Pastor’s Corner – February 18, 2024
Baptismal Blessing: Healing as Wholeness
I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be a healer in our world. Listening to Dr. Vivek Murthy, United States Surgeon General and author of Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, writes that “healing is not about fixing, but about making whole. Therefore, to be a healer you have to listen, to learn and to love.” This is his focus and addresses the power of human connections in times of what he sees as epidemic, public health issues of loneliness in our culture. And this “wholeness” is not something we acquire by stacking achievements or by acquiring consumer goods, having something we don’t have or becoming “successful’ by acquiring power, fame and money. It’s about remembering who we fundamentally are.
What I liked about Dr. Murthy’s definition of healing is that as a medical professional and high government official, he is able to speak about wholeness as a spiritual journey and the power of love with such ease in public space. I think we need more of this kind of conversation in addressing our human condition in which people are feeling alienated and disconnected, and often this can lead to mental and physical issues as well as violence and meaninglessness.
This Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. I want to reflect with you our baptismal blessing. Throughout the scriptural readings we see the blessing of water as a promise of God’s peace on earth. We are all on a journey to wholeness as agents of healing ministry. We will re-examine Jesus’ beginning, his baptism, temptation and proclamation, and at the core of his ministry, his identity as beloved. Come, let us ponder together Jesus’ beginning as our shared ministry during our Lenten season. May our time together deepen our sense of who we are as healers and recipients of God’s grace to be made whole. Amen.
Pastor Dae