July - Sheila Richmond

Dear Friends,

How does a community recover from the kind of devastating tragedy that took place in Cumbria two weeks ago?  Coming so soon after the school coach crash, and bearing in mind the floods earlier in the year, we cannot imagine how the people of that region must feel – shocked, grieved, bewildered by the force of the blow.  Clearly there is a great need for healing; counsellors and clergy and ordinary people will be dealing with many different problems for months to come.

Healing must be one of Christianity’s great gifts to the world, though the Church is not always very good at showing it.  We need God’s healing for our own inner conflicts, and sometimes for our relationships; having received it ourselves we can bring it to our communities, church and secular; and it is much needed in our national life and international affairs, as the Bloody Sunday enquiry demonstrates.  Yes, even after the World Cup some healing is likely to be necessary, physical and emotional!

Prayer and healing go naturally together, and the Church has made opportunities for this from very early times, together with the laying on of hands.  Touch can communicate so much love and compassion, often more effectively than words.  This is one reason why the laying on of hands is so powerful – the one who does it is a channel for God’s love in a tangible way.  Here at St Peter’s we offer this regularly once a month, and these services are not just for those with a physical illness – they are for all who want to experience healing in any way, or to ask for it on behalf of someone else.  When we pray for healing we cannot dictate what form it will take – we have to leave it to God’s loving mercy to touch our lives in the way we need most, and then do our best to continue his work by passing on that healing to others.

Wishing you every blessing,

 Sheila