Healing

I initially began researching the topic of healing services on the individual level only to find that the service and resources provided are already in use and there is a lot of resources out there for people longing for individual healing. This topic though steered me to my current topic a service for communal healing. The need for such a service is great, there are many traumatic events whole communities of people experience together, the death of a community member, natural disasters, traumatic events such as violent crime that results in damage of community assets and trust, and many more that could be named. In the face of these traumatic events there often is a time of gathering often in the form of a candlelight vigil. Instead of this vigil I propose this service be used to begin the process of group healing from a traumatic event. This service will be a service of lament and acknowledgement of pain, but also a service that recognizes the promises we all receive which were extoled upon us through the water and word of Baptism. 

I find myself writing this service because I have been a member of many communities who have experienced trauma and did not have the tools to help begin processing the events experienced. One community, in particular, that could have benefited from such a service is my high school community back in my senior year. A student at the school was accidentally shot in the chest and died and the community did not have what it needed to process the grief. My seminary community could have benefited from a service of this nature in the wake of a beloved professor’s death. In the future, I am sure that I will be a member of communities that will also face traumatic events. 

A service of healing has been an order found in the Lutheran occasional services book both in the LBW and the ELW, but both services are brief and have an individual in mind. In the Catholic tradition the Sacrament of the Sick is a service of healing in the same family as the healing services in the Lutheran tradition. In terms of an official expanded group healing services, I have found that there is nothing quite like I propose below. 

This service begins in prayer and lament with prayers, a suggested hymn spread out across the readings, and scripture readings. The service pivots from here to acknowledging the promise we receive in baptism with a thanksgiving for baptism, prayers, suggested hymns, and scripture readings, finally there is a time for anointing, and a sending. It is my goal through this service to both acknowledge the pain of a community while also assuring us all that, by the cross, our God has overcome the death of this world, and through our baptismal promise from God we too have been grafted into the body of Christ and are inheritors of eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ.

Anointing for Community Healing

Composed by Blake Shipman

The assembly rises

Leader: We gather in the name of the Holy Trinity one God, The one who wipes away every tear.

The assembly may make the sign of the cross

Assembly: Amen

Leader: Dear friends we gather with heavy hearts. We gather as one in mourning. We gather to acknowledge that sin/death/tragedy once more has damaged us and our community. Yet we also gather to proclaim God’s love for us for through this love we will find the strength to continue on. We enter into a time of prayer and contemplation, a time to lament what is before us and a time to proclaim God’s love through Christ Jesus, a time to mourn and cry, and a time to proclaim that sin and death do not rule the day. We enter together as one body hurt, but one body nevertheless. We come together in mourning, leaning into the promises made to us by almighty God through the waters of baptism. The promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of God’s never-ending presence, the promise of eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Assembly: Amen

LAMENT

Leader: Let us pray

Good and gracious God in our time of need we cling to thee, oh author and creator of life. Hear the cries of your people this day, we mourn the tragic loss experienced within our midst. With Job your people cry out, how long oh God?

Assembly: How Long oh God

Leader: Sin and death seemingly run rampant. Injustices abound. Those you love go without while a small few horde. This world is not what you created it to be. With your chosen people in exile we cry out, how long oh God?

Assembly: How Long oh God

Leader: We gather with tear-stained eyes and heave hearts…

The presiding minister may tailor this petition to fit the context 

…

With the disciples hiding in fear behind locked doors we cry out, How Long oh God?

Assemblly: How Long oh God

Leader: Hear the cries of us, your beloved children gathered this day. Hear our lament. Take heed to our call. Send your holy spirit within our midst to comfort and console us who mourn. Let our time be a time of lament and mourning and a time of healing. To you our alpha and omega we lift up these fears, tears, pleas, and prayers through your son Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord

Assembly: Amen

The assembly is seated

First Reading

A Reading from Genesis (Genesis 50:1-6)

Sung Response

Verse 1 of ELW 698 How Long, oh God?

Second Reading

A Reading from Lamentations (Lamentations 4:1-5, 20-22)

Sung Response

Verse 2 of ELW 698 How Long oh God?

Psalm 

Psalm 22

Sung Response

Verse 3 of ELW 698 How Long oh God? 

Third Reading

A Reading from Romans (Romans 7: 14-20)

Sung Response

Verse 4 of ELW 698 How Long oh God?

Gospel Reading

A Reading from John (John 11:32-35)

Sung Response

Verse 5 of ELW 698 How Long oh God? 

The assembly rises

Prayer

Leader: Let us pray.

With shaking hands and wavering voices, we cry to you oh God of our salvation. You heard the cries of your chosen people in exile. You heard the cries of Hagar in the wilderness. You heard the cries of your son from the cross. Hear our cries, dear Lord. Come to us in our hour of need. Comfort us as we weep. Revive this weary world with the promise of the coming once more of your son Jesus Christ our Lord in whose name we do pray

Assembly: Amen

Blessing

Leader: Receive the blessing

May the God of all consolation and mercy in these days guide your feet in the paths of righteousness, give balm to your wounded soul, and raise you up to newness of life in this hour of need and at the last, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Assembly: Amen

A hymn may be sung here to transition 

THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM

Leader: We gather to mourn, but we do not gather to mourn as a people without hope. We gather mourning within the light of the resurrection dawn which surely shall come. By the river Jordan John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ our Lord his baptism was with water, but the Lord is with the spirit. In the waters of our own baptisms, we are joined together in the mystic body of Christ that knows no bounds. Let us give thanks to God for the gift of baptism.

Water may be poured into the font 

We give you thanks and praise oh Lord for in the beginning your spirit brooded over troubled waters. By water you nourished Adam and Eve as they walked from the garden. You provided a spring of water for Hagar in the wilderness as she cried out to you. The women at Zarephath did not die awaiting your healing rains, nor did the woman at the well go without water. By water and your word you too claim us as your children

We thank you for the goodness of this, your sustaining gift of life that comes to us through water and your word. In the deepest sorrow your promise comes to us. In darkest night your promise rings true. By water and word you save your people, praise be to you for this gift which sustains us in the most helpless of situations. 

To you Holy Trinity, Father Son and Spirit, be all praise and glory forever and ever

Assembly: Amen

The assembly is seated

Leader: In our baptism we are made God’s children and are sealed with the cross of Christ forever. Let us rest in this promise in the face of sin, tragedy, and suffering.

Assembly: Amen

First Reading

A Reading from Genesis (Genesis 9: 8-17)

Sung Response

Come and fill our hearts ELW 528 (Sung 3 times)

Second Reading

A Reading Isaiah (Isaiah 40: 28-31)

Sung Response

Healer of our Every Ill v.1-3 ELW 612

Psalm

Psalm 23

Sung Response

ELW 614 There is a balm in Gilead 

Gospel Reading

A Reading from Luke (Luke 23:39-43)

Sung Response

Jesus remember me (Sung 3 times)

The assembly rises

Prayer

Leader: Let us pray

We give you thanks oh Lord for the ways in which you’ve sustained our forbearers through your promises and the ways in which you sustain us. While we cry tears of sorrow now, you shall wipe them away. While we suffer deeply with grief, you mourn alongside us. You never leave our side, nor shall you ever abandon us to the grave. Sustain us in these days forward oh Lord. In the name of your son Jesus Christ we do pray.

Assembly: Amen

The assembly is seated

ANNOINTING

Leader: Dear friends in our baptisms we’ve been anointed with oil upon our foreheads. Alongside water and word we are sealed with the cross of Christ forever. No force within this world can now separate us from the love of God first shown to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. I now invite you to come forward as you are, battered and bruised by grief and sorrow, to receive the sign of the cross upon your forehead in oil to remind you of who you are and more importantly whose you are. receive now this tangible reminder with open hearts.

Assembly: Amen

The ushers release people row by row. People come forward to the front of the church. 

The pastor uses the following words 

Leader: I anoint you with oil in the name of the father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Hymn during Anointing: locally selected

The assembly rises 

Promise

After anointing is done the minister says the following

Leader: Reminded of whose we are may the triune God strengthen and keep you this day and forevermore as we navigate this season of tribulation

Assembly: Amen

Blessing

Leader: Receiving the blessing

The Lord Bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Assembly: Amen

Leader: Let us depart sharing signs of peace 

Assembly:  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The assembly leaves sharing signs of peace

Music may be played