Ninth Annual Service of Healing
Sunday January 27
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
The members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, along with our Parish Nurse, Patty Criscenzo, invite everyone to a Service of Healing on Sunday, January 27 at 1:00PM. Please join us as we come together for this renewal of body, mind and spirit. The worship service will be held in our sanctuary located at 155 Linwood Ave. in Ridgewood, NJ. Pastor Andy Nelson will lead the service with music by Diane Mitchell.
Healing does not mean just the lack of illness or disability. The root of the word heal means wholeness. As Christians, we remember that our wholeness involves harmony in all areas of our lives – body, mind and spirit, with Christ at the center. Christian healing directs us toward being the person God is calling us to be at every stage of our living and our dying. For some, healing is comfort; for some, strength; for others, physical healing.
Through prayer, anointing with oil and confession we cast our burden on the Lord. We confess that Jesus meets us in our brokenness and pain and brings His love to bear –
forgiving, transforming, redeeming and healing by His Grace. Jesus does this in God’s way, in God’s time and according to God’s loving purpose for each individual.
Anointing with oil is not a sacrament. It does not come with the promise of grace as does Baptism or Holy Communion. It is a sign, an external sign of the internally committing our struggles, illnesses and pains to God’s merciful care. It is a means of acknowledging God’s redemptive power at work to make His people whole – body, mind and spirit. In the act of anointing, the church affirms and recognizes the believer as a redeemed child of God through Baptism. Our physical, mental and emotional hurts and ills are not signs of God’s rejection but symptoms of our fallen world in which sin and death reign. We are invited by God to commend our ills on Him for this life, realizing that ultimate healing awaits us in heaven.
We truly hope to see you and wish everyone a blessed start to 2013. Admission is free. Light refreshments will follow in the parlor. All are welcome, bring a friend.
The members of Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ridgewood want you to know that God has a plan for you and he loves you. Our faith is in Christ. Our guide is in the Bible. Our love is for all. Come celebrate with us. We offer 2 Sunday services:
Contemporary Praise Service at 8:45am and Traditional Worship at 11am with Sunday School and Bible Class at 10am. Please join us at 155 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
155 Linwood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
