Following on a splendid Sunday picnic, this week we have our Episcopal Church Women meeting; a memorial service Saturday for Barbara Hendry, our former Sexton; and healing prayer at our Sunday Service.
I still remember the first and second times I was at a service which included prayer for healing. The first time, I sat very still in my pew, watching what was going on, and that evening I regaled the family with news of this strange thing they were doing at our new parish.
The second time, I knelt at the altar rail for healing prayer for a child. As the priest came to each of us, it seemed to me that we were all praying with and for each one receiving the laying on of hands. When the priest laid hands on my head, I felt a deep stirring -- something I hadn't expected and didn't understand. That night, I learned that there had been a healing: my daughter told me about an important change of heart at just that time.
How is this? We don't really know. What we do know is that it's about the goodness and love of God, about discovering God's care for us, about being drawn into the heart and presence and power of God, at which point amazing things can happen. Sometimes we realize -- weeks, even months later -- that there was a healing, that God used our openness to move for good.
Try it. Try it even if you majored in one of the sciences and are deeply suspicious of anything that hasn't been tested and measured in a lab, because this (like most important things in your life) is about love, and has a reason of its own that reason cannot comprehend. Try it for yourself, for those you carry in your heart. We'll be doing it this Sunday.
Tuesday, September 20
1 PM ECW meeting and Needlecrafters
7 PM Communications Committee meets
Saturday, September 24
11 AM Memorial Service for Barbara Christine Hendry
Sunday, September 25
10 AM Holy Eucharist and Healing Prayer
Children's Chapel and Nursery
Coffee Hour follows
Training for Readers, Servers and Eucharistic Ministers
