“TOWARD AN EMPOWERING LIFE. I- Creating,
sharing, forgiving.”
MARK 5:24-34
Even a
cursory study of the Christian faith forces one to deal with the
subject of healing. Quite obviously, there are many procedures that
fall under the general topic of healing, but for the today and Sunday
May 1, I want us to think together on the topic of Christian healing.
Today, we will focus on the most basic and necessary foundation of our
journey to wholeness. As
Frederick Buechner reminds us, “Ever since the time of Jesus, healing
has been part of the Christian tradition. In this century, it has
usually been associated with religious quackery or the lunatic fringe,
but as the psychosomatic dimension of disease has come to be taken more
and more seriously by medical science, it has gained some of its former
respectability.”
By the way,
the word psychosomatic means "of or about mind and body."
Christian healers would add the spiritual dimension. When I was in
Milwaukee, I participated in a group that met regularly at the
hospital. It was composed of Physicians, Psychiatrists and
Clergy. The topic was always on the joint application and use of
these disciplines in the healing process. The truth is that
there are many kinds of healing: physical, emotional, mental,
volitional and spiritual. All are gifts that are given through the
skill of medical personnel, counsellors, clergy, and directly by the
Holy Spirit.
There is
great confusion and misunderstanding about the subject of healing in
the Christian tradition. Part of the misunderstanding lies in failure
to make a distinction between “healing” and “curing.” It is entirely
possible to be healed, yet not be cured, just as it is possible to be
cured and not healed. Medicine, in and of itself, tends to
concentrate on the curing of people. From poor eyesight to clogged
arteries, from degenerative hips to cancerous tumors, the aim is to
cure. For many, failure
to cure is seen as a defeat. Some doctors even see the loss of
life as a defeat. In that context, all will be 100% failures,
since all die.
Healing
recognizes that our bodies are a compilation of many parts: emotions,
thoughts, beliefs, relationships etc. Healing seeks balance or
wholeness between the various parts that make us human. Thus, when I
pray for a person in hospital, for example, I pray for the presence of
the Holy Spirit to guide and use the doctors, hospital personnel and
medicines, since all are part of the curing and healing process. I also
pray for the patient to have confidence and contentment in God and in
the professional team, since such an attitude is a great help in the
curing of the ailment and the healing of the person.
If a person
seeking a cure for a broken leg, for example, goes into the hospital
with the weight of feeling that God is punishing him or her for
something, that person needs to be healed of that thought pattern in
order for the curative aspects to be most successful. Christians
do not believe that God punishes people by afflicting them with
ailments. Christians believe that God loves them and desires the
best and most wholesome for each person. Healing prayer is powerful,
because it is delivered out of love, by a believer who calls for the
presence of the God of love; Christian healing is never done by a
person. Healing is done by God through a person who comes with
the attitude of love.
Listen to the
words of James from chapter 5 13-16 “Is any one among you
suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the
prayer of faith will save the sick man, and he Lord will raise him up;
and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess
your sins to one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a
righteous man has great power in its effect.”
Prayer is one
the great avenues through which one can receive personal healing. As
the psalmist has said in the 131st Psalm, verse 2: “But I have calmed
and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its Mother’s breast; like
a child that is quieted, is my soul.” A healing prayer begins with our
creating a space to deliver and receive prayer. Some years
ago, a friend of Chris and myself named Neil Swanson wrote a wonderful
little book called “Dear Fiyon” That title stands for "Fill in Your own
name." It is a book about effective praying, which is healing prayer. I
have found it very helpful in my life and I would like to share some of
it with you.
Step one is Be by yourself. Some are able
to do this in a crowd. Others require the sheer discipline of
actually being alone. Jesus emphasized being alone quite often:
“when you pray, enter your closet, which is in secret and pray to your
Father in secret and your Father who hears in secret will reward you
openly.” The purpose is to be alone; however you achieve that, so
that you can concentrate on God with the minimum of distraction.
Step two is, Be comfortable. You may not think
this is part of prayer, but it is difficult to focus on God when you
are hurting from sore knees or some other discomfort. Whatever it
takes, be comfortable, eliminate distraction.
Step three is Think of the good. Some would
call this thinking about God; whatever it is for you, think about all
the good things in your life that are related to God. Some find
it helpful to centre their thoughts upon Jesus and all that his noble
life meant to humanity and all that a relationship with him means to
you. Some think of poetry or even read it. Some think of
hymns and have them going through their minds; others think of
individuals who have been an inspiration. However you do it,
start your prayer by thinking of the good.
Step four is Present your problem. Note
that the problem is singular: one prayer for each circumstance. I
feel this is very important. Many have ineffective prayer lives
because they are so possessed with presenting problems to God that they
clog up the lines of communication to the point that answers are seldom
perceived. Present the
problem you have and then listen, believing that God is a God of love
and asking that whatever it is that is concerning us, it is to be
addressed from the bases of love. For example, we may be having
great difficulty with an individual. We are finding it very hard to
like this person, yet we also know God said we are to love people,
whether we like them or not. When we are
alone and comfortable, our passions have cooled, and we are better able
to present the problem of our resentment and allow the spirit of God to
direct our thoughts. Presenting one issue at a time enables us to
concentrate better on an appropriate answer.
Step five is To consider the answer.
Remember that the answer will always be in the best interest of God’s
will. Now, relax and think as hard and as creatively as you are able,
believing that God is directing your thoughts. That is a major part of
prayer. That, I believe, is often howGod
communicates with us. Sometimes the conclusions we arrive at are
difficult, and call for tough action. Other times they call for a
change of attitude on our part. Keep concentrating until an
answer arrives that you feel answers your concern, and is in accord
with the nature of God. Good thinking is the belief that God is
directing our thoughts. That is also good prayer.
Step six is To act on the answer you have received.
This is the tough one that many do not do. Yet prayer is ineffective
until the answer you have received is completed. Truly when the
deed is done then one can say, Amen.
I have found
these six steps to be of immeasurable help to me. That is not to
say that I have all the answers, but I have found peace and joy in life
by using this process, because I am then able to proceed believing that
I am in the will of God and not violating the very nature of God’s
countenance. I have eliminated the need to worry, because I
believe God is in me, and is leading me thus; I don’t need to carry
around that baggage. I start my day by
saying something like this: “Here I go God, I am going to do the best I
can, believing that you are directing my ways”. I never give my
actions a second thought after that, but at day's end, looking back,
one finds areas where we can confess and seek forgiveness. In
Christian language, that is called healing. It is
wholeness. It is relaxing in the confidence of God’s love being
present. It is God’s wish, and it is available to all.
Often,
emotional and unsolved problems arise during the grieving
process. Frequently, people who have experienced the death of a
loved one are in need of healing, in order to deal properly with their grief.
Let me try and illustrate this with a true story. Some years ago, I
was called to the house of a member of the Church I was serving, by a
woman whom I will call Mary. She called because her husband had
died. We talked about Tom, their relationship, how he had died and the
plans she had in mind for the funeral. Through
all, of this, Mary was remarkably composed. The funeral was held at the
Church, and was followed by a “tea” hosted by the women’s group.
Many remarked, “Isn’t it wonderful how composed and strong Mary
is? Several months later, I received a call from Mary’s daughter
asking me if I could come to the house. When I arrived, there was Mary,
sitting in a chair and crying uncontrollably, with her dead cat lying
on her lap. All of the
emotions that Mary had held in check during the death of her husband
were now flowing forth; released by the death of her favourite
pet. Mary and I began to chat about her feelings. In due
course, her comments reverted all the way back to her father who had
been dead many years.As a teenager,
Mary had observed her father doing something very bad; something that
she knew would hurt her mother greatly if she knew. Mary’s father
knew that he had been seen, so he begged Mary never to tell the story
of his deed, never tell anyone. We talked about her father, and
how terrible his life must have been, having to live a lie and not
share it. Mary was a torn woman. For years, she had
vacillated between loving her father for being kind to her, yet hating
him for what he did and how it was covered up. Because of him,
Mary had found deep affection with her husband to be very difficult. We talked
about God’s forgiveness and love until, years after the event, Mary was
able through her tears to forgive her father. When Mary was able to do
that, even though her father had been dead for years, she was
free. She could now express her true feelings about the death of
her husband, and her loneliness, and see that she had transposed those
hidden feelings to her cat, a much safer object. Mary experienced
healing when, through God’s forgiveness, she could erase anger from her
body and mind.
Often in the
seeking of wholeness, the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. We
know we have done many things wrongly, and in the process we have hurt
people. In healing prayer we come to accept the forgiveness of
God and accept the fact that it is done, over, forgotten. Then we are
free to act on the actions that we have received through our
prayers. Healing has taken place..
Healing or
wholeness, experienced at a basic level with our environment where we
are fed, warm and safe, expands to where we are able to explore
wholeness within ourselves. By wholeness, I mean the balance
between the physiology of our body, our emotions, thoughts and
spirituality. Churches and church people often err by feeling
that somehow they are separate entities. Healing
prayer is the connection of our hearts with the divine so that we
understand Paul’s famous words to the Corinthian Church, found in his
first letter chapter 13. “Love is
patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful, it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the
truth. Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.”
Our Lord is
interested in the whole you. As he said in John 1010, “I
have come that you may have life and that you may have it more
abundantly. Dear ones, that is my prayer for each us. May
it be so!