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Creating a visible offering of healing and wholeness
September 16, 2024 / By The Rev. Nancy Dibelius / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
As part of worship at the Bishop’s Retreat in January, individuals were invited to trace their hand on a piece of colored paper, cut it out and then, prayerfully consider a single word, a single gift that they believed they possessed and could offer for the well-being and healing of another and write it on their hand. They were then invited to offer their hand to the table as they came forward for Communion. “In the Book of Revelation, the writer describes the tree of life that grows by the river that flows through the city of God. ‘On either side of the river is the tree of life…and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.’ Your hand, my hand, all of our hands together become the leaves of the tree; the leaves that can bring healing and wholeness to another.” As you can see from the photo above, many hands and many gifts were offered. At Annual Conference, all those present who had not participated in this worship were invited to add their hands and their gifts to the ‘tree.’
Those gifts were collected, collated and turned into a visible offering of healing and wholeness.
I invite you to enter into this prayer: God of wholeness and healing, we offer you this day our hands and our unique giftedness to bring healing and wholeness into the world. As we continue on this journey, we know that you travel with us. You come to us in the wilderness places of our lives and offer us restoration; you remind us that you are always in our midst. Let your Spirit empower us to follow where you lead and to offer our hands for the healing of the nations. In the power of your Holy Spirit, Amen.
Let this not be a moment in time, but a sense of who and whose we are and the gifts that we have been given to offer to the broken and the wounded.