The Order of St. Luke The Physician in The United Kingdom Benevolent Society
Healing and a New Beginning
Christian Healing Ministry Pamphlets By Hilda M. Moore
INTRODUCTION to 2006 edition
It slowly dawned on me I could hear a typewriter bashing away, and it had been going on for several days. ‘What are you doing Mom?’ I asked. ‘Writing a book.’ She replied. It took a long time and a lot of the content came out in booklet form beforehand. She finally published it in 1990 three years before she died. I had several copies of the book and gave them away as needed, till I only had the master copy left. Several friends said how valuable it was and could I republish it. So here it is, and it is 2006.
Alan Moore
INTRODUCTION
Many wonderful things have been happening in the world recently. Barriers broken down, trust and goodwill increased, forgiveness and peace are being sought. People sometimes say however, that they cannot personally do much about what is going on the other side of the world. They do not always remember that everything starts with the individual, and this is what this book is all about. I have tried to show how we can, each one of us, do our small part in bringing peace to the world by the way in which we conduct our lives. It can spread like the rings made by a pebble thrown into a pool of water.
The reader will notice that I have included very few records of miraculous healings in this book. This is not because they do not happen. I know that they do and there are many instances to be read in books already published. What I have tried to do here is to show that healing can also come in less spectacular ways. It can come through the way in which we conduct our every day lives; through the way in which we think. Many people think that one has to be clever to understand the Healing Ministry, but this is not always so and I have tried to put this aspect of it simply and clearly so that anyone can understand it.
I have also included a number of specimen prayers which can be used at a Prayer Group and which 1 hope will be of help to those people who find it difficult to pray.
It is written with both sick people and people who are workers in the Healing Ministry in mind and I hope that it will be the means of bringing a fuller and happier life to all who will read it.
HILDA M. MOORE
FOREWORD
My own personal ‘New Beginning’. It all came about because the Minister at the Church I attended was leaving us. After the usual preliminaries we found someone we felt was the right one and he was invited to spend a weekend with us in order to get to know each other. He spoke to us of his ideas of what he would like to do in the Church and said that he was very interested in the Healing Ministry of the Church and would like to start a Prayer Group for the sick.
Up to that time I had not been very much involved in Church activities apart from being a member of the Choir. There were times when I felt that I ought to be doing more but somehow I never seemed to find an area where I fitted in. However as soon as the idea of a Healing Prayer Group was put forward I thought “This is it!” “This is what I have been waiting for.” The date fixed for the new Minister to start was sometime ahead so I decided that this was a good opportunity to prepare myself for work in this ministry. I did not know anyone who had had experience in this so went along to the Public Library and said to the young woman in charge, I want some books about the Divine Healing Ministry in order to study it.”
Her reply was “What’s that? I have never heard of it”. I eventually got the books I wanted and set to work to study them. The first one I read was “The Healing Light” by Agnes Sanford, and this really opened my eyes to the responsibility one takes on when engaging in this work. From then onwards I read book after book and by the time our new Minister came I had learned the basic ideas and was ready to start learning the practical side, and to put into practice something of what I had learned.
And this is what this book is all about. My entry into the Healing Ministry of the Church was a “New Beginning” for me and I hope that as I share with you what I have learned others will feel called upon to follow the commands of Jesus when He said “Preach the Gospel and heal the sick.”
The book is also written with another kind of “New Beginning” in mind that of someone who is sick or troubled and needs to make a “New Beginning” of a different kind perhaps to come to terms with feelings of resentment, criticism etc., which bring with them the fears and tensions which are so often the real cause of sickness.
I have been told that the standard I set is very high, but it is not really my standard, it is the one set by Jesus Christ and is the one that we must do our best to follow. I agree that it is a very high standard and one that few, if any people ever reach, but the important thing is the fact of our willingness to try to reach it and our acknowledgement of our dependence upon God as we do so. I hope this book will be a means of helping someone towards this end.
They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, where the people recognised Jesus.
So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus.
They begged him to let those who were ill at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.
Matthew 14- 34,36
“But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13 v13)