We only had three people for Meeting for Worship for Healing on Monday, but I felt that it went very well. We had 6 requests. For one of them, towards the end I had this image in my head of Jesus holding his hand. I don't usually get images like that, or I am not very aware of them.
I spoke with my friend Richard on Monday night after MfWfH and we had a nice chat about both the healing and the peace meetings. He also hopes to see this kind of format used more often because he believes that it is closer to the manner of early Friends. Although I recognize that I am able to connect with God's spirit much more closely in MfWfH, I wonder if it is just me, or if the format of trying to hold people and situations in the light is beneficial for most/all Friends. One of the things Richard told me was that even though the Meeting for Worship for Peace has roughly the same format as the healing meeting, it developed, at his meeting, independently of MfWfH. That tells me that perhaps there are quite a few Friends who resonate with this format.
It occurred to me today that perhaps clearness committees could adapt this concept. Maybe some brief discussion of the situation up front, followed by a long period of holding the person or situation in the light (at which time I suspect there would usually be some vocal ministry), then some reflection afterwards. I suspect that the holding in the light gives you a focal point that you might be missing by just sitting in silence, you aren't as distracted and you are more intentional about being with the Divine. Perhaps this all comes more naturally to more seasoned Friends.
Yeah, you would ask. He looked like the Jesus of my childhood, a bearded white guy with long flowing brown hair.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe he really looked like that, though. I could open up a couple cans of worms here talking about our images of Jesus and how a lot of Americans would have difficulty with a middle-eastern-looking Jesus because of our cultural biases, but I'm not sure I want to. While the graven images we show do have an impact on others, I think that the image of Jesus that shows through ourselves is more important. Regardless of any beliefs about Jesus and his divinity, I believe that the better we are at walking in the light, the more we act like Jesus.