From the Vicar...

Praying for healing - an important ministry we share

One of the really gratifying responses we received to our Time and Talent survey was Fran Plank's, in which she expressed interest in expanding on and getting more folks involved in our ministry of healing.

In over 30 years of ordained ministry I've found, as I'm sure Fran has as a clergy spouse, that a great deal of pastoral care is given indirectly. What do I mean by that? Simply this: that for every person I might visit in the hospital or at home, I often have multiple conversations with others who need a different sort of support: the caregivers, family members, friends, and other parishioners who are concerned about someone they love and feel a sense of helplessness and loss as they try to provide meaningful support.

There is one question that comes up often, in one form or another. Put most simply it is this: What's the best way to pray for this person I care for and love? We all want to pray for a cure, of course, but there are times when that doesn't feel like enough or when a cure may not be possible.

Praying for healing is not necessarily the same as praying for a cure. In Scripture, to heal is to make whole, to make complete that which has been broken. Healing is focused on body, spirit and soul. God heals in many ways, sometimes in ways that we are not able to see and are beyond our understanding. Yes, this can be a miraculous and unexplainable cure. But healing can also be discovering the strength that enables someone to live with a chronic disease or the peace of death when one is welcomed into the loving and eternal embrace of God.

Whatever form our future healing ministry might take, we have an effective opportunity to offer such prayer already. This Saturday evening at Trinity Church, we will offer a healing liturgy within the 5:00 p.m. Eucharist - as we do the third Saturday of each month. Another such opportunity will occur at the conclusion of our Eucharist at Christ Church on Sunday, Sept. 7, and is offered the first Sunday of the month in that congregation. In both settings we are called to pray beyond the barriers to healing, and seek God's guidance and grace to enable us to live with "wholeness, health and peace." Perhaps you will find this time of prayer helpful, not only for those you love but also for yourself. Come and experience Jesus' "stream of healing love" as you pray for yourself or for others. 

Fr. Chip 

A note from Lynda

Just a reminder...There will be no School at Christ Church on  August 17th, but will resume the following week.
 

Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer

Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead 

using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.

In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for..