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The Church’s Ministry of Healing Spencer C. Lawrence, Church of the Cross, Hoffman Estates, IL, November 12, 2006 A man had been in the hospital for a very long time and had run up an astronomical bill. A representative from the financial office came to him to ask how he was planning to pay the bill. The man told the hospital official that he had no insurance and not enough money to pay everything he owed. The official asked if the man had any relatives who could help him. He replied that he had a sister who was a nun. Maybe she could help pay. The financial officer replied that he thought that was very unlikely. After all she had taken a vow of poverty and considered herself as married to Jesus. Whereupon the man said, “Well, then, send the bill to my brother-in-law.” Like the man we tend to think that God is somehow at a distance from our illnesses. More often than not we wonder why, if God loves us so much, we got sick in the first place. Or why God doesn’t make us better quicker? Over all, when we get sick we’re more inclined to complain and wonder why than we are to ask for God’s help to endure or to get better. One of the main things Jesus did, along with preaching and teaching, was heal the sick. And in today’s lesson we read of Jesus sending out seventy of his followers to do what precisely he had been doing. Besides announcing that the kingdom of God had come near, they were to heal the sick. Along with preaching and teaching, healing is one of the ministries of the church. Once in a while people get a little freaked out when they think of a Presbyterian Church offering a healing service. Isn’t that Pentecostal? Well, yes it is. But it’s also Roman Catholic and Episcopalian. In fact, our Book of Common Worship has borrowed a liturgy for healing from the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer. The point here is that while we offer a ministry of healing, it’s one that’s done decently and in order. There’s nothing wild and wooly about what we do. No screaming. No one passes out. We quietly offer the grace of God to those in need. You ask, “Surely you are not saying that we shouldn’t go to the doctor? That modern medicine is obsolete?” Of course not. In fact, the main way God heals people today is through modern medicine. If you are sick seeing a doctor is the first thing you should do. Several years ago in another city I received a phone call right after a worship service. It was a woman who was not a member but who was related to members of the church. When I asked how I could help her, she said that she had boil on her bottom – that wasn’t the exact word she used, and she wanted me to pray for her. I told her that if she went to the doctor, he or she could lance it and she would be better in just a few days. Why bother God with a boil? She said she was afraid of knives. So I prayed for her. My first thought, however, is to send someone to the doctor and then pray that God will make the medical treatment effective. In fact, when we’ve done healing services before I have always told people not to stop taking their medicine. They should keep taking it until their doctors tell them to stop. God heals through modern medicine. By the way, in a subsequent phone call at 5:30 A.M. on a Sunday morning as she asked me to pray for her dog, the woman told me that her boil had gone away. “How do you know God wants us to be doing this? Maybe his instructions were just for the seventy?” I don’t think so. Every Sunday we pray what we call The Lord’s Prayer. In it we ask, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Every Sunday we pray for God’s kingdom – i.e. God’s rule or reign – to come. When we pray in this way we pray that God will rule in our lives perfectly. What does God’s rule consist of? Jesus demonstrated the rule of God when he fed the hungry, raised the dead, welcomed outcasts, forgave sinners and healed the sick. God wants us to be physically and mentally healthy. Besides that, every Sunday we already pray for people who are sick and in trouble. We pray for people who have heart conditions, cancer, who face surgery and so forth. We pray because we believe that God cares about these people, and we pray because we believe that God is able to help them. A healing service is a logical extension of our prayers. Now someone is probably asking, “If it is God’s will that we all be healthy, then how come we get sick in the first place?” There are at least two ways to answer this question. One is to say that God never intended for us to live forever on our physical bodies. Illness is part of the natural order God intended at creation. That’s not a view I hold to. Another view – this is what I believe – is that in the beginning God intended for humankind to live forever, but the first sin somehow altered all of reality; it may have changed our genetic structure ushering sickness and death into the world. Now I am not saying that people get sick because they have sinned. I am saying that in the beginning the first sin changed everything. Before it we could live forever. After it, we became subject to illness and death. So now illness comes upon the good and the bad indiscriminately. Sometimes people do abuse their bodies in ways that contribute to illness and death. There is such a thing as a “risky behavior.” And God is gracious to those who engage in them as well. Are you saying that everyone we pray for gets well? Obviously not. But I do believe that God is in the business of making people whole. Sometimes the healing is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. Sometimes it is spiritual. When Karen was sick we prayed for her repeatedly. She would get a little better but not really well. In the end the cancer took her. She was not happy about dying. She would often complain to me about her illness and wonder why God was making her suffer so. In the end, when she knew there was nothing more doctors could do, she welcomed her death with a confident smile. Karen’s healing was spiritual, not physical. We’re not always sure what God will do, but we can still pray. You may ask, “Isn’t that kind of weaseling out? Is that letting God off easily?” I don’t think so. It’s just in keeping with reality. You see, every physical healing is only temporary. Even people who experience a dramatic healing of a terminal illness will eventually die of something. So it is with people who experience an emotional healing. But people who experience a healing of the spirit will take it with them into God’s presence. That’s where the final healing will take place anyway. Death is not just the end of our physical lives; it is the beginning of ultimate healing. What about the role of faith? We’ve heard over and over again that if we believe enough then God will do anything. That is what Jesus said in the Bible. Faith the size of a mustard seed will work wonders, Jesus said. What if you don’t have a lot of faith? Personally, I take comfort in the words of the man who had asked Jesus to heal his son if he could. When Jesus said, “Anything is possible for those who believe,” the man replied, “I believe; heal my unbelief.” The truth is that no one has perfect faith. The best prayer any of us can make is simply to ask Jesus to help us trust him more. Years ago a pastor friend of mind was to have surgery removing his pituitary gland. It was big time surgery and he was plenty nervous. Members from his church and I gathered the night before and anointed him with oil and prayed for him. At the conclusion of our prayers I added, “We believe; heal our unbelief.” The next morning he was not cured, but his blood pressure, which usually was pretty high, was way down. It wasn’t a complete healing by any means, but I believe our prayers – as weak as they were – helped. God has given the gift of healing to the church. God may give it to some individuals so they are especially good at helping people get well. We trust that God has given that gift to doctors and nurses. God has given it to some in the church. But I don’t think God has given it to me, nor do I know of anyone in this congregation who can make people get well just by praying for them. But God has given the gift to the church - us. Together we can be agents of God’s healing. That’s why I say that those of us who pray – whether up front on in the pews - are all equally incompetent. If anyone is made well, it is by God’s hand not ours. So what will happen here? One of us anoints the person we’re praying for with oil. It’s a symbol of the Holy Spirit and intended to stimulate confidence in God. Then we take turns praying – one prayer per person. We don’t ask what we should pray for but sometimes people will say anyway and then we offer a prayer on their behalf. Since healing is a gift God gives to the church, you have an opportunity to pray, too. You are part of the church. So I invite you to join in praying silently – even if you don’t know the person’s name. Pray that God will give him or her the healing needed. | |||||
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