Where Healing Begins 

"Lord, If thou hadst been here. Martha's faith made her believe that Jesus would have healed Lazarus, but even she did not expect him to call back from the grave one already buried."  –John 11:21 (The People‘s New Testament) 

What does it mean to be healed?
What is healing and what is healing not? 
What do we do when healing doesn‘t happen? 
What is God‘s role in healing and what is ours? 
How do we know if we‘ve been healed or not? 

The need for healing is something we all have in common, yet talking about healing can be hard. To really talk about healing means to allow tough questions, like these, to surface in us. We’re not unlike Martha as we often question the Lord when it comes to our need, or a loved one’s need, for healing. To talk openly about healing is to expose ourselves to our vulnerabilities, like Martha, revealing our faith as well as our doubts. To talk about healing is to engage a mystery that invites both our participation and our unknowing. Yet as chal-lenging as talking about healing can be, everyone has a story that involves it! We can all name ways in which we have been touched with God’s healing grace, as well times when it seems there has been no such touch.

These are the kinds of questions, the kind of vulner-abilities, and doubts, that we will be focusing on as a community of faith this Lenten season at Fish Lake Lutheran, as we move together through the gospel story toward the ultimate and miraculous healing that is resurrection.

Lent this year, begins on February 22 with Ash Wednesday. Beginning that night and con-tinuing through the season of Lent, we will be talking about healing, listening to guest speakers from our faith community who have a story of healing to share, gathering for Wednesday soup suppers, and sharing Holy Communion. All of this will be framed within the Holden Evening Vespers service and liturgy of healing prayer.

Also, for those who are interested in a Lenten book study, we’ll be reading and discussing the book, "Jesus Freak: Feeding, Healing, Raising the Dead", by Sara Miles, on Monday evenings beginning on February 27, at 7:00pm.

An all-congregational movie showing will also be held on Wednesday evening of Holy Week, April 4, at 6:30pm.  To further develop this theme of healing we will be watching the movie, Simon Birch.  A 1998 film about a twelve year old boy with stunted growth, who, despite his struggles in life, looks to, and trusts in God, confident that God has a plan for his life. It’s a wonderful story of healing on many levels in the life of this young boy who overcomes so much through his tried, but true, faith and trust in God. The movie is two hours long.