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Friends United Meeting |
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Quaker
Life
January/February 2002
Meeting for Healing
By Frank Massey
Healing and prayer for healing are terms becoming more acceptable in many Quaker meetings. Although varying from meeting to meeting, it is important to acknowledge it is happening. It may include the practice of taking a few minutes at the end of meeting for worship to ask if there is anyone who wishes to be held in the Light in times of sorrow or joy, or holding a special or called meeting for healing.
In a called meeting for healing, a chair is placed in the middle of a circle of chairs. Friends quietly gather in worship, centering deep into the love and grace of God. As individuals feel lead, they may come forward to sit in the chair, signifying they wish to be held in the Light (prayed for) by their fellow worshipers in the circle. The individual may speak to their specific concern or need for healing, or quietly move to the chair, knowing others will hold them in the Light, seeking their best and highest good. God knows their need; we are called to hold that person in God's love and light. Also, when led to do so, one or more individuals may come forward to stand with the person and gently lay-on hands.
I tell you my own experience here because from a young age I remember having these tingling feelings in my hands, and often my hands would become hot. I knew neither how to explain nor what to do with these experiences and feelings. There was no one with whom I could talk about what I was experiencing—what it meant for me or for others. However, I finally found others with similar experiences, who helped me find the answers to my questions. Over the years, in my own spiritual journey, I have come to recognize and accept my gift in healing.
I remember vividly sitting in a meeting for worship at Earlham School of Religion, a worship deeper and richer than most, when I felt my hands on another person across the room. When I looked up, I saw my hands on that person. Needless to say, I did not know what to make of the experience in the moment, but I sat quietly for the remaining time of the meeting, praying for that individual and holding him in the Light of Christ. When meeting broke, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary. After asking among my fellow worshipers if they had noticed anything different about the meeting for worship, and all responded that it was a typical meeting, I knew something must have happened for me alone. Shortly after this experience, I was asked to be a part of a small group, gathered by the same individual who I had felt and seen my hands on, as he began treatment for cancer. Thus began my journey as a vessel for God's healing power.
It is often said that God has no hands but our hands. Yet many of us are afraid to use our hands to pass on God's healing touch. Most North Americans rush through daily life not taking the time to know our own needs much less those of others, too hurried for a loving touch. We pack away our inconvenient, inefficient fears, our hurts, our anger, and move through life robotically. But Jesus calls us to be different, to open ourselves to God's unconditional love—to be both recipients and givers of this unconditional love. This is the true meaning of meeting for healing—a safe place where we may know and experience God's unconditional love and healing power, supported by others focused on the same purpose.
We all crave a human touch that has no hidden messages or meanings, which expects nothing in return. The laying-on of hands is free, free from obligation and reciprocation—freely received and freely given.
Frank Massey is General Secretary of Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
Copyright (c) 2002 Friends United Meeting
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