Healing Ministry Today

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
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.
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up;
and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

James 5:13-16 

I've written about Mike the nice "old" guy (ten years my senior) I chat with in the change room at the gym. He's the fellow who's Roman Catholic congregation joined the coalition of faith groups to sponsor several Syrian refugee families.And Mike was the one who got me thinking about Desiderata after he poked around and found a copy from years ago.  Mike goes to 8 o'clock mass most mornings after working out (impressive) and he told me that on Friday that it was the day for the healing service. Congregants are invited to stay following the main service for anointing with oil and prayers. That got me thinking again (do I need to give him a byline?)

For years I was involved with a group of United Church clergy which offered regular healing services as a collaborative ministry. We also included a number of laypersons from the various congregations who worked with us as peers. There was an article in the United Church Observer about our joint effort. It was rather low-key and we always reminded attendees that healing wasn't the same as curing. We never had any obviously miraculous cures as a result of our prayers. Still, we felt that the Spirit of the Living God was at work in our midst and, yes, we anointed with oil.


Several of us also offered brief healing services in our individual congregations, and through the years I've done so in other congregations, as well as small gatherings for prayer  with those who were about to undergo surgery, or in the midst of treatment for illnesses.

I wondered if I would get push-back from members who didn't understand what we were about, even though the New Testament is full of stories of both healing and curing. I never did. We live in a time and country where we have the wonderful benefits of medical science. Yet many of us seek the comfort and presence of the healing Christ in our lives.

There are services of healing in the United Church resource called Celebrate God's Presence and the introduction begins this way:

In Services of Healing we claim God’s promise to be with us and we experience God’s loving touch. A cure of the body may occur and other kinds of healing may take place. It is always God who heals—not the service nor the healer; not the prayers, nor the touch, nor the oil. Healing Services are a channel that God may use to bring wholeness to all.

Here are a couple of prayers we used along the way.

Prayer for Anointing

_________, as you have been outwardly anointed with oil,
So may Christ grant you the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Receive Christ’s healing touch to make you whole
in body, mind and spirit. Amen

Caim (Protection) Prayer
Circle _________, Gracious God,
keep protection near
and danger afar.

Circle __________, Healing God,
keep hope within,
\keep despair without.

Circle ____________, Caring God,
keep light near,
and darkness afar.

Circle __________, God,
keep peace within
and anxiety without.
 
May God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer
shield ___________on every side.

Amen.