The Diocesan Chaplain writes . . .

Some of you, if not most of you, will be unaware that part of my ministry as a parish priest is also directly concerned with the Healing Ministry of the Church. Since my arrival in Blackpool, now nearly nine years ago, with the help and support of my congregation, the Diocese, and under God’s guidance, I have been able to develop this ministry to such an extent that the courses we provide here in Blackpool are now available and have been and are being used by other parishes in the Diocese. In 2010 our small teaching team will be leading a Quiet Day and a Diocesan Retreat at Whalley Abbey, the former on 22nd May the latter from 8th to 10th October, as well as some of our other courses more locally as we help other parishes develop the ministry in their own way.

I see the Healing Ministry of the Church as an integral part of the Church’s mission. Christians are relatively happy with the idea of teaching and preaching about Jesus Christ, but are distinctly more uncomfortable when the concept of healing is introduced into the equation. But that’s exactly what the twelve did first, then the seventy-two, then the rest of Jesus’ followers as they added to their numbers – they preached the Good News about Jesus Christ and the coming of the Kingdom and they healed all kinds of sick people in body, mind, and spirit. We must learn from and follow Jesus’ example looking to preach the Good News and at the same time not neglect his charge to heal the sick in his name.

But Jesus cared for the whole person and it is right that we too should work with all those who can help a person through the course of a problem, or a serious physical or mental illness – we look to sharing the care of a person with those of the medical and caring professions – working together to take into account physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Our General Practitioners need to be aware of emotional and spiritual needs just as much as Christian ministers and priests need to be aware of the extent and implications of any physical illness present and their emotional impact. If only all could work together to look after a person. This approach is being taken today – the ‘holistic’ or ‘whole-person’ approach is becoming more and more an accepted norm, certainly in cases where illnesses are progressive in ‘end of life’ care, seen particularly, as I have in my ministry in the past as a volunteer Hospice Chaplain, in the approaches taken in our hospices throughout the country.

But there’s also another important question to be considered when we talk of the Healing Ministry. What is the difference between a cure (a miracle) and healing? I was asked a couple of years ago, whilst on a Diocesan Training Conference, how I, sitting in a wheelchair (for comforts sake), could talk, preach and teach about the Ministry of Healing. My answer was and is simple – I have handed everything over to God: for God in Christ has ‘healed’ me with the expertise He has given to the medical profession and medical science. In one very real sense I am not ‘cured’, but have been equipped to continue in his service. Such is the Ministry of Healing. The miracle of modern medicine has combined with faith to produce a visible result. What is the definition of a miracle? One writer gave this definition: “Miracle may be a slippery word if you take it to mean something that is totally against all known natural laws, you restrict it very considerably. But if, as with many miracles of healing, what it seems to mean is a miraculous speeding up or an activation of the body’s natural healing activity, it becomes a much broader concept and much easier to accept. One definition of ‘miracle’ is ‘A miracle is God doing something for us that we could not do ourselves but another human being could do for us.” As we bring others to the faith, indeed as we help others to deepen their faith the healing ministry must be an integral part of our lives. We are all, in any case, already ‘healers’ as we, for example, listen to someone else as they take us into their confidence and share what is troubling them.

What is that expression – “a problem shared is a problem halved”. That is so true – the burden is lightened and a way forward is found. But we have to possess the faith that with a good basic knowledge of what is meant by the words ‘Healing Ministry’; with the concept of ministering to the whole person at the forefront of our minds; with the words of the Gospel stories to encourage us; with the Holy Spirit to guide us we can bring hope and healing to those troubled in body, mind or spirit within our community and beyond. We have our commission, “to preach, to teach, and to heal”, what more do we require except to step forward in faith into the unknown, knowing that we are but the instruments of God in the building of His kingdom here on earth. I vividly remember the words of the late Bishop Morris Maddocks, former advisor to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on the Church’s Ministry of Healing, when asked to define the meaning of that phrase during a radio interview said, “The Ministry of Healing is Jesus Christ meeting you at your point of need”.

We require no better definition than that.

PS. If you would like to learn more about this ministry why not come to the Quiet Day or the Diocesan Retreat? Both are advertised in the Whalley Abbey Spirituality programme for 2010.