St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Community of Healers – Rev. David Mundy

1 Kings 17:8,9,17 --24 Luke 7:11-17

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She was a vital person who in her own quiet way seemed to have boundless energy. She held a responsible job at the community college. She was an active mother to her two teenage boys. She always seemed to be involved in some charitable project. And she was a “go to” person in our church community. She sang in the choir, she was involved on committees, and then she took on the role of chairperson of the board.

One morning Donna woke up and her active world was almost literally turned upside down. She tried to get out of bed but everything was spinning. It took her husband and sons to get her into a car and then to the emergency room of the hospital. To her great surprise and indignation she had to be admitted. This sort of thing didn’t happen to her! Except it had, and the next few weeks were probably the most difficult of her life to that point.

She was diagnosed generally with an inner ear problem which affected her balance, but the doctors and specialists couldn’t come to specific conclusions. So she underwent a battery of bewildering tests which all occurred as she was unable to even open her eyes without great caution, let alone get up and walk around.

She went for one procedure where she lay on a gurney, waiting to be inserted into the diagnostic machine. It was a few days before Christmas and she could hear two of the technicians chatting about their plans for the season. She was beginning to realize that she would be in hospital for Christmas and her spirits sank.

Donna was in the hospital for Christmas, and when she got the unpleasant news this cheerful person wept. She was not alone though. Her family and friends were of great support. On Christmas Eve the choir went to her hospital room between services and sang carols. On Christmas morning our family went to see her and I read the Christmas story from Luke.

I prayed with Donna every time I went to visit her but the result was never a miraculous healing where she threw off the bed covers and leapt to her feet. Many people might argue that those prayers were worthless, but I would like to believe that her Christian community was part of her eventual recovery.

She did get better over the course of many months, although the doctors freely admitted that essentially her own body “righted itself.” What do you think? Was the Christian community an integral part of that road to healing and health?

This morning we listened to two passages of scripture which are about the ultimate miraculous healing, raising the dead. They offer similar stories, even though they are separated from one another by nearly a thousand years. In fact scholars wonder if Luke, the gospel writer, fashioned his story of Jesus raising a young man from the dead after the story of Elijah doing the same.

They both offer grim reminders that in the ancient world life could be brutishly short, and illness was a dark mystery which often led to premature death. The bible has many stories of those who die of unexplained plagues, or those who suffer from mental illness and are treated with great suspicion. Children were particularly vulnerable, and while illness and death were commonplace those who suffered still mourned.

There were doctors in those days, but they were few and far between and the poor usually couldn’t afford to draw on their limited knowledge. There were other healers as well, what we might call faith healers, holy men and women who were credited with miraculous and essentially magical powers to make people well.

These two stories from scripture may sound magical but they actually affirm the life-giving power of God at work.

And as someone has pointed out, it’s not only that we see the demonstration of that power, we catch a glimpse of the heart of the One who has such power. Both Elijah and Jesus demonstrate compassion, and it is from that place of compassion that the healing, life-giving power of God flows. In fact, over and over again Jesus responds to those around him as a compassionate healer of body, mind, and spirit.

What is our role today as a community of healers? I think it is important to ask that question publicly every once in a while as a way of assessing how we extend that healing, life-giving power of God. We might assume that in this age of impressive medical technology what we can offer as the church isn’t all that important anymore. I often comment that in the three decades I have been in ministry many lifesaving treatments and medications have either been refined or invented which dramatically improve health and lengthen lives.

So we might wonder if the “old ways” of healing, including prayer have become obsolete. It would be understandable if we felt that way, although the evidence is clear that this is not the way a surprising number of people feel. Regularly our members ask that we pray for those who are dealing with illness in its various forms. Often our staff is asked to visit not only those who are part of our immediate community, but those who are in their broader circle of love. In our increasingly secular society where fewer of us go to church, people still reach out for spiritual support when loved ones are suffering from physical and mental illnesses and I am often struck by how open strangers are to the presence of someone who comes in God’s name.

Perhaps it would help if we worked from the premise that when we pray for healing and act for healing we are choosing to frame our lives in a hopeful, God-focussed way. And that when we speak of healing we are referring to a restoration of health in all the facets of our lives. In a workbook called An Adventure in Healing and Wholeness James Wagner identifies five areas of health which we desire to have in balance. They are:

Spiritual Health

Physical Health

Healthy Relationships

Mental and Emotional Health

Ultimate Healing in the Resurrection

These five make a great deal of sense to me. I would say that just as many individuals approach me about the challenges of unhealthy relationships and of mental and emotional illness, as physical illness. And when I speak with doctors about their heavy workloads they often mention that many of their patients come to them with issues of spiritual or emotional ill-health which they rarely have time to address.

These are interrelated areas of health and when we read the stories of Jesus’ healing in the New Testament we discover that he addresses all five. We don’t need to choose any one of these as more important than any other. There does come a time, though, when we all have to make our peace with our failing bodies. We are aware that despite the best medicine and the most fervent prayers every one of us eventually dies, and so how we deal with death and the possibilities of the life to come is vital to our well-being. The fear of death or the denial of death or our determination to do battle with death can get in the way of our health and wholeness.

Not long ago I conducted the funeral service for the father of one of our St. Paul’s members, a man in his sixties who was diagnosed with cancer. I was asked to visit him in Oshawa hospital and it was the beginning of a sporadic relationship over the next few months until his death. He was determined to fight his disease and did so, trying every form of treatment, He told me matter-of-factly that he wanted to see his grandchildren grow so he was valiant in his efforts. He was so focussed on getting better that he was reluctant to have a discussion with his family about the possibility of death, which was hard for them because they watched his physical decline.

Something changed the last time I visited him, just a few days before he died. When I sat down next to his hospital bed, he told me that he had "given up." I asked if he has given up or come to a place of acceptance -- I see the two as quite different. He thought about it for a moment and then claimed the latter. He let me know that he had initiated plans for his funeral and was getting his affairs in order now that he had realized no treatment will make a difference. I commended him on his courage. He offered too, that it makes a difference when you believe that this isn't the end. It was the first time we had touched on the life to come, and he was the one who raised the subject. Of course I agreed.

At the end of our visit I offered to read a psalm and pray. When we got to the prayer he reached out his hand for mine. It was such an intimate and holy moment, with someone I had only known for a few months.

A minister of the British Methodist Church named Reginald Mallett offers this thought about how we deal with the reality of our failing bodies “Sometimes the human body does not respond to any kind of therapy. However, when the container in which we live is hopelessly flawed, the contents can be wonderfully whole.”

Please believe that you are part of an important ministry of health and healing. Your doctor and other health providers are probably dedicated, caring people and some of them may be Christians. You can hope that the ministerial staff of your congregation are convinced that the compassion of Christ can be lived out through them.

Still, this is only the beginning. We are all invited into the community of healing and I would encourage every person here to consider how we might align ourselves with the healing light of Christ in all the interactions of each day. Every word of support offered, every meal shared, every prayer shawl knit, and -yes- every prayer said, strengthens our ministry of healing within this congregation.

Today we will share the bread and the juice which commemorates the last meal Jesus shared with those who loved him. And while he seemed to know that his own death was imminent, he made the promise to them that he would never leave them and that through his own death abundant and eternal life was available to whomever sought it. Christ is our healer and in him and through him we are the community of healers. Amen!