What is Healing Prayer?

Healing prayer comes in many forms. At Good Shepherd and the Episcopal and Anglican Tradition, we center healing around the Eucharist. It is through the consumption of the body and blood that we remember the kind of Resurrected Jesus we worship. A Jesus who came back with the Stigmata, the wounds on the crucifixion on hands, feet, side, and head. We believe in miracles, but we know they do not necessarily come in the forms we anticipate. But even the miracle of the Resurrected Christ had the scars of his pain. They were not erased, but became a vehicle for Thomas to believe (John 20:24-29). 

We find instances of healing all over the Bible. Healing is incredibly diverse and looks different for each person. What remains true throughout Scripture is that healing is both an individual reality and deeply connected to community. In the Letter of James, healing is described as a practice where a select group of people prays with the sick and suffering, anoints them with holy oil, and the whole community gathers around to support one another (James 5:13-16). At Good Shepherd, we join in the larger community when we use the chrism oil that Bishop Mark has blessed with diocesean clergy. During the rite, the priest uses both the laying on of hands and the chrism oil as tangible reminders of Christ’s love made known to us in his Church and in his own suffering, death, and resurrection.