Healing and Wholeness
Some thoughts on Christian hopes and expectations
When considering healing as an aspect of Christian worship, it may be helpful to meet with the church first of all to try to understand the hopes, expectations and fears of the members. This offers an opportunity to share thoughts on wholeness and healing as distinct from 'cure' and 'magical thinking'. When healing takes place in the context of worship, it needs to be regarded as a sign of the Kingdom of God, and not the purpose of the Kingdom of God. We can and should expect that God can and may do miracles - but God is looking for us to become whole and holy - and we may need to understand that suffering and illness may sometimes play a part of our path to becoming whole or healed. The final healing is death! Consideration of our own death and what it means ought to be a part of our growing in wholeness.
I recently laid hands on a dying man. He asked for a miracle: we prayed for one. We prayed for life for him - and he died. Just before he died he said to his wife: 'Don't worry, I'm going to my Lord'. That man received healing. We must allow the Lord to work in the way he chooses, and not in the way we would like him to.
Depending on your church and its needs, you may want to consider a gentle approach to healing ministry. Rather than a person or a select few carrying out 'laying on of hands', you may wish to explore something that has been called the 'body prayer', because it is a collective act of the body of Christ met in worship. In this, each member present lays first his or her left hand on the shoulder of the person next to them on their left, while someone leads a prayer for healing. This is repeated with each member laying his or her right hand on the shoulder of the person on their right. Perhaps a different person might lead the prayer for healing in each case. Those who are in fear of laying on of hands may find this style of healing prayer less threatening.
I remember hearing a story of a man in a wheelchair. Some enthusiastic Christians prayed for him and them pulled him out of his wheelchair and attempted to force him to stand up. He fell, injuring himself quite badly. The group of Christians compounded the matter by telling him that it was his fault - he did not have enough faith! Clearly this kind of insensitive behaviour must be avoided. I heard this from the man who had been in the wheelchair. Thank God his faith was not destroyed by this act.
In every church, there will be some who feel called to healing ministry - by which they almost always understand laying on of hands. A group of such people can be a wonderful gift from God, or a threat to the harmony of the church. Much depends on the church leader as to how this 'gift' is used. Healing ministry often occurs without laying on of hands. I was once at a meeting during which a lady told of having had a mastectomy for breast cancer. She had felt that the cancer had returned, and had arranged to go for tests. During the meeting, she suddenly said 'It's gone'. Certainly the subsequent tests showed no sign of cancer. We can never know for certain what had happened. All I know is that she is still alive and well almost twenty years on!
Sensitive listening can be a form of healing that we neglect. In considering wholeness and healing, we must not limit our vision. Healing can and does take place in the context of communion, and communion is an excellent place for specific prayer for healing.
The Revd Barry Drake MA. - March 2006