Note: Amy is on vacation until August 22. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.
Dear Incarnation,
On August 24 at 7 pm, we’ll celebrate a Healing Eucharist at Greenbrier Baptist. This simply means that the Eucharist will include prayers, songs, and readings that address our need for healing.
Our prayer book talks about why and how we pray for healing in this way:
“Healing was central to the ministry of Jesus, our incarnate Lord. Healing [in mind, body, and spirit] is central to the ministry of the Church, the Body of Christ. Spoken prayer, anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands are the principal outward means employed by the Church for its ministry to those whose health is in any way impaired. The rite of Reconciliation [also sometimes called Confession] and the reception of Holy Communion are also gifts through which healing takes place.”
If you’ve never looked at the rites of healing on pages 223 to 235 of our prayer book, I invite you to read these prayers, particularly the Ministry to the Sick on pages 225 and 226 in preparation for our Healing Eucharist. Maybe you’ll have an opportunity to pray these prayers and draw on these scriptures in the coming days. I’m praying for that. And perhaps ask God to bring to mind someone in need of healing and invite them to our Healing Eucharist.
Our service will fuse the anointing of the sick that is part of the Ministry to the Sick with the words we pray together each Sunday in the Eucharist. That means you’ll have the opportunity to be anointed with oil, receive communion, and pray for an extended time with a prayer team. If any of that sounds like a stretch for you, then know that you are invited to simply come and silently bring your need for healing to the Great Physician. He knows exactly what you need right and will meet you as you are.
Please reach out to Amy or me if you ever want to pray for healing. Or perhaps join morning or midday prayer to pray for the healing of others in our community.
I’m so grateful to be one of your pastors.
With love,
Katie