Let me tell you about last night. My church, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Utica, NE, hosted a service of prayer and healing open to the community.
It was a lead by a scrappy group of lay people and together we met, prayed, tentatively practiced laying hands on one another and praying, we practiced anointing one another with oil, we wrote up a worship service, picked some songs and hymns, put the announcement in the bulletin and prayed the service would be a blessing to whoever showed up.
And then it snowed all afternoon and we were like, “Well, Lord, it’ll be a blessing to whoever shows up!”
And in our fear and tentativeness we showed up, people showed up and we shared the presence of our healing God together. I lead the songs, Marv anointed people with oil, the prayer team prayed and layed hands on people, Woody gave a testimony, then Lana, the Marci and by the time we headed down to the fellowship hall, it was like the world turned up in bright beautiful technicolor.
And it all started when Jon and I went to a Grace Place Wellness retreat for church workers three or four years ago.
In Nebraska City, gathered together, a bunch of tired, semi-burned out churchworkers and their families meeting at different places in their lives. It was during that retreat that I realized how much in survival mode I was living. I didn’t know you can become addicted and poisoned by cortisol until I went to that retreat.
It was at that retreat that I was confronted with my very unhealthy view of money and how it played out in our lives. I was confronted by how unintentional I had been living and how I was choosing my own strength (or lack thereof), my own worry, my own stress, my own fear over and over again instead of the peaceful, healing, restorative love of God. And I thought I was being a good girl!!!
Yes, it’s easy to get lost. Also yes, it can take a while to find the way back and then what’s amazing is that, yes, God makes it easy to find home again. It’s the letting go that feels impossible. The coming home feels simple.
Grace Place Wellness Retreats. They were created by a physician who wanted to serve churchworkers and help them heal from burn out and frustration. He thought that healthier servants of God create healthier congregations. Healthier congregations living in wellness expand the reach of the gospel and point to a living redemptive savior. Heck yes, they do! And what’s great? Healthier anybody (doctors, lawyers, waitresses, students, moms, dads, actuaries, Uber drivers, you name it) create healthier everything. Healthier people create healthier lives, relationships, communities, everything. Stuff you can’t measure in dollars and cents. Stuff that no one seems to be talking about and yet, there is a deep deep longing for health and healing, for wellness and restoration.
Before leaving that retreat, there was a service of prayer and healing and the invitation to try it out at your home congregation.
And it only took four short years!!!!
Last night was an answer to prayer. Last night was a prayer. And it’s not too bold to say last night was a sign post pointing to the future and an encouragement to follow where God leads.
My friend Kerry and I were having lunch about a month ago and she mentioned, “death culture.” Ever since then I can NOT get that thought out of my brain. Death culture- the belief that life comes from killing something off. Kill one thing (weeds, insects, animals, land, people, opposition, imperfection, relationships, the self) in order that something else might live. Death culture. It’s everywhere.
But life is embracing the whole thing. LIfe is believing the eternal YES is infintely greater and more powerful than the eternal NO. The eternal YES is built on safety, mercy, love, wholeness, truth, healing, redemption and each other. We are a witness to the eternal YES when we see one another, listen, love, laugh, forgive, encourage and serve. We’re built for it. It’s written in to us. It’s a coming home.
So last night, we took a few hours to come home. We all met up beneath the cross to see and be seen and let God do what He does- heal, restore, sustain and give life. A grace place. A place of grace.
Don’t buy into all those “nos” you hear. Don’t believe the fear or the isolation or that life is somehow inferior to death. It isn’t.
Be curious, my friends. Even if it takes four years, or ten years or 25 years. Be curious. Be curious to know what life would look like if you poured more life into it. I think you might find it will be in a place of grace. A grace place.