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For the last two years we have had a “Prayer and Healing Service” twice a year. Many have found this a service of immense comfort, one that evokes strong feelings of closeness with God and the community gathered. The good news is that starting in September our “Prayer and Healing Service” will be held at 7pm in our sanctuary on the second Wednesday of every month. There will also be a service on Wednesday, July 30. We hope you will join us one evening and see if this could be a meaningful experience for you.
What is particularly interesting about this development in the life of First Church is that it is a nationally known physician who is supporting us in this endeavor. K.J. Lee, M.D., F.A.C.S., among many accomplishments in the medical field, has been president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, chairman of the medical board at the hospital of St. Raphael, is author of the most widely read text book in the ENT field, and is a senior healthcare policy advisor to the U.S. presidential candidates. Yet, he, as his parents before him, is a firm believer in the healing ministry of Christ. He has looked for years for the kind of healing service we offer. Why, you might ask. Dr. Lee’s father, C.T. Lee, at age 43 was near death, weighing under 70 pounds and with a still unknown ailment. He was treated with prayer and surgery by a Seventh Day Adventist doctor at the Penang Missionary Hospital in Malaysia. Subsequently, he lived a healthy life till age 81. In memory of Mr. and Mrs. C.T. Lee, Dr. and Mrs. K.J. Lee have made a gift to support our healing ministry. The biblical witness is strong and the biblical witness is far-reaching that our God is a God who seeks and works for our restoration in body, mind, heart and soul. From the first book of Genesis where Abraham prays to God and God heals Abimilech and his wife to the last book of Revelation where God wipes away all tears and death is no more, we are constantly told about God’s desire to make us whole, to make us sound, to make us well. The clear testimony about Jesus is that healing was a major focus of his ministry. Matthew tells us that “Jesus’ fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pain, those oppressed by demons, and he healed them.” Later in his Gospel Matthew reaffirms Jesus healing power: “That evening they brought him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.” The stories about Jesus’ healings of individuals suffering in heart, mind, body and, and soul are prolific. In our modern world much of Jesus’ work of healing is accomplished by skilled physicians and psychotherapists, but we also know that God’s spirit works in mysterious way. We hear about miraculous healings. They make no scientific sense, theologically they defy a sense of fairness, but they are real. Each week in our Joys and Concerns we hear how our prayers have helped another—for instance, a death defying surgery goes amazingly well and so does the recovery after she is prayed for by different people in 15 minute shifts for the duration of her danger. Healing takes place on many levels and it does not always mean we are healed but that in some way we have been restored, renewed, reconciled. The most important healing for any of us is when our eyes are opened to be able to see the beauty of God, when our ears are opened to hear about the stories of God, when our hearts are unhardened so that we can feel the love of God. Sometimes no matter how much we pray to God or others pray to God for us, or we for them the illness remains. Jeremiah laments: “My pain is unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to heal.” The Apostle Paul talks often about the affliction of his flesh. Jesus himself cried out on the cross and death was his only release, until he was taken, as he said, into paradise. At what level we will be healed, when or where we will be healed we do not know. But we do know that eventually that day will come, and we know that in every travail the peace of God that passes understanding can be ours. And, we do know that when we pray that Jesus’ scarred hands cup our hands. We invite you to join us at our upcoming Prayer and Healing Service as we gather now in the protective shelter of God’s healing love, knowing that God invites our prayers, welcomes us, knows us completely, calls us by name, loves each one of us as a dear and precious child. Kendrick
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