(Unquoted text is Malachi 4.2a – one of the prescribed readings)

As the shops ratchet up their pre-Christmas sales techniques and try to persuade us to “buy, buy, buy”, their loudspeaker systems will be engaging the services of the Herald Angels increasingly to try and get us in the mood!

“Hail, thou heaven-born prince of peace;
Hail thou Sun of Righteousness;
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.”

(Those who were listening to this morning’s Old Testament reading from Malachi about “the Sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings” will not expect prizes for guessing where Charles Wesley got that from!)

But what was your own reaction when you heard that word “healing”? Or when you read (on last Sunday’s leaflet) that I was to speak about healing today? I am going to give you a few moments to think about it – be honest with yourself!

* * * * *

I thought I could almost detect an uncomfortable shuffling of feet just then. After all, we Anglicans don‘t normally talk about this sort of thing, do we? – even if Pentecostalists and charismatics do! As my first vicar observed nervously to me, “we don’t want that sort of thing here!” (He did actually stop short of using the word mumbo-jumbo – though some would not). Do we ever think about it?

Have you ever noticed that in churches and cathedrals which provide space for written prayer requests, it is pretty fully used by locals and visitors alike – and how often the subjects are not just illness and bereavement, but broken relationships too? People do seem to want or need something. Bishop Morris Maddocks, who founded the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation wisely said: “Christian healing is Jesus Christ meeting you at your point of need.”

So what we are to make of the Christian Ministry of Healing? Take a moment and think to yourself; what do you think it is?

* * * * *

1. Some see it as being an outstanding opportunity for self-styled “faith healers” who like doing their own thing – unrelated either to church or medicine. These people have probably done more to cause distrust among us than anything else – especially when accompanied by an emotional razzmatazz more reminiscent of Presidential elections in the USA than any Christ-centred healing ministry! (Yet remember sometimes Jesus would actually say “See that you tell no man….”)

2. Others see healing as having been confined to the ministry of Jesus personally, and that of his immediate followers – a sort of temporary ‘loss leader’ (as we might say) to get the Christian faith launched.

3. Some have been hurt by bad experiences or irresponsible promises.

4. Yet others perceive the healing ministry as some quite new discovery, and spend an inordinate amount of time asking questions that have long been answered, rather than listening to what God has already said to the Church, and receiving the lessons already learned. Of course, there are some very good questions to be addressed, and I hope that many of you will take up the opportunities we plan to offer to explore them. So what are we to make of it?

I think we have to go back to the Gospels. Is healing the first thing that comes to mind when seriously thinking about Jesus’ earthly ministry? Possibly not: and yet healing was not only a prime part of his own ministry, it was equally a vital element in his commission to his followers. In Luke 9 we read that when Jesus ultimately launched his wider ministry he first gathered round him a group of twelve, and then another of seventy, and he sent them out charged with a clear twofold commission. Luke, “the beloved physician”, writes: Jesus “gave them power and authority…and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” In other words, proclaiming the kingdom and healing were inextricably linked – indeed, in Judaism healing had long been expected to be a sign of the breaking in of God’s kingdom. That kingdom implied abundant life and wholeness. I find it very significant indeed that in the New Testament the words for ‘wholeness’, ‘healing’ and ‘salvation’ all share a common root in the original Greek language of the New Testament.

In the time since Jesus’ earthly ministry, the pattern has changed. In recent centuries there has been no shortage of preaching – but what of healing? The post-Reformation *Prayer Books were coyly silent on the subject. Indeed the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer even went so far as to suggest that since sickness was sent by God to punish us for our misdeeds, then it was our job to put up with it patiently – a point of view that was singularly at odds with that of Jesus himself, who worked constantly to do away with sickness and disease. But alas, that notion is still very widespread even to this day. During 48 years of ministry, I cannot count the number of times that I have heard it said of a sick person “I can’t think what he/she has done wrong to deserve this.” Yet what human parent would ever punish their child with (say) cancer or heart disease? Is it not a most appalling indictment of our merciful and loving God even to suggest it? (Of course, I know perfectly well that some sicknesses are self-generated, but that is an entirely different matter).

The simple fact is, of course, that many of us have exercised a healing ministry for very many years, but it has usually been private and personal, with the result that very few people generally have known about it – it has not been visible. It is only through the recent provision made in various books of public worship visibly restoring such things as the sacramental Laying-on-of-hands, Anointing, and the Blessing of Oils by the bishop each year on Maundy Thursday, that many people have begun to be aware of this ministry at all. And this has led to the notion that the Church’s Ministry of Healing is something new. Yes, it is a revival – but it is not an innovation!

I quote from the booklet on this subject produced by the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway: “The Church’s Ministry of Healing is a fundamental part of its mission”; and from Bishop Idris’ Foreword: “Healing is being restored to its place as a normal part of the life of a Christian community.”

Our concern for mission as a Church must surely include making Christ’s present day healing work visible and available to any who are in need. And we are most able to do that when we first recognise our own deep needs, (both individually and collectively,) and receive his loving, healing, saving grace ourselves – as we shall be doing shortly in this Eucharist.

An initial address in this service leaves no time to explore further, but my aim for today has been quite simply to awaken interest, to get us thinking, and above all to stimulate prayer about this. It is an occasion to encourage questions, and to open our eyes for signs of healing in our church. I shall be really pleased to receive feed-back of any kind.

I will leave you with these questions – (homework, if you like!).
1. What examples of healing have you experienced or observed in our church community?
2. How was that healing channelled? (One clue might well be through listening).
3. Is healing limited to curing?

If I have any vision of tomorrow’s church, it is of one that will receive Christ’s healing power more deeply, and will dare to channel it into the world more effectively. And by the Church I don’t just mean its leaders in high places, or even just those in dog-collars. All baptised people are entrusted with this ministry to share – though in a variety of ways. But above all, remember it begins and must continue with PRAYER.

J. Paul Burbridge

* Note: The first English Book of Common Prayer of 1549 was an exception, in that it did provide for anointing: but that quickly disappeared in the 1552 revision.

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