Isn’t it strange? Today’s healing address was planned some months ago: yet it was only very recently indeed that Bishop Morris Maddocks entered the fuller life. Why do I mention him? Quite simply, because obituaries have appeared about him – notably in last Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph – and his name is so pre-eminently linked with the church’s healing ministry. He actually resigned his bishopric of Selby in an act of faith to become Adviser on Health and Healing to the Archbishops both of Canterbury and York – and that without any official remuneration! His book “The Christian Healing Ministry” is now the classic Anglican text book on the subject, and he has probably done more than anyone else in recent years to re-invigorate this ministry – so much so, that significant provision is now made for the Healing Ministry in the Anglican Church’s various prayer books. He went on to found the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation, and within that the teaching of Christian Listening skills. In twenty five years Acorn has taken this work to all parts of Britain, and eventually to South Africa, America and Eastern Europe.

Let me remind you: Jesus saw his own mission as being one not only of preaching the good news but also of healing. But that was not all. In Luke 9 (1-6) we read “then Jesus called the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” But it didn’t stop there: for in the very next chapter he commissioned a further seventy people to do just the same thing. In Jesus’ final commission at the end of Mark’s gospel (16.15, 17 &18) he says “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation…These signs will accompany those who believe; by using my name they will …. lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.” Clearly Jesus expects all disciples to be involved in healing – not just clergy, but the whole people of God.

The gospels tell us that Jesus himself exercised this ministry in many different ways. Sometimes he laid hands; sometimes (and most offensively to some!) he healed by absolving from sin. We are told that once he even applied clay made with spittle. He might tell lepers to go and show themselves to the priests. We also know that he could heal at a distance – as when the Centurion came asking Jesus to come to his house and heal his servant, and Jesus effected a healing then and there without actually going home with him: and so one might go on. It is not surprising that as we follow his command we too have various alternative tools. There are many questions to discuss, and at 6 pm this evening you are warmly invited to meet here so that we can explore some of them together. This morning, in our limited time, I want to speak of just two of the formal ministries now more readily available – though there are others besides.

1. First: The Laying on of hands

If we take our bodies seriously as being God-given gifts, then touch is certainly one of our most fundamental methods of communication – something that goes right back to bonding with our mothers at our moment of birth. Throughout childhood both love and pain relief are expressed pre-eminently through touch. Later, social welcome is expressed by shaking hands or a hug. Taking by the hand is the significant moment in the marriage service. ‘Laying on of hands’ has always been seen as the perfectly natural channel for conveying God’s gifts in confirmation and ordination. Therefore it is hardly surprising that this method has also been regarded as a channel for his gifts of wholeness and healing. This laying on of hands with prayer will be one of the means most frequently used by the Christian community for carrying out Jesus’ command to “heal the sick”. The most usual means for transmitting this gift is to lay hands on either the head or shoulder of the recipient. This is far from being some form of magic. The author of all healing is the Holy Spirit of God: our hands are merely the outward and visible channel through which God’s inward and spiritual grace can have full course in the person needing wholeness. Normally hands are laid with brief spoken words of prayer, though prayer can be silent – and some prefer it that way. There is much to be said for two people (if possible) jointly administering this gift. This avoids the possible implication that healing comes from any individual in his or her own right – but rather is symbolic that this is a corporate activity of the church.

2. Secondly: Anointing.

The application of oil was a common remedy for pain in the ancient world. (Remember the Good Samaritan who poured in oil and wine on the man mugged on the Jericho road). Certainly the disciples used it when Jesus sent them out to heal. Mark tells us: “they anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.” (Mark 6.13) Usually olive oil is used, and in Episcopal churches this oil is usually blessed by the Bishop on each Maundy Thursday. (Some of us will be going to Glasgow when Bishop Idris does this in a few weeks time). It was also the Old Testament method for consecrating Kings, and to this day it forms part of our British Coronation service. It is usually administered by dipping the thumb in oil and making the sign of the cross on the recipients’ forehead. The upturned palms may also be anointed too if this is wished. Because of the element of absolution within it, this is normally administered by a priest. Anointing once endured a poor reputation when it used to be called ‘Extreme Unction’ – or something administered only to the dying. Can we be surprised if this ministry was not regularly asked for? Yet James in his Letter quite clearly regarded it as a healing act in continuing life.

Listen to what he says in chapter 5: “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. ..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. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” (Note how those words “pray” or “prayer” occur five times in those four verses. Those who heard my first address may remember my final words – that the healing ministry “begins and must continue with prayer.”)

Following that address in November, I detected that some of you thought there was no healing ministry in this church and congregation. I challenge you to think again!..... In my own experience, over the last few months I have become aware of a tremendous power of prayer for members of my own family and for others known among us here – a ministry valued beyond words, and demonstrating vividly that this is not the preserve of the clergy and/or one or two specialists in the field. I know there are others here who would want to endorse my experience.

My wish for this church and congregation is this: that we should become a vibrant powerhouse of prayer for the healing of individuals, of families, communities and nations. ……And that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we should ourselves receive that “growth towards wholeness” ………enabling us to share more fully as channels of Jesus Christ’s healing in his broken world.

J. Paul Burbridge

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