Gift Of Healing Research Articles

RECLAIMING THE HEALING MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH

KARIN GRANBERG-MICHAELSON [*] The healing miracles of Jesus can be understood as the first signs of a new order which Christ proclaimed and inaugurated. The miracles recorded in New Testament scriptures demonstrate the first fruits of this new kingdom order. As such, they break into the reigning chaos and restore the wholeness and integration which were hallmarks of God's original creation. his valuable study of the healing ministry of Jesus, Community, Church and Healing, theologian R.A. Lambourne comments that: In the mission and message of Jesus Christ, his healing work was not a secondary consequence, but the very means of proclamation, institution, and enlargement of the new age. Lambourne says further that what Jesus wants in response to a miraculous healing is, That men and women will recognize ... God's presence, his word, his finger. [1] This recognition is meant to lead people into repentance and covenant living. The theological significance of the miracles of Jesus, then, is that they bear witness to God's intention to restore wholeness to all people and all creation. They also imply that the person who receives a healing will, in gratitude, seek to engage in covenant living. It is evident in the New Testament accounts that healing flowed as a consequence of life shared in the covenanted communities which became the first churches. After Pentecost, the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit with the gift of healing and they began their own healing ministries, which included casting out evil spirits and even resurrection of the dead. However, sometime during the middle ages, the healing ministry of the churches fell into disrepute. The sacrament of anointing the sick became relegated to a rite for the dying without the expectation of divine intervention. A more complete discussion of the history of the healing ministry of the church can be found in Morton Kelsey's book, Healing and Christianity. [2] As we enter the 21st century, many churches worldwide are returning to the practice of establishing healing ministries. These ministries vary widely in their various geographical and cultural specifics, but they signify the belief that the healing power of Jesus Christ is alive in the world today. An effort has been made by mainline communions in North America to demystify the practice of prayer for healing and other attending rituals, such as anointing with oil, speaking in tongues, and the laying on of hands, so that more churches will choose to reclaim this rich inheritance. The healing ministries with which I am conversant are operating in the acceptance that death is the natural end point of biological life. The presence of pain and death in our world creates suffering that cannot be escaped. Yet, within these limitations, a healing ministry which focuses on all aspects of people's emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing is understood to be in harmony with the mandate of Jesus to preach, teach and heal. these contexts, wholeness is understood to imply harmony with oneself, others and the creator. Thus it is possible to achieve healing in the midst of a terminal diagnosis which results in death. Wholeness is redefined. It is not the absence of symptoms but the presence of integration of body, mind and spirit which brings eventual deep healing, no matter the outcome of accident or disease. Some healing ministries focus on the eucharist as the opportunity to experience the confession and forgiveness outlined in James 5 as necessary to healing. such ministries there may be a private chapel where church elders and deacons are available to petition, offer anointment with oil, and the laying on of hands. Other less direct instruments of healing may be the participation in a small fellowship group where people become known to one another and take on each other's burdens in ways that are concrete. …

The Gift of Healing in Chronic Illness/Disability

Chronic illness and disabilities are the leading health problems in North America and represent the major health challenges of this era. The traditional Western illness care model that has profoundly influenced health care and nursing practice is oppressive, inappropriate, and inadequate to meet the needs of people living with chronic conditions. What is needed is a fundamental shift in perspective, one that abandons the objective stance of the cure paradigm of Western medicine and embraces the care paradigm where the subjective experience of the person is of central concern. Such a perspective allows for the potential for healing to occur, regardless of the person's physical condition. This article presents the results of a recent study investigating the healing experience of people with chronic health challenges. An interpretive phenomenological investigation was undertaken with 8 participants, each participant living with different chronic conditions. The results of this study describe the participants' healing journey. Seven essential themes emerged to describe this experience. These themes include (a) In the Beginning, (b) Hitting the Wall, (c) Turning Around, (d) Letting Go, (e) Opening Up, (f) Letting In, and (g) the Gift. The results demonstrate a need to reconsider nursing education and practice, which shifts from the mandate of cure to a mandate of care and to one that emphasizes the promotion of health and healing.

Where the spirits ride the wind: trance journeys and other ecstatic experiences

Prologue I. The Search for the Spirits One: The Call of the Old People Two: Getting in Touch with the Spirits: The First Discoveries Three: The Old Ones Remember Four: A New Path Opens Five: The Way of the Spirits II. The Postures and What They Have to Offer Six: Going on a Spirit Journey Seven: The Many Faces of Divination Eight: The Gift of Healing Nine: Female Powers of Healing Ten: Changing Shape-The Shimmering Game Eleven: Celebrations Twelve: The Pit of Death and the Psychopomp Thirteen: Life Everlasting III. Myths of the Eternal Present Introduction The Emergence Story Coyote Comes Calling The Man of Cuautla A Maya Whistle The Story of Kats and His Bear Wife The Spirits and the Wounded Tree of Life In the Land of Centaurs and Mermaids Conclusion: THe Twlight of the Spirits Appendix: Some Practical Points Notes Bibliography Index

Spiritual healing in the light of history

To summarize: we must accept the importance of spontaneous healings for religion. We can distinguish “charismatic” from “sacramental” cures. We should recognize the infrequence of such healings, but we should equally appreciate their reality. We should understand them in terms of realized eschatology, and should provide the occasion by prayer, holy unction and so on, through which such healingmay be brought to the sick. But our primary concern should be right relations with God. We should await the gift of healing with faith and patience; but we should not be over-anxious about it or desire it more than we desire God.

1. The Gift of Healing.

1. The Gift of Healing.

The King's Evil

THE history of the king's evil and the royal touch, whether as a picture in detail of a certain stream of a very ancient tradition, or as a particular instance of something more than a tradition or symbol, of a mystic interpretation of man's relation to the unseen powers which encompass him, is a deeply interesting study. We are far from imputing it as a fault to Dr. Raymond Crawfurd if, in his scholarly decision to keep to his own part of a great subject, and to do thoroughly what he undertook, he has averted' his eye from the ancient sources of the mystery, or even neglected the facts and fables which linked up the modern and the ancient modes of miraculous healing. Still, has not Dr. Crawfurd almost dissembled these sources of the far past and the ancient myth? He remarks, for instance, that the gods “have transmitted the gift “(of healing) to mortal man-especially to conspicuous individuals such as kings; to Pyrrhus, for example, or Vespasian. And a few sentences farther on (p. 10) he says that, with the spread of Christianity, the priest “usurped” for a while the prerogative of healing. This seems scarcely the right colour to put upon the past. Samuel looked upon Saul as the usurper of intercessory functions. And the gift of healing was not so much a “transmission” from gods to men as that in this function the priest-king originally was the organ rather than the agent of the supernatural; originally the potency was not so much a delegation as a continuity. The King's Evil. By Dr. Raymond Crawfurd. Pp. 187. (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1911.) Price 8s. 6d. net.

The Gift of healing in the Church

The Gift of healing in the Church

Gifts of Healing

Gifts of Healing

Gifts of Healing

Gifts of Healing