| Prayer Teams are available in the chapel during communion distributionand after the worship services (8:15, 11:00, and 5:00) on the third Sunday of the month. Persons seeking healing approach the prayer team and express their prayer concern. The team then prays for the person and anoints the person with oil. Laying on of hands and anointing with oil become the outward signs of God’s desire for all of us to be whole and well. Please join us at worship and come forward for healing prayer on the third Sunday of each month.
More about Prayer Team Ministry...Gloria Dei Lutheran Church is committed to our mission statement that says we are “a caring, healing, and welcoming community. To help us live out our mission, Prayer Teams are available to offer prayers for healing in the chapel during our worship services on the third Sunday of the month. This provides an opportunity to reach the people seeking healing as we gather for worship.
Prayer can be a powerful instrument of healing. James said in his letter to the early church:
“Are any of you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:13-14)
The ELCA is also committed to healing prayer. As part of the Renewing Worship project, provisional materials have been developed for use and evaluation by local worshipping communities. The topic of healing is a focus of one of the resources entitled, “Life Passages: Marriage, Healing, and Funeral. The following comes from this resource:
The church embraces the ministry of healing as an important way of bringing the loving care of God to people in their need. The church’s ministry of healing emphasizes caring for the sick in the widest possible understanding of that term. Every human person stands in need of healing in some dimension of life. Healing is a gift that need not be limited to those seeking remedy from a specific injury or illness. The Christian assembly at worship may embrace the gift of healing as it applies to various needs-for example physical, emotional, spiritual, relational-that may be present among those gathered.
In the rite of healing, the church does not replace the gifts of God that come through the scientific community nor does it promise a cure. Rather, the church offers and celebrates gifts such as these: God’s presence with strength and comfort in time of suffering, God’s promise of wholeness and peace, and God’s love embodied in the community of faith.
The bolded words above are important. Everyone is welcome to come forward for healing prayer.
The Prayer Teams use “laying on of hands” and “anointing with oil”.
“Life Passages: Marriage, Healing and Funeral” a part of the Renewing Worship Project has the following to say about the laying on of hands and anointing:
The practice of laying on of hands has deep roots in the apostolic tradition as part of the healing ministry. The laying on of hands describes a ritual act in which the hands of a minister of the church are carefully placed, usually on the head of the sufferer, as prayer is offered.
The use of oil in the church’s ministry of healing is commended in the New Testament. Anointing the forehead with oil is a powerful remembrance of the anointing of baptism, proclaiming that the baptized is united in Christ the Anointed One and Marked with the cross of Christ forever. The oil of anointing also has long association with healing because of the ancient use of oil as a salve to alleviate suffering.
For more information about Faith and Health Ministries at Gloria Dei, please contact Mary Jo Hallberg, Parish Nurse, at 651.699.1378. Interested in volunteering and becoming involved with one of these ministries? It's as easy as clicking Volunteer at Gloria Dei.
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