Where Can We Find Healing?

 Through Eucharist, we receive healing and are enabled to aid in the healing of others. Sozo, the root of the Greek word used in the New Testament for healing, is also translated as salvation and wholeness. Much of this healing is spiritual, but it also includes the healing of our thoughts and emotions, of our minds and bodies, of our attitudes and relationships. The grace received at the Table of the Lord can make us whole. As those who are being saved, we seek to bring healing to a broken world. The United Methodist Book of Worship describes this well: “Spiritual healing is God’s work of offering persons balance, harmony, and wholeness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships through confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Through such healing, God works to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity, among individuals and communities, within each person, and between humanity and the rest of creation” (page 613). Holy Communion can be a powerful aspect of the services of healing provided in the Book of Worship (pages 615–623). 

from This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion p. 10

The Potter

 “The world is not spinning out of control...it’s just on a potter’s wheel.”  -Jessica LaGrone

(quoted by Maxie Dunnam on Facebook)

Joy as Well as Sorrow!

 "As I began looking for a church home in my new town, however, every sermon I heard was about how Christ comforts us in our troubles and the church is there for us in our sorrows. I knew that, but I also wanted to hear the message that the church cared about my happiness. It was frustrating to want to share joy when all I encountered was sympathy. When one pastor happened to mention that God cares about our joy as well as our sorrows, I returned to that church." 

-Thomas Blanton, Upper Room, Wed. May 11th A.D. 2022

Blanton here reminds me not to be too narrowly focused in my sermons. If I'm preaching about sympathy in sorrow, I should look for an opportunity to mention sharing in others joys as well. 

God's Hand at Work

" 'God, where are you?' I was 22 when I first asked this question. A horrific car crash had left me with a ten percent chance of survival, yet miraculously I am still here. Now in my sixties, I am finding it easier to see God’s work in my life.

I grew up in a Christian household, made a profession of faith at age 12, and have been a Christian since. When I was young, I mistakenly believed that being Christian should give me protection from suffering. But this is simply not true. It was not true for Christ, nor is it true for his followers.

Looking at my life that has included multiple surgeries and physical maladies, an onlooker might mistakenly assume that God was far removed from me. But that would be a mistake. I saw God’s hand at work when surgeons changed their minds at the last minute, when treatment plans were altered, and when surgery revealed results dramatically different from x-rays. God was present in the support of friends and family who prayed and offered words of encouragement. God was there all along."

by Dean Gammons, Upper Room, Monday, May 9th A.D. 2022

Polarized Squabbling

 

https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1960/10/29

forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead Philippians 3:12-14

 

https://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2007/11/07

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past. Isaiah 43:18

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3:12-14