by Mary Jo Hallberg, Parish Nurse
Q&A on Healing Prayer at Gloria Dei:
Q1. Ever wonder why Gloria Dei offers a healing service each fall and spring and prayer stations the second Sunday of each month?
A1. The official answer can be found in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW):
The introduction to the Healing Service in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) states: “This ministry is offered, not as a replacement for the gifts of God that come through the scientific community, nor as the promise of a cure. Rather, the church’s healing ministry is an offering and celebration of the gifts of God’s strength and comfort in times of suffering, God’s promise of wholeness and peace for all people, and God’s love embodied in the community of faith.”
That may at first read like a disclaimer. This healing service does not claim to replace the care provided by your physician and it does not guarantee a cure for what is ailing you. So what does it offer? Much more. The healing ministry that the church offers in Christ’s name provides us with comfort and strength when we are suffering, a reminder that God promises us wholeness and peace regardless of our physical condition, and tangible evidence of the love of brothers and sisters around us during troubling times.
Q2. What actually happens when a person walks up (in front of everyone!) to a Prayer Team?
A2. During the Healing Service, each minister is joined by a lay prayer partner. As participants come forward, they ask their prayer request. The team prays softly with each person who comes forward for a short while.
The prayer teams lay a hand on the person. After a brief moment of quiet, he or she dips a thumb into the oil, takes it out, and uses it to make the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead saying a blessing.
When prayer teams are in the chapel during communion distribution, the prayer teams usually consist of lay persons.
At Gloria Dei, people sometimes come up alone, or with a family member and sometimes a group of family members.
Q3. What do people ask you to pray for?
A3. First, all prayer requests are confidential. Requests are shared with no one unless the team has asked if they may share it with the pastors and parish nurse and receive permission.
Often when we think of healing, we think of the healing of our physical bodies: the curing of illness or the mending of broken bones or surgical incisions. But the healing that people seek can be as varied as the individuals themselves. While some seek relief from the illness that wracks their body or the body of a loved one, others come seeking release from the addiction that has taken hold of their life, the healing of a broken relationship, or freedom from the sorrow that comes from acknowledging that they are participants in the ills that burden our world.
People come for varied forms of healing but all come, longing for wholeness. The prayers that we offer and are offered for us in our time of need remind us of God’s ongoing presence and healing power in our lives. In the midst of physical illness, whatever the outcome, we experience healing in the knowledge that God’s comfort and strength are sustaining us.
Q4. I’m a private person. Why should I share my prayer request?
A4. We are on this journey together. You and I experience the Spirit’s healing power through God’s love embodied by the community of faith around us. The dedication of caring people, who walk with us on our faith journey, especially during difficult times, is a tangible reminder to us that we are not alone in our pain and anguish.
As the prayer team’s hands are laid on our head in the healing service, we are once again reminded of the support of God’s love and the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., writes, “People have been healing each other since the beginning. Long before there were surgeons, psychologists, oncologists, and internists, we were there for each other. The healing of our present woundedness may lie in recognizing and reclaiming the capacity we all have to heal each other, the enormous power in the simplest of human relationships; the strength of a touch, the blessing of forgiveness, the grace of someone else taking you just as you are and finding in you an unsuspected goodness” (Kitchen Table Wisdom, p. 217, Riverhead Books, 1996).
Q5. Why is anointing part of healing prayer?
A5. It is a reminder that marked with the cross of Christ forever. As the oil is placed on our forehead at the healing service, we are reminded that God has promised peace and wholeness to you and me through the death and resurrection of God’s son, Jesus. Even when our physical ailments cannot be cured, we are assured that we will be returned to wholeness and lasting peace.
We are marked with the cross of Christ forever. That is healing news!