The day after Christmas, St. Stephen's, has an easy way to remember the first Christian martyr, and more importantly, connect with God in light of the example of Stephen's life and death. Take a a long slow read of Acts 7, meditate on it, then offer this prayer from the Book of Common Worship....
Gracious Father, who gave the first martyr Stephen grace to pray for those who took up stones against him: grant that in all our sufferings for the truth we may learn to love even our enemies and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt, looking up to heaven to him who was crucified for us, Jesus Christ, our mediator and advocate,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A Prayer and a Poem on Christmas
From the BCP
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
"Second Advent" from WRLH
The hour is near, be not afraid
Though the final moment seems long delayed
Though tears and blood in oceans shed
Be not afraidThe one who in truth already dead
Is Satan, staggering still with heel crushed head
The world waits for this apocalypse, the new revelation
The second advent of the risen Son
When we with angels and demons both
Look back and proclaim that “God has won!”
Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
"Second Advent" from WRLH
The hour is near, be not afraid
Though the final moment seems long delayed
Though tears and blood in oceans shed
Be not afraidThe one who in truth already dead
Is Satan, staggering still with heel crushed head
The world waits for this apocalypse, the new revelation
The second advent of the risen Son
When we with angels and demons both
Look back and proclaim that “God has won!”
Sunday, December 23, 2007
More than just Lessons & Carols
Tonight those of us who remain around DC will gather, focus on the Advent of Christ, and retell the "meta-narrative" through Hymns and Scripture. We will use the old English Lessons and Carols Service, whose main them is the development of the loving purposes of God seen through the windows and words of the Bible.
The opening (or "bidding") prayer follows.
~Royster Wright
The opening (or "bidding") prayer follows.
Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent our care and delight is to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels: in heart and mind to go even unto
Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and let us make this Chapel, glad with our carols of praise:
But first let us pray for the needs of his whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for unity within the Church he came to build:
And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and them that mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; all who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.
Lastly let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no human can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.
Individuals may offer up other prayers and request to God at this point.
These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us:
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Almighty God bless us with his grace: Christ give us the joys of everlasting life: and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of Angels bring us all.
~Royster Wright
Saturday, December 22, 2007
periphery
Greetings, St. B's friends...below, from the Bauman clan, an advent offering. God be with you all.
Three days journey more
This City of Bread
We ascend.
Our nourishment,
Your soul,
Stretched fragile
Against blue collar sky;
Our sojourn,
Your will,
Rhythmed
By weary breath,
Burdened
By Middle Eastern sweat.
All the while
History exhales
Its last gasp
And waits
Your holy
Resuscitation.
Yahweh,
Respire these lungs
Blanket this shiver
And kindle this revelation
But stay not your advent:
Undress Your glory
Slip on human skin
And pitch your tent
Among us—
We who hunger
Who thirst
Who dwell
On the periphery
Come.
Three days journey more
This City of Bread
We ascend.
Our nourishment,
Your soul,
Stretched fragile
Against blue collar sky;
Our sojourn,
Your will,
Rhythmed
By weary breath,
Burdened
By Middle Eastern sweat.
All the while
History exhales
Its last gasp
And waits
Your holy
Resuscitation.
Yahweh,
Respire these lungs
Blanket this shiver
And kindle this revelation
But stay not your advent:
Undress Your glory
Slip on human skin
And pitch your tent
Among us—
We who hunger
Who thirst
Who dwell
On the periphery
Come.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
simplicity & etc.
hi all,
i had an intriguing/challenging conversation this weekend with Glasses Off (www.glassesoff.org) a religious liberty blogger. it brought into question my own ideas about simplicity, beauty, and celebrating the both of them at once. i would be interested in your thoughts -- as, i'm assuming, many of us here in DC ponder these issues. here is most of the resultant post from my blog:
... over our wedding shower tea & scones, ms. glasses & i discussed her penchants for freedom of worship and luxe design, as well as a reader’s rant regarding one of her fashion posts. the reader’s contention: no one who trumpets justice for the poor should buy prada shoes, even if they’re 3 seasons old and purchased on the mega-sale rack.
it was a good issue to ponder together, and it was especially germane because the bride-of-the-hour was a woman whom both ms. glasses and i marvel over, thanks to her ability not to let the transient/low-wage twenties keep her from collecting a few exquisite shoes, perfumes, and paintings (and not much else). in other words, the bride eschews target binges and, instead, awaits with baited breath the marc jacobs samples sale.
i’ll be honest: the bride’s shopping philosophy has sometimes left me a little befuddled — who needs a cashmere sweater when kmart’s cotton/paper-towel blend cardigan can keep you cozy?! i’m not too proud to endure a little chafing, if it’s all in the name of cheapskatery, which, as i’ve mentioned before, is pretty much in my top 10 family values. but the beauty of the bride’s philosophy has dawned on me once or twice — especially in those moments when i’ve had to borrow one of her soft sweaters and, as i toss it over my shoulders, my whole body says: ahhhhh.
ultimately, ms. glasses & i came around to pondering: what is simplicity? what is beauty? what are the most conscientious, green, and/or obedient choices when it comes to stewardship of resources? and how can a cheap person avoid smug self-righteousness and a bitter inability to celebrate beauty, and a person who loves finery keep from finery lust?
ms. glasses and i agreed that one of the most important things for cheapskates and finery-lovers alike is to temper consumption with giving. our conversation reminded me that tithing has been one of the most challenging and significant spiritual commitments of my adult life: taking 10% off the top of every paycheck is a great way to be utterly humbled before God. tithing is also a good reminder that every job is a gift and that i am always able to financially support ministries of mercy, even when i’m making $15K a year. and it may sound strange, but tithing has struck me as a discipline whose bodily impact is as powerful as that of chastity. perhaps that’s why these disciplines are two of the most difficult ones to undertake...
looking forward to your thoughts!
be well,
laura
i had an intriguing/challenging conversation this weekend with Glasses Off (www.glassesoff.org) a religious liberty blogger. it brought into question my own ideas about simplicity, beauty, and celebrating the both of them at once. i would be interested in your thoughts -- as, i'm assuming, many of us here in DC ponder these issues. here is most of the resultant post from my blog:
... over our wedding shower tea & scones, ms. glasses & i discussed her penchants for freedom of worship and luxe design, as well as a reader’s rant regarding one of her fashion posts. the reader’s contention: no one who trumpets justice for the poor should buy prada shoes, even if they’re 3 seasons old and purchased on the mega-sale rack.
it was a good issue to ponder together, and it was especially germane because the bride-of-the-hour was a woman whom both ms. glasses and i marvel over, thanks to her ability not to let the transient/low-wage twenties keep her from collecting a few exquisite shoes, perfumes, and paintings (and not much else). in other words, the bride eschews target binges and, instead, awaits with baited breath the marc jacobs samples sale.
i’ll be honest: the bride’s shopping philosophy has sometimes left me a little befuddled — who needs a cashmere sweater when kmart’s cotton/paper-towel blend cardigan can keep you cozy?! i’m not too proud to endure a little chafing, if it’s all in the name of cheapskatery, which, as i’ve mentioned before, is pretty much in my top 10 family values. but the beauty of the bride’s philosophy has dawned on me once or twice — especially in those moments when i’ve had to borrow one of her soft sweaters and, as i toss it over my shoulders, my whole body says: ahhhhh.
ultimately, ms. glasses & i came around to pondering: what is simplicity? what is beauty? what are the most conscientious, green, and/or obedient choices when it comes to stewardship of resources? and how can a cheap person avoid smug self-righteousness and a bitter inability to celebrate beauty, and a person who loves finery keep from finery lust?
ms. glasses and i agreed that one of the most important things for cheapskates and finery-lovers alike is to temper consumption with giving. our conversation reminded me that tithing has been one of the most challenging and significant spiritual commitments of my adult life: taking 10% off the top of every paycheck is a great way to be utterly humbled before God. tithing is also a good reminder that every job is a gift and that i am always able to financially support ministries of mercy, even when i’m making $15K a year. and it may sound strange, but tithing has struck me as a discipline whose bodily impact is as powerful as that of chastity. perhaps that’s why these disciplines are two of the most difficult ones to undertake...
looking forward to your thoughts!
be well,
laura
Monday, December 17, 2007
Waiting For God by Henri Nouwen
Waiting is not a very popular attitude. Waiting is not something that people think about with great sympathy. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, “Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don’t just sit there and wait!” For many people, waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something…
It impresses me, therefore, that all the figures who appear in the first pages of Luke’s Gospel are waiting. Elizabeth and Zechariah are waiting. Mary is waiting. Simeon and Anna, who were there at the temple when Jesus was brought in, are waiting. The whole opening of the good news is filled with waiting people. And right at the beginning all those people in someway or another hear the words, “Do not be afraid. I have something good to say to you.” These words set the tone and the context. Now Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary, Simeon and Anna are waiting for something new and good to happen to them…
Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of the Gospel, is waiting with a sense of promise. “Zechariah,…your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.” “Mary,…Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son” (Luke 1:13, 31). People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more. Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth were living with a promise that nurtured them, that fed them, and that made them able to stay where they were…
Second, waiting is active. Most of us think of waiting as something very passive, a hopeless state determined by events totally out of our hands…But there is none of this passivity in scripture. Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing…Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it…
Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is awaiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful -waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.
It impresses me, therefore, that all the figures who appear in the first pages of Luke’s Gospel are waiting. Elizabeth and Zechariah are waiting. Mary is waiting. Simeon and Anna, who were there at the temple when Jesus was brought in, are waiting. The whole opening of the good news is filled with waiting people. And right at the beginning all those people in someway or another hear the words, “Do not be afraid. I have something good to say to you.” These words set the tone and the context. Now Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary, Simeon and Anna are waiting for something new and good to happen to them…
Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of the Gospel, is waiting with a sense of promise. “Zechariah,…your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.” “Mary,…Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son” (Luke 1:13, 31). People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more. Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth were living with a promise that nurtured them, that fed them, and that made them able to stay where they were…
Second, waiting is active. Most of us think of waiting as something very passive, a hopeless state determined by events totally out of our hands…But there is none of this passivity in scripture. Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing…Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it…
Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is awaiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful -waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Great insight from John Michael Talbot
We come to the beginning of another Advent. We have done it many times before, and will probably do so again. Only God knows the future. And we come to the beginning of another liturgical Church year. We come again to a time of penance and conversion; "Lent with a little sugar on top," as I have often said. There is not necessarily anything new to be said. Most of what we would say has been said before by many others. But "repetition is the mother of learning."
What strikes me with this is our notion of moving through time. In the west we usually think of time as having a beginning and an end. It can be seen as a line that starts in one place, and goes to another. In the east people think of time as a circle without beginning or end. There are strengths and weaknesses with both. The weakness of linear time is that it gets so goal oriented that it can fail to live in the present moment. The problem with cyclic time is that it can lull us into a state of sluggishness.
Pope Benedict XVI has put these two concepts together in a kind of "corkscrew" approach to time. It is both cyclic in that it goes round and round, and linear in that it begins and ends someplace. I really like this description. It is typically brilliant and insightful of Pope Benedict XVI.For many years I have proposed a similar model; that of a spiral staircase that goes up or down when viewed from the side, but seems to go round and round in the same space when viewed from below or above. This model emphasizes that ordinary life tends to go round and round with the same mundane issues over and over again. What makes our progress good or bad is which direction we are going.
St. Peter Damien of the 11th century semi eremitical reform of western monasticism, and a leading cardinal of the Church of his day, says that you either go up or down every day of your life. If you try to stand still you begin a downward spiral. Life is a decision. Love is a decision. The question is what we will do as the same issues of life come around again and again. Will we choose to follow Jesus this Advent, and continue our journey upward to heaven? Or will we just stop trying and begin a slow downward spiral?
Chances are we elder members of the Church will not hear much new this Advent. Chances are that we have heard it all pretty much before. But the challenge of what we do with the message of Jesus for us this Advent remains a matter of life or death for us all. We can choose to follow Jesus, or we can just give up, or block it all out once more.
This Advent, rise to the challenge. Though the issues might seem to get old, the challenge never gets old. It is always new because every day of our life is new. Let's convert, let's do penance, let's rise and walk up the spiral staircase with the help of the grace of God. Let's not get lulled into to a sense of the all too familiar and try to stand still. It only leads to falling back down the stairs. It leads to sin, sadness, and spiritual death. Jesus wants us to have life and have it abundantly. This Advent let's choose life, and live. God grant you a most blessed Advent this year!
In Jesus,
John Michael Talbot
Founder and Spiritual Father
The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage
What strikes me with this is our notion of moving through time. In the west we usually think of time as having a beginning and an end. It can be seen as a line that starts in one place, and goes to another. In the east people think of time as a circle without beginning or end. There are strengths and weaknesses with both. The weakness of linear time is that it gets so goal oriented that it can fail to live in the present moment. The problem with cyclic time is that it can lull us into a state of sluggishness.
Pope Benedict XVI has put these two concepts together in a kind of "corkscrew" approach to time. It is both cyclic in that it goes round and round, and linear in that it begins and ends someplace. I really like this description. It is typically brilliant and insightful of Pope Benedict XVI.For many years I have proposed a similar model; that of a spiral staircase that goes up or down when viewed from the side, but seems to go round and round in the same space when viewed from below or above. This model emphasizes that ordinary life tends to go round and round with the same mundane issues over and over again. What makes our progress good or bad is which direction we are going.
St. Peter Damien of the 11th century semi eremitical reform of western monasticism, and a leading cardinal of the Church of his day, says that you either go up or down every day of your life. If you try to stand still you begin a downward spiral. Life is a decision. Love is a decision. The question is what we will do as the same issues of life come around again and again. Will we choose to follow Jesus this Advent, and continue our journey upward to heaven? Or will we just stop trying and begin a slow downward spiral?
Chances are we elder members of the Church will not hear much new this Advent. Chances are that we have heard it all pretty much before. But the challenge of what we do with the message of Jesus for us this Advent remains a matter of life or death for us all. We can choose to follow Jesus, or we can just give up, or block it all out once more.
This Advent, rise to the challenge. Though the issues might seem to get old, the challenge never gets old. It is always new because every day of our life is new. Let's convert, let's do penance, let's rise and walk up the spiral staircase with the help of the grace of God. Let's not get lulled into to a sense of the all too familiar and try to stand still. It only leads to falling back down the stairs. It leads to sin, sadness, and spiritual death. Jesus wants us to have life and have it abundantly. This Advent let's choose life, and live. God grant you a most blessed Advent this year!
In Jesus,
John Michael Talbot
Founder and Spiritual Father
The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage
On Compassion from Jen Vollett-Krech
At a recent StBs Darfur prayer meeting, we discussed an article written by Bryant Myers (Author of Walking with the Poor) called "Compassion with an Attitude: a Humanitarian's View of Human Suffering." It has a lot of relevance for us at St. Brendan's as we seek ways to engage with those who are suffering both in our city and abroad. He defines compassion and suggest the marks of engage church.
Compassion with an Attitude Defined...
He defines compassion on three levels:
1. "Compassion begins with seeing the suffering of others and being willing to listen to its call. If we are willing to see and to hear, we must next be willing to feel. The first part of being truly and incarnationally compassionate is to be moved to the core of our being with pity and outrage when in the presence of human suffering.
2. "To hear, see, and feel is the foundation of compassion. Yet it is not compassion itself. In its fullest sense, compassion is an action word. Driven by conviction and mercy, we must act..."
3. "Compassion actions that Jesus took were not just ameliorative. Compassion is more than mercy and more than simple response. Biblical compassion has a bias in favor of social restoration.. (ie. showing compassion to refugees but also unmasking the human greed and hunger for power that created the conflict from which refugees flee)
**In its fullest form, compassion is seeing, feeling and acting in a way that poses a radical critique of the dominant voices of the day, reminding them of what God in fact requires of them.**
Bryant Myers goes on to describe the marks of an engaged church that has embraced "incarnational empathy":
1. Sacrificial Giving - "a Good Samaritan kind of giving, the kind of giving that inconveniences us and sacrifices the daily schedule, the kind of giving that not only gets a suffering man to an inn but leaves money with the innkeeper."
2. Social Restorative Actions - "this is associated wiht the attitude aspect of compassion. This is the mark that comes from making noise in polite and powerful places, the kind of mark that comes from taking positions that are unpopular and provactive" (similar to our discussion on the retreat about addressing structural injustices)
3. Prayer - not just for the relief of suffering but to reveal a loving, active God who suffers with us and whose Glory can be revealed even in the face of suffering.
How does this relate to Darfur and St. Brendan's? I am still figuring that out but I know that we can prayer for God and His Glory to be revealed even in the midst of the mess of Sudan and that Jesus' model of what compassion looks like is a challenge.
Some food for thought....
Jen
Compassion with an Attitude Defined...
He defines compassion on three levels:
1. "Compassion begins with seeing the suffering of others and being willing to listen to its call. If we are willing to see and to hear, we must next be willing to feel. The first part of being truly and incarnationally compassionate is to be moved to the core of our being with pity and outrage when in the presence of human suffering.
2. "To hear, see, and feel is the foundation of compassion. Yet it is not compassion itself. In its fullest sense, compassion is an action word. Driven by conviction and mercy, we must act..."
3. "Compassion actions that Jesus took were not just ameliorative. Compassion is more than mercy and more than simple response. Biblical compassion has a bias in favor of social restoration.. (ie. showing compassion to refugees but also unmasking the human greed and hunger for power that created the conflict from which refugees flee)
**In its fullest form, compassion is seeing, feeling and acting in a way that poses a radical critique of the dominant voices of the day, reminding them of what God in fact requires of them.**
Bryant Myers goes on to describe the marks of an engaged church that has embraced "incarnational empathy":
1. Sacrificial Giving - "a Good Samaritan kind of giving, the kind of giving that inconveniences us and sacrifices the daily schedule, the kind of giving that not only gets a suffering man to an inn but leaves money with the innkeeper."
2. Social Restorative Actions - "this is associated wiht the attitude aspect of compassion. This is the mark that comes from making noise in polite and powerful places, the kind of mark that comes from taking positions that are unpopular and provactive" (similar to our discussion on the retreat about addressing structural injustices)
3. Prayer - not just for the relief of suffering but to reveal a loving, active God who suffers with us and whose Glory can be revealed even in the face of suffering.
How does this relate to Darfur and St. Brendan's? I am still figuring that out but I know that we can prayer for God and His Glory to be revealed even in the midst of the mess of Sudan and that Jesus' model of what compassion looks like is a challenge.
Some food for thought....
Jen
Monday, October 15, 2007
Prayer of Abandonment
Father,I abandon myself into your hands;do with me what you will.Whatever you may do, I thank you:I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,and in all your creatures -I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,and with boundless confidence,for you are my Father.
Charles de Foucauld
Let only your will be done in me,and in all your creatures -I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,and with boundless confidence,for you are my Father.
Charles de Foucauld
Keeping Up With Darfur
St. Brendan's joins with many others in praying regularly for an end to the genocide in Darfur, keeping up with what's going on there, and trying to find ways to be active as a redemptive response to this crisis. Jen Vollett-Krech helps us do that, in part with her blog on Darfur. Check it out at http://globalengage.typepad.com/darfur_gap/. And pray.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
"Thy Kingdom Come" through Hands of the Healer
Several times a day, the Medevac helicopters fly hurriedly over our house in Washington DC. We live in the flight path between the Children’s Hospital complex and points to the southwest. Depending on the direction of the helicopter’s flight, either it is flying to someone in distress, or it is carrying the most precious thing, a human being, back to the hospital for healing. And if the one in that helicopter is being rushed back to the hospital for care, what kind of care will he or she receive? What kind of doctor will they meet? Will they receive excellent medical care, and that is all? Or will they get that plus the gracious and powerful touch of doctors and nurses who know that their hands somehow are the hands of God to bring healing to a broken world and broken bodies?
Recently, a Christian doctor from Children’s Hospital and twelve other healing practitioners met for a Vocare discussion, a long conversation exploring the relationship between faith and work. On this night, we discussed the impact of a patient’s faith on their general health and length of life, using the groundbreaking study of this relationship by Dr. David Larson and others as a starting point. Our conversation ended exploring the role of the practitioner’s own spiritual life in the pursuit of their vocation as a healer, ministers of God’s Kingdom through the ministry of healing. Viewed conscientiously through the right lens, all of us can understand our vocations as being ‘ministers of God’s Kingdom’. This is not a hard connection to make particularly for nurses, counselors, doctors and others in the wide range of those ministering to the body, mind, and heart in their profession.
To paraphrase Dallas Willard, God’s Kingdom comes when what God wants done is done. God’s kingdom comes when the ways God designed things to be actually happen. Jesus came to make it possible for God’s ways to happen through us, for God’s Kingdom to come through his people. This explains the ministry of Jesus and how he called and equipped and sent his disciples to continue his ministry, and healing is one of the most obvious ways.
The progression in the Gospel of Luke is breathtaking. In his first sermon as recorded in the first half of chapter 4, Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come in him. Immediately he sets about casting out demons and healing people, and continues to proclaim “the good news of the Kingdom of God” (4.43). Later he commissions and empowers the twelve disciples to do exactly the same thing, including “to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” (9.1-2) Shortly thereafter, he commissioned 72 more to do exactly the same thing with authority: “Heal the sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come to near to you’.” (10.9) After his resurrection, Jesus says to his disciples “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you: Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20.21-22).
Jesus healed, and empowered others to heal so that many could know that that in Jesus the kingdom of God had come and that indeed the coming of the kingdom would have tangible expression. This ministry continues today, through healers ministering in Jesus’ name. Five hundred years ago St. Teresa of Avila put it so well—“Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.” To say to those who practice medicine, yours are the hands of Christ to heal now, is not too much to say. We can be grateful for that generous ‘common grace’ of God that doesn’t limit this ministry of healing only to those who do it in Jesus’ name. And we can be stunned by remembering that Christians healing in Jesus’ name carry out very tangibly the ministry that Jesus started.
What a remarkable gift to be called to the ministry of healing! Whether offering healing physically, mentally, or emotionally, there are few vocations so easily connected to being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. And there are few ministries that are so eagerly desired by so many in so many places at basically any time.
My wife Tara, is a nurse practitioner, and several years ago we literally traveled around the world ministering to abandoned women and street children in Majority World cities like Lima, Nairobi, Calcutta, Kathmandu, and others. In each of those places, people in distress lined up for ministry, and inevitably they wanted to see her first. Their presenting concern was the illness in their body, which consistently she addressed not only with medical professionalism but also with a compassionate spirit of genuine concern and individual attention. They were ministered to by the hands of Jesus through Tara’s hands, and were much more able and willing to receive words of God’s love and power to bring more healing than simply the alleviation of their physical suffering. The Kingdom was happening to them. What God wants (the restoration of body and soul from the brokenness of illness and sin) was happening. So often the ‘healers’ are the first place sick people encounter the Kingdom of God coming to them.
This big picture view of a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing is inspiring indeed, but not so much that it can’t get swept in the day to day reality of overbooked appointments, long lines of patients, and health crises that demand one’s full attention. Are there ways those in the healing profession can keep a “Kingdom consciousness” clear, constant, and present, even on the busiest days? Are there ways for the health professional to remember that “my hands are the hands of Jesus to bless this person.” There are simple ways to start cultivating that mindset.
Perhaps by taping a ‘note to self’ on the dashboard of one’s car-“My hands are the hands of Jesus to heal”— to be pondered and prayed about on the way to the hospital or office. Or perhaps, when seeing a patient, pausing for a moment in their presence, or during an exam, and praying silently in great faith, “Father, heal them by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name.” A doctor praying this may have studied to be given the tools to heal the patients body. Through the prayer of that same doctor, God may be bringing healing to ailments that don’t show up in a CAT scan or blood test.
That same doctor from Children’s Hospital, to whom those helicopters sometimes bring patients, recently treated the little son of some dear friends of ours, who was afflicted by an imminently life-threatening ailment. With his skill he treated the boy successfully, with his prayers and spirit he ministered to the parents. Somehow that feels like the Kingdom of God coming, where God’s way is what happens.
Recently, a Christian doctor from Children’s Hospital and twelve other healing practitioners met for a Vocare discussion, a long conversation exploring the relationship between faith and work. On this night, we discussed the impact of a patient’s faith on their general health and length of life, using the groundbreaking study of this relationship by Dr. David Larson and others as a starting point. Our conversation ended exploring the role of the practitioner’s own spiritual life in the pursuit of their vocation as a healer, ministers of God’s Kingdom through the ministry of healing. Viewed conscientiously through the right lens, all of us can understand our vocations as being ‘ministers of God’s Kingdom’. This is not a hard connection to make particularly for nurses, counselors, doctors and others in the wide range of those ministering to the body, mind, and heart in their profession.
To paraphrase Dallas Willard, God’s Kingdom comes when what God wants done is done. God’s kingdom comes when the ways God designed things to be actually happen. Jesus came to make it possible for God’s ways to happen through us, for God’s Kingdom to come through his people. This explains the ministry of Jesus and how he called and equipped and sent his disciples to continue his ministry, and healing is one of the most obvious ways.
The progression in the Gospel of Luke is breathtaking. In his first sermon as recorded in the first half of chapter 4, Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come in him. Immediately he sets about casting out demons and healing people, and continues to proclaim “the good news of the Kingdom of God” (4.43). Later he commissions and empowers the twelve disciples to do exactly the same thing, including “to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” (9.1-2) Shortly thereafter, he commissioned 72 more to do exactly the same thing with authority: “Heal the sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come to near to you’.” (10.9) After his resurrection, Jesus says to his disciples “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you: Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20.21-22).
Jesus healed, and empowered others to heal so that many could know that that in Jesus the kingdom of God had come and that indeed the coming of the kingdom would have tangible expression. This ministry continues today, through healers ministering in Jesus’ name. Five hundred years ago St. Teresa of Avila put it so well—“Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.” To say to those who practice medicine, yours are the hands of Christ to heal now, is not too much to say. We can be grateful for that generous ‘common grace’ of God that doesn’t limit this ministry of healing only to those who do it in Jesus’ name. And we can be stunned by remembering that Christians healing in Jesus’ name carry out very tangibly the ministry that Jesus started.
What a remarkable gift to be called to the ministry of healing! Whether offering healing physically, mentally, or emotionally, there are few vocations so easily connected to being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. And there are few ministries that are so eagerly desired by so many in so many places at basically any time.
My wife Tara, is a nurse practitioner, and several years ago we literally traveled around the world ministering to abandoned women and street children in Majority World cities like Lima, Nairobi, Calcutta, Kathmandu, and others. In each of those places, people in distress lined up for ministry, and inevitably they wanted to see her first. Their presenting concern was the illness in their body, which consistently she addressed not only with medical professionalism but also with a compassionate spirit of genuine concern and individual attention. They were ministered to by the hands of Jesus through Tara’s hands, and were much more able and willing to receive words of God’s love and power to bring more healing than simply the alleviation of their physical suffering. The Kingdom was happening to them. What God wants (the restoration of body and soul from the brokenness of illness and sin) was happening. So often the ‘healers’ are the first place sick people encounter the Kingdom of God coming to them.
This big picture view of a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing is inspiring indeed, but not so much that it can’t get swept in the day to day reality of overbooked appointments, long lines of patients, and health crises that demand one’s full attention. Are there ways those in the healing profession can keep a “Kingdom consciousness” clear, constant, and present, even on the busiest days? Are there ways for the health professional to remember that “my hands are the hands of Jesus to bless this person.” There are simple ways to start cultivating that mindset.
Perhaps by taping a ‘note to self’ on the dashboard of one’s car-“My hands are the hands of Jesus to heal”— to be pondered and prayed about on the way to the hospital or office. Or perhaps, when seeing a patient, pausing for a moment in their presence, or during an exam, and praying silently in great faith, “Father, heal them by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name.” A doctor praying this may have studied to be given the tools to heal the patients body. Through the prayer of that same doctor, God may be bringing healing to ailments that don’t show up in a CAT scan or blood test.
That same doctor from Children’s Hospital, to whom those helicopters sometimes bring patients, recently treated the little son of some dear friends of ours, who was afflicted by an imminently life-threatening ailment. With his skill he treated the boy successfully, with his prayers and spirit he ministered to the parents. Somehow that feels like the Kingdom of God coming, where God’s way is what happens.
Thomas Merton on Spiritual Growth
"How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun. A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, ripe and juicy beside its small green counterparts. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God’s time. We must wait for God, we must be awake; we must trust in God’s hidden action within us.”
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