Hi COTC,

A lot of us are or have been sick. This week, I’ve heard of multiple individuals and families struggling with illness. Beyond the seasonal realities of flu and colds, some of us are dealing with more serious and chronic health conditions. 

Psalm 103 identifies God as the one who “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” As people who get sick, are sick, and sometimes stay sick, what are we to make of this declaration? A couple of quick thoughts:

First, we rejoice in creation. This past Sunday during worship, Jon encouraged us to consider and celebrate the small ways God is doing great things among us. God, as creator, has set in our bodies the power to recover and be mended. This reality can occur unseen and unremarked upon; it is assumed. When God heals miraculously by His Holy Spirit, there is something obvious and worthy of rejoicing. God has also woven our bodies with the capacity for healing.  This, too, is reflection of His goodness and power, and worthy of rejoicing over. 

Second, we look to the Cross. Isaiah 53:5 points us to the cross and declares “by His wounds we are healed.” Our illness and physical suffering are not necessarily the direct result of human sin. Yet they are connected to the fallen nature of creation. Sin has infected every aspect of the world. As a result, Jesus’ work upon the cross, dealing a death blow to sin, has ramifications for our bodies. In His victory, healing is released. As we reflect upon Jesus upon the cross, reading the stories of His crucifixion again, we are reminded of Christ’s identification with us in our physical suffering, and of the reality that He has rectified that reality. 

Third, we rely on the body. In sickness and poor health we are not alone. We have brothers and sisters in Christ upon whom we can rely. Reaching out for prayer and practical support is one of the most basic ways we can express the reality that we are interdependent as the members of Christ's body. 

Finally, we long for the day. The reality that Jesus suffered physically when accomplishing His great victory provides a perspective that can fill our suffering with meaning. He endured the cross, for the sake of the joy set before Him, and was raised in glory. We suffer and endure now, confident that the power of God is at work. In this work, the victory is assured, and even our illnesses and physical trials are being used to produce something glorious in us, by His grace. The healing we experience now, miraculous or otherwise, is a precursor to the victory to come. One day, in Christ, all disease will cease. One day, in the new heavens and earth, our healing and the healing of all things will be complete. As we actively engage our imaginations regarding the hope of what is to come, we cultivate hopeful endurance. As we pray for healing with expectation, as a foretaste of God's kingdom, we exercise preserving faith. 

In our waiting and suffering, we rejoice in God’s goodness now, we look at Jesus and the Cross, and we longingly anticipate the day when His healing work is complete. 

With and for those who are sick we pray, “The Almighty Lord, who is a strong tower to all who put their trust in Him, to whom all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth bow and obey: Be now and evermore your defense, and make you know and feel that the only Name under heaven given for health and salvation is the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” 

In Christ,

Peter+

Ps. Yesterday was the the church's celebration of the conversion of the apostle Paul. Here is the collect for this day in the church calendar. "O God, by the preaching of your apostle Paul you have caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we pray, that having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, we may show ourselves thankful to you by following his holy teaching; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen."