Prayer

God of hope,
you call us home from the exile of selfish oppression
to the freedom of justice,
the balm of healing,
and the joy of sharing.
Make us strong to join you in your holy work,
as friends of strangers and victims,
companions of those whom others shun,
and as the happiness of those whose hearts are broken.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Scripture

Acts 5:12-16

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. ¹³ None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ¹⁵ so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Meditation

Alright, healing in the street, powerful shadows, signs and wonders regularly done by the apostles. It seems daunting if this is more than our history, the history of the early church, and a primer for what we should be doing as the church today.  I don’t think it is a strategy guide for us and how to be in this world.  I do think the apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do these things.

The thing that caught me in reading this passage was that people were bringing people out so that even the shadow could fall on some.  Is that how people respond to Christians today?  Are we seen as the place of healing?

In the in between, the now and not yet, we cannot allow ourselves to be against.  We need to be present in the world as a healing balm for the afflicted.  Part of that is recognizing that there is a sickness but not running from it.  We push in and become the people and place for those in need of healing to come.  We also realized that we are sick and the Father heals and healed us in order to make us shadow healers.  The power of Christ is healing hurt, brokenness, and despair through our presence in the world.  We are people who are for people and for them to be whole