HEALING AND WHOLENESS
A sermon by Rev.
Richard Miller, Minister of
They
had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were
troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from
him and healed all of them. – Luke 6:18-19
“Healing and Wholeness” is what I
have called my sermon for today. But
where to start? Well, let me begin by
saying that I grew up at a time and in a place where religious healers were
known. Not that I knew any, but there
was a minister named Oral Roberts who was on the radio and television. And it was a time when Kathryn Kuhlman was based
in Pittsburgh – just an hour away, and I remember once when I was in grade 7 or
8 that there was a poster advertising that she was going to be holding meetings
about two miles from where I lived. But
I never attended one of those meetings.
When I went away to university and
theological school, my professors and fellow students considered faith healers to
be people without credibility – a sort of “lunatic fringe” of the church. I heard many stories of people being fleeced
for money, and of some who in their excitement during an emotionally charged
service threw away their crutches and walked.
But the next day their physiotherapist had to start doing a lot of work
all over again.
Interestingly, at the same time that
I was getting a negative view of religious healers, in my classes in New
Testament I was learning that the ministry of Jesus had three foci:
preaching, teaching, and – you guessed it – healing. But, of course, that was then and this is
now, and those things don’t happen anymore; or if they do, they are exceptional
and they happen very rarely.
And so it is interesting to me that starting
about ten years ago, I began to develop an interest in healing ministry. Even though I continue to have misgivings
about the religious-healing shows on television, I feel that God has been saying
to me that these shows are not the whole story. Rather healing is an expression of God’s love
and compassion for us all. And I have
felt nudged by God to find intentional ways to include healing of body, mind,
and spirit as part of my ministry. These
nudges have led me in several directions.
First of all, about ten years ago I
was introduced to Services of Prayer for Healing. I had read about such services in some United
Churches, but had never been to one. But
then I had the opportunity, and it was a communion service with stations for
prayer for healing, laying on of hands, and anointing with oil. Often this kind of service takes place in a
church, but in a less elaborate form it can also be at the hospital, or in the
home. In many churches it is a special
service which is held once a month. Here
at Trinity from time to time I have offered a time of Prayer for Healing here
at the front after church. And people
have responded and come. Not a crowd of
people, but those who were ready at a particular time. Prayer for healing can be requested for
yourself, for someone else, or for situations in the world.
Then about five years ago I enrolled
in the Healing Pathways program of the United Church of Canada. This is a modern adaptation of the ancient
practice of “laying on of hands,” and it is aimed at balancing the energy in
the body. It is similar to programs that
are taught to nurses to help in pain management with their patients. Sometimes it seems a little “hoky,” but
things happen and people are often helped. The Healing Pathways program has helped me to
see that there are other kinds of ministry of healing than the TV shows.
Another more traditional thing that
I did a year ago was to attend a three-day “
I have also been doing a fair bit of
reading in these areas, and one writer who has been especially helpful is an
Anglican priest named Morton Kelsey. After
a long successful parish in
I am presently reading a book entitled
Soul Medicine, and it is written by a
neurosurgeon and a professor, both of
whom are interested in “complementary therapies.” It may sound strange for a recognized medical
specialist to be exploring the role of faith in healing, but as we are hearing
more and more undisputable evidence of spontaneous remissions, of quite
miraculous cures, of the fact that the trust that patients have in the doctor
may be a larger factor in their healing than what the doctor actually does – as
these and many other factors are now being examined, it is becoming a whole new
game in the field of medicine. More and
more the place of faith and prayer are being recognized and included. There are doctors who pray for their patients
– even some who pray with their patients.
The world has moved. And some of
these people are interested in the actions of a first-century Galilean preacher
named Jesus of Nazareth, and the fact that “power came out from him
and healed all of them.” (Luke 6.19)
What
else can we do at Trinity? First of all,
we can continue to pray for our people who have particular needs – those who in
some way are not “whole.” You see,
healing is not so much about illness as it is about wellness. It is about our need to be whole and well in
many different ways. Let
us continue to pray for one another – and for others – both here at the church,
and also during the week in our own homes, that we may all be well – that we
may all be whole.
Another thing that we could do at
Trinity would be to launch a study on healing – a time when we learn more about
the healing ministry of Jesus, and also about both modern and traditional
approaches to healing. I have a copy of
a workbook on The Healing Ministry of
Jesus, and I would love to have a group that was interested in doing this
together. Are any of you
interested? If so, please speak to me today,
or phone me this week. I believe it
could be a very interesting time of study and sharing. Then if there were interest, we could
consider offering a healing service on a regular basis. And I am sure that other inspiring ideas
would come from the group.
What we have to realize is that God
wants us to be whole. When we study the
New Testament one of the things we learn is that in the original language the
word that we translate as “to save” or “salvation” is also the word meaning “to
make whole” or “to heal.” And it also
becomes clear that Jesus specifically sent his followers out to heal, and told
them to follow in his steps and do what he had done. Not only that, he also said that they would
do greater works than he had done. Now
there is something to think about. [pause] . . . . And a little study in the history of the
early church shows that for the first five centuries, healing was a regular part
of the ministry carried out by both clergy and lay people. In the Eastern Church it still is, but in
I began this sermon by asking where
to start. Now the question is, “Where to
finish?” Friends, let us be healed and
made whole as we come to Jesus. Let us
approach him in faith believing, and let us give thanks for the healing he has
already done in our lives, and for what he continues to do. For power does come out from him, to heal us
from our disease, and from our dis-(hyphen)-ease. And as we open ourselves to God’s healing
power in our own lives, let us also offer ourselves as channels through which
God’s love and wholeness can flow to others as well.
Amen and amen.