Two healings follow from each other in the course of the ten gospel readings that lead from St John’s Tide to Michaelmas: last week, we heard the healing of the blind man who had the strength to stand up for what he needed and to speak out of his I.
This week’s healing is very different. A community has formed around the deaf man who cannot speak. They bring him to Jesus and ask for what he needs.
The crowd in last week’s reading tries to extinguish the will of the blind man, convinced that they know better what Jesus should be busy with. Only by witnessing the healing do they become a community
In this week’s reading, the deaf man’s friends know how to ask for what he truly needs. Both healings come about through Christ, but the person concerned arrives at the place of healing in a very different way.
We need to move between these gestures if we are to find true healing. There is the virtue in developing strength and self-reliance, discovering what we need and standing up for it. However, on its own this can shade over into an unhealthy feeling that we have to cope on our own. Then there is the virtue of accepting help where it is offered. I have counselled people who were facing treatments in hospital that they did not feel in tune with, and suggested that they attend to the healing community that was about to take shape around them, and which would contain far more people than the designated medical experts. Along with the medical treatment, there will be conversations with strangers in the waiting room, chats with nurses and hospital porters and many other encounters which will contribute to the healing journey. Of course, if we demanded of every one we encountered that they heal us, we would soon notice that the healthy openness to the helping community had shaded over into a kind of neediness. Then we might remember the story of the blind man, and seek our will to be healed within again.
– Tom Ravetz
There will be a presentation and conversation on the theme ‘Praying out of the I’ on Sunday, 25th August at 11.30am.
There will be an open congregational meeting to share experiences of the summer and discuss and practical and other matters of concern on Sunday, 1st September at 11.30am.
Nataliia Shatna is on annual leave until 31st August.
Diary
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Account Name: The Christian Community in Forest Row
Sort Code 30-92-92
Account Number: 00012363
Lloyds TSB, 1/3 London Road, East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 1AH
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School Lane / Hartfield Road
Forest Row
East Sussex
RH18 5DZ
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Priests of the community: Tom Ravetz and Nataliia Shatna. Contact us on the church email or using the form below.