Everyone in church and community who is struggling with any situation in life
is invited to join us as we gather to pray and support one another
on the first Tuesday evening of each month at Ashford UMC.
Please check the current church calendar for the date of the next service. (click on the orange ‘special event’ link in the calendar legend).
Wholeness service is generally held on the first Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm of each month.
We’ll share a time of Worship and engage in Healing Prayer with Anointing.
Everyone in church and community who is struggling with any situation in life is invited to join us as we gather to pray and support one another.
For more info, contact: adultministry@ashfordumc.org
Cindy Serio
Scripture strongly affirms ministries of healing. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness.
Spiritual healing is God’s work. Persons find balance, harmony, and wholeness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships through confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation between God and humanity, among individuals and communities, within each person, and between humanity and the rest of creation.
Healing is not magic nor is it “cure” in this context, which is why we prefer the word wholeness. Underlying healing and wholeness is the great mystery of God’s unfailing love for each one of us.
God does not promise that we will be spared suffering but God does promise to be with us in our suffering. When we are able to trust that promise, we can recognize God’s sustaining presence in pain, sickness, injury, and estrangement.
A Service of Prayer for Wholeness provides an atmosphere in which healing can happen. The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God. When this happens, physical healing sometimes happens, mental and emotional balance is often restored, spiritual health is enhanced, and relationships are mended. For the Christian, the basic purpose of spiritual healing is to renew and strengthen one’s relationship with God in Christ.
Anointing the forehead with oil is a “sign-act” which invokes the healing love of God. The oil points beyond itself and those doing the anointing to the action of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the healing Christ, who is the “Anointed One.”
Laying on of hands show the power of touch, which plays a central role in the healings recorded in the New Testament. Touch is a tangible expression of the presence of the Christ the Healer, working in and through those who pray in this way.
Excerpts and adaptation of UM Book of Worship, 613-614
