If you have questions, or would like to take part in the Order of St. Luke, please contact Dave and Peggy Vale (724) 423-1126.
St. Michael’s is blessed to have three members of the Order of St. Luke serving our parish, Dave and Peggy Vale and Ann Woodall. Their ministry is a continuation of the healing ministry entrusted to the disciples by Jesus. Dave, Peggy, and Ann have a calling from God to offer prayers, the laying on of hands, and anointing with holy oil consecrated by our bishop. All members of the Order of St. Luke receive extensive training to offer their ministry with dignity, confidentiality, sensitivity, and compassion.
Throughout his ministry Jesus is described as ‘curing’ as well as ‘healing’ people. So, it has become common to use these terms interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two. Interestingly, the first definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for the noun ‘cure’ is ‘spiritual charge: care’, followed by ‘pastoral charge of a parish’, and only then ‘recovery or relief from a disease’. ‘Spiritual care’ is the primary meaning of ‘cure’, though we rarely use it that way today.
The first definition for the verb ‘cure’ is ‘to restore to health, soundness, or normality.’ The first definition of the verb ‘heal’ is ‘to make sound or whole’, then ‘to restore to health.’ ‘Health’ is defined as the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit.
I’ve recently re-read all of Jesus’ healing miracles and the contexts in which they occurred. There are many more texts about ‘healing’ than ‘curing’. The difference between the two seems to be that ‘healing’ is more concerned with wholeness, which has to do with the whole person, not just the body. What many of these healing miracles do is restore people to God, their family, and sometimes even to a community—as with lepers.
Some people may be looking for a cure for a specific ailment, but being broken by sin, all of us are in some need of healing, even if we look perfectly well. Life is not the way God intended it to be. Everything was broken by the sin of Adam, from Creation itself—as evidenced by natural disasters and pestilence, to human beings who harm one another and themselves, to the smallest cells in our bodies that sometimes go haywire, leading to sickness and even death. We are broken inside and out, and in our relationships with one another, Creation, and particularly in our relationship with God.
Jesus’ encounters with the people he ‘cures’ are about much more than the removal of the disease or an impediment. They are more about a restoration to wholeness. In these texts there is a connection between healing, belief in God, and trust in Jesus. We learn this from the contexts of these miracles and what Jesus says during them. Numerous times Jesus tells the person, “Your faith has made you well.”
We are aware of many people in our parish, and many of our friends and family, who are in some need of healing in their lives. We would like to help connect them with the healing presence of Jesus.
In addition to requests for their ongoing prayers, the members of the Order of St. Luke would like to invite you to receive their ministry for yourself or on behalf of loved ones. This ministry is offered on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. in the church, and we would also like to return to offering it during communion in the very back of the church. If you desire prayers for healing and the laying on of hand or anointing, please look for Dave, Peggy, or Ann after receiving communion at the 10:30 service. Your prayer requests will be handled discreetly, with confidentiality.
ORDER OF ST. LUKE July 2023
Present at these services are members of the ORDER OF ST LUKE HEALING MINISTRY. The members of Order of St. Luke (OSL) have taken an in-depth study of the 26 individual healing encounters that Jesus performed as recorded in the gospels. OSL is a multidenominational Christian organization which uses the scriptures as our guide for healing ministry and his instructions to the seventy-two as he sends them out in Luke 10:9 to “heal the sick who are there and tell them, the kingdom of God is near you”. In their healing ministries, the disciples often use oil to anoint the sick. The anointing with consecrated oil in the name of Christ is the sacrament of unction. OSL members use oil that has been consecrated by the bishop. The Order of St. Luke provides a method by which properly trained laity can perform this rite with dignity, confidentiality, sensitivity, and compassion to the benefit of the church and to the glory of God.
The Mission of OSL:
OSL empowers God’s people throughout the world with Jesus’ healing ministry.
OSL does this by:
Training people in the healing ministry of Jesus
Learning to pray for others
Providing opportunities to experience the healing power of Jesus
Empowering members to confidentially pray for anyone, anywhere, anytime in the name of Jesus.
We as members of the Order of St. Luke do not do the healing directly. God does the healing through the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. OSL members are intercessors-we are merely a vehicle or vessel through which Jesus heals.
We invite those who want prayer for themselves or for others, to come to the rear of the church (the narthex) during communion at the second service. These prayer requests are completely Confidential: they are not discussed with other OSL members, the parish, or other people without the requestor’s permission. If you don’t feel comfortable coming to the narthex on Sunday or can’t come to the healing service, then ask one of our members for private prayer. Our current OSL team consists of Dave and Peggy Vale and Ann Woodall.