being placed on the sick list or submitted to the telephone Prayerline
I put this list in the news sheet following a series of PCC discussions triggered by a visit in April from the deanery healing ministry consultant Penny Sullens which had one outcome in a promise I gave to speak one Sunday about the church’s ministry of healing.
I thought this Sunday would suit well as it is set in those great days before Pentecost when the church is reminded of her dependence on God the Holy Spirit and of how the Spirit glorifies Jesus.
The church’s ministry of healing is a gift of the Spirit which brings God glory through Jesus Christ.
11 years ago the Church of England published a best seller. This book, A Time to Heal, has provided a vital contribution to the ministry of healing which it describes on the back as visionary, prophetic and dynamic.
This morning I have 6 brief observations, 2 under each of those three headings in A Time to Heal – visionary, prophetic and dynamic.
1. Visionary – what we’re about in the healing ministry is part of a recapturing of the power of the gospel
a) as some thing that is good and practical. Not just a theory but the power of God for salvation Romans 1:16. It’s practical in that it’s linked to people’s demands. Our response to these demands is set within a wider vision eg. social and ecological besides a vision for body, mind and spirit but it is essentially based on a vision of Jesus as practical Saviour
b) as the grounds of a new confident engagement of the church with the local community. Confidence rooted in the promises of God cf. +Rowan: What do I pray for in the Church of the future? Confidence; courage; an imagination set on fire by the vision of God the Holy Trinity; thankfulness. Confidence linked to humility – note the concerns for the safety of those we serve in ministry in ATH guidelines.
This morning as I lift up the vision for healing a question we might ask ourselves is: how can we help bring more people in our community to catch sight of the healing power of God?
2. Prophetic – what we are about in the healing ministry is being channels for God to speak prophetically to individuals and to the church herself.
a) Of redemption – the Saviour is a practical provider for body, mind and spirit and one who roots our life in his community and fellowship. The healing ministry is redemptive in that it fills what is needful in people’s lives. It is also redemptive in its transformation of suffering and sorrow as set out in Paul Bilheimer's Don’t Waste your Sorrows. People are stopped from wasting their sorrows by a prophetic word that opens them up afresh to a vision of God. Above all the prophetic element of the ministry of healing helps people relate faith to the nitty gritty of life cf. The Woman at the Well John 4
b) A call for fuller collaboration of laity and the ordained ATH stresses sacramental,pastoral and charismatic aspects. Prophetic renewal of healing ministry broadens from anointing (apostle) to charisms (prophets) since we are members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone Ephesians 2:19,20
A second pair of questions we might ask ourselves as a Christian community: How do we see the prophetic impact of what we do in the Lord’s name – where are the changed lives? Then secondly when it comes to raising up the ministry of healing how can we improve the partnership between priest and people to make better provision?
3. Dynamic
a)Explain cyclical/dynamic strands in church life – Zechariah 8:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you”. Simon Magus, Leatha
b) Linked to spiritual transformation 2 Cor 3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit - wholeness/holiness – spiritual direction.
A last summary pair of questions to provoke more thought might be: What brakes are there here at St Giles on the dynamic we are talking about? What’s stopping the church as a whole and individuals from moving forwards to become more fully what God wants them to be?
I leave you with those thoughts as we take time to reflect on God’s word to us this morning.
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