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st mary the virgin   

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Praying for Healing and Wholeness     

"The healing ministry is for everyone;

we all need healing in some way.

Through the healing ministry,

Jesus Christ meets us at our point of need."

Sunday Services including prayers for healing and the Laying on of Hands

are scheduled as follows:

14th Jan, 11th Mar, 13th May, 18th July, 16th Sept,  4th Nov  all at 10am

18th Feb, 10th June  all at 6.30pm

How is this ministry offered at St Mary’s?

What can we hope for through the Ministry of healing and wholeness?

What are the most common forms of healing ministry?

How is this ministry offered at St Mary’s?

At regular times through the year the laying on of hands and prayers for healing

are offered as part of the 10am service, usually taking place at the same time as

the bread and wine are being distributed at Communion. 

There are also occasions when prayer for healing is available at the 6.30pm

service in a quieter and more reflective atmosphere.

On these occasions, a team of lay people are available to pray quietly with individuals,

usually using the following words:

In the name of God, and trusting in his might alone,

Receive Christ’s healing touch to make you whole.

May Christ bring you wholeness of body, mind and spirit,

deliver you from every evil, and give you his peace.  Amen.

Alternatively, prayer and counsel may be sought at other times—particularly when

preparing for hospital treatment, or in urgent circumstances.

Friendship, forgiveness, listening, acceptance and affirmation can also have a

healing grace.  So in different ways we are all able to take part in the Church's healing

ministry, looking forward in faith to the kind of healing he wills for those for whom

we are praying.

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What can we hope for through the Ministry of healing

and wholeness?
We believe that God loves us and wills the very best for us.  But we also know that

suffering of all kinds and ultimately death are conditions from which we cannot escape. 

But God is not distant.  In Jesus Christ he shared in this life's suffering and death on

the cross, and he can draw close to us in times such as these. However, his resurrection

in the power of the Holy Spirit gives us hope that we might have a foretaste of his

kingdom here and now and that through the Church's ministry we shall receive his love,

strength and healing touch. What form that healing will take we cannot tell.

Healing Ministry may be experienced as.....

            +    complimentary to professional medical treatment

            +    help to carry us through a prolonged illness or disability;

      +    a recovery more rapid than expected;

      +    experiencing our fear of death being driven out by God's love;

      +    a healing which is so unexpected that we immediately want to thank God.

The Church’s Healing Ministry is:

Visionary…. because it beckons us towards the future and a glimpse of the

                        kingdom of God, and the hope of the whole of creation renewed.

Prophetic…. because it calls us to reconsider our relationships with God,

                        each other and the world and to seek forgiveness and a new

                        start in our lives.

Dynamic….   because Jesus Christ is with us to the end of time: when we

                        pray for his help, he comforts, strengthens and heals us,

                        responding to our deepest needs.

The Church's ministry is a continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

We seek to fulfil it in the power of the same Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus

at his baptism in the Jordan. Jesus' ministry was totally faithful and obedient

to his Father. The gospel of the kingdom of God is the good news of healing

which Jesus proclaimed. "Go and preach the gospel ... Go and heal the sick"

summarises the commission Christ gave to his Church.

So Christians have always been called to have a special concern for those

sick in mind, body and spirit.

The Church's entire ministry can be described as one of healing: the healing

 of ourselves and of our relationships with God, with one another and with our

environment.

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What are the most common forms of healing ministry?

Public and private prayers:

Christian worship has always included prayers of intercession, in which we pray

individually and corporately, for those who are suffering.  Praying in this way

combines our love with God's love and our will with his will, so as to cooperate

with him in fostering his kingdom.

The laying on of hands:
Actions can often speak louder than words and touch conveys a message of love

and assurance as well as being a link with Christ's apostolic command to heal the

sick. Hands are usually placed gently on a person's head, and on his or her shoulder

and prayers said quietly and reverently. This form of touch can make a sick person

feel less fearful or alone in their suffering.

Anointing:
Anointing with oil is an outward sign of the inward work of the Holy Spirit.

It is customary for a priest to anoint a person with thumb or forefinger, making the

sign of the cross, with a small amount of oil on the forehead and sometimes the

palms of the hands.

Reconciliation and Absolution.
Confession is increasingly seen as an act of reconciliation which begins with God

calling us back to himself. The Anglican tradition values the use of a general

confession act in the liturgy and makes provision for private confession to a priest.

Private confession may be made in a formal or less formal setting and may include

spiritual advice and counsel as well as absolution.
 

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