Healing Liturgies for the Seasons of Life

by Evans, Abigail Rian

• ISBN13: 9780664224820
• ISBN10: 0664224822
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Ingram Book Co

Summary

Are you looking for a new way to renew your worship, respond to the needs of the church and community, and connect with people in their passage of life--both chronological and crisis? This book offers a rich resource to you, both as a tool for worship and also devotionally as you face the deepest questions of life. Here you will find one way that the church can renew and rediscover its healing ministry. Abigail Evans, a leading specialist in bioethics and health ministries, explores how God's gift of healing is available during all seasons of a person's life and how the power of hope and healing are affirmed and redirected through liturgical services, sacraments, and rites. This distinctive resource features specific healing liturgies for injury, illness, death, separation, retirement, and a host of other major life events, from a wide variety of religious traditions.

Author Biography

Abigail Rian Evans is Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Practical Theology and Academic Coordinator of Field Education at Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition, she is Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xix
Hymnals Used in Liturgies	xx
Introduction Healing Liturgies: An Analysis	1	(14)
Seasons of Life	15	(130)
Childhood/Adolescence	17	(36)
Introduction	17	(5)
For the Children	22	(10)
Blessing of the Children (Methodist)	22	(3)
At the Time of Divorce (Ecumenical)	25	(2)
Darkness and Light: On Child Abuse and Neglect (Roman Catholic)	27	(5)
Passage through Adolescence	32	(21)
Passing from Girlhood to Young Womanhood (Ecumenical)	32	(1)
For My Daughters: Celebration of Your Menarche (Roman Catholic)	33	(2)
Taking Leave (Presbyterian)	35	(4)
Sons of Thunder (for African American Males) (Baptist)	39	(6)
Graduation and Promotion Days (African Methodist Episcopal)	45	(3)
Leaving Home (Methodist)	48	(5)
Early/Middle Adulthood	53	(68)
Introduction	53	(5)
Birthing	58	(12)
Blessing of a Pregnant Woman (Episcopal)	58	(1)
Thanksgiving for Women after Childbirth (Anglican)	59	(1)
An Order of Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child (Methodist)	60	(3)
After a Miscarriage or Stillbirth (Anglican Church of Canada)	63	(2)
After a Miscarriage (Ecumenical)	65	(2)
After an Abortion (Ecumenical)	67	(3)
Life Transitions	70	(24)
Renewal of Baptismal Covenant for a Congregation (Presbyterian)	70	(5)
Birthday Liturgies (Nondenominational)	75	(1)
Honoring Our Fiftieth Year (Interfaith)	76	(1)
Blessing of a New Home (Episcopal)	77	(3)
Blessing of Domestic Pets (Anglican)	80	(2)
Turning Season (United Church of Christ)	82	(1)
Midlife Transition (Roman Catholic)	83	(5)
Passage to Menopause (Nondenominational)	88	(1)
Walking the Labyrinth (Nondenominational)	89	(5)
Work	94	(10)
Work of Our Lives (Presbyterian)	94	(4)
Honoring the Outworkers (Sweatshop Workers) (Uniting Church in Australia)	98	(3)
Wholeness and Healing for Those in Ministry (Presbyterian)	101	(3)
The Healing of Relationships	104	(6)
Intergenerational Healing (Roman Catholic)	104	(1)
Communal Reconciliation (Roman Catholic)	105	(5)
Dissolution of Partnerships/Marriage	110	(11)
End of a Close Relationship (Ecumenical)	110	(2)
End of a Marriage (Anglican)	112	(3)
After Divorce (Ecumenical)	115	(6)
Late Adulthood/Elderly	121	(24)
Introduction	121	(4)
General Services	125	(13)
Celebration of Aging (African Methodist Episcopal and Ecumenical)	125	(5)
Anointing of the Elderly (Anglican)	130	(3)
Time to Remember (for Those with Alzheimer's) (Methodist)	133	(1)
Remembering God (Presbyterian)	133	(3)
Service for the Aged (Presbyterian)	136	(2)
Retirement	138	(7)
Retirement Ritual (Roman Catholic)	138	(1)
Moving Away from a Home (Roman Catholic)	139	(1)
Welcome to a Retirement Community (Roman Catholic)	140	(2)
Birthday Celebration in a Retirement Home (Roman Catholic)	142	(1)
Blessing of Retirement Community Residents (Ecumenical)	143	(2)
Seasons of Crisis	145	(306)
Illness: As Life-Altering	147	(72)
Introduction	147	(8)
Disabilities	155	(7)
Encouraging Persons with Disabilities (Anglican)	155	(5)
Friendship Service with Those with Mental Impairments (Reformed Church)	160	(2)
Mental Illness	162	(16)
Solidarity with the Mentally Ill (Interfaith)	162	(5)
We Are the Church Together: Those with Mental Illness (Presbyterian)	167	(2)
Moving toward Wholeness for Those with Mental Illness (Presbyterian)	169	(9)
Addictions	178	(12)
Alcohol and Drug Awareness (Methodist)	178	(3)
Leaving Addiction (Presbyterian)	181	(4)
Celebrating the Miracle of Recovery (Presbyterian)	185	(5)
Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse	190	(29)
Striking Terror No More (Ecumenical)	190	(8)
Toward Healing Sexual Wounds (Nondenominational)	198	(2)
From Victim to Victory (Christian Reformed Church)	200	(6)
Healing after Rape (Presbyterian)	206	(1)
Solidarity with the Violated (Nondenominational)	207	(4)
Hearing the Unheard Woman (Ecumenical)	211	(8)
Illness: As Life-Threatening	219	(68)
Introduction	219	(6)
General Prayers	225	(6)
Reflection on Healing (Nondenominational)	225	(1)
Prayers for the Sick and Anxious (Anglican)	226	(2)
A Prayer for One Who Is Going Blind (Anglican)	228	(1)
A Prayer for One Who Has Lost the Power to Speak (Anglican)	228	(1)
A Prayer for One Who Is Going Deaf (Anglican)	229	(2)
During Hospitalization	231	(6)
A Prayer of St. Chrysostom (Anglican)	231	(1)
Daily Morning Prayer (Anglican)	231	(1)
A Prayer for a Sick Child (Anglican)	232	(1)
A Prayer for Restoring Health (Methodist)	232	(1)
A Prayer for Hospital Staffs (Anglican)	232	(1)
A Prayer for Doctors, Nurses, and Hospital Staff (Anglican)	233	(1)
A Prayer for Operation Day (Anglican)	233	(1)
A Prayer for One Injured in an Accident (Anglican)	234	(1)
A Prayer for One Who Knows He Will Never Be Fully Well Again (Anglican)	235	(2)
General Healing Services	237	(14)
Interfaith Healing Service (Interfaith)	237	(2)
Modern Language Anointing Rite (Anglican)	239	(3)
Burrswood Healing Service (Anglican)	242	(3)
Episcopal Service of Healing (Episcopal)	245	(2)
Lutheran Service for the Sick (Lutheran)	247	(4)
Diminished Physical Health	251	(12)
Lament for Physical or Mental Loss (Roman Catholic)	251	(1)
Anointing the Seriously Ill (Roman Catholic)	252	(6)
Healing and Wholeness (Presbyterian)	258	(3)
God's Healing Touch (Presbyterian)	261	(2)
Aids	263	(14)
Healing and Anointing for Persons with AIDS (Methodist)	263	(9)
Prayer of Entreaty (for those with AIDS) (Interfaith)	272	(2)
AIDS: Prayer and Healing (Interfaith)	274	(3)
Cancer and Stroke	277	(10)
Blessing Ritual around Therapy for a Disease (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)	277	(1)
Blessing of Marrow (Ecumenical)	278	(1)
Healing Touch for Those in Cancer Treatment (Methodist)	279	(1)
Cancer Prayer Group (Roman Catholic)	280	(2)
Prayer for a Stroke Patient (Ecumenical)	282	(1)
Blessing before Surgery (Roman Catholic)	283	(4)
Death and Dying	287	(36)
Introduction	287	(6)
General Rites and Prayers with the Terminally Ill	293	(14)
Rites with the Dying (Anglican)	293	(5)
Rites with the Terminally Ill (Roman Catholic)	298	(2)
Withdrawal of Life Support (Nondenominational)	300	(3)
Let Them Go Free (Roman Catholic)	303	(4)
Grief and Bereavement	307	(12)
Healing for Families of the Terminally Ill (Roman Catholic)	307	(4)
Memory Wreath (Methodist)	311	(1)
Christmas Mourning (Reformed Church)	311	(1)
Consolation Candle Service (Roman Catholic)	312	(2)
Death of an Adult Child (Roman Catholic)	314	(2)
How Long Will You Forget Me, Lord? (Reformed Church)	316	(3)
Violent Deaths	319	(4)
After a Suicide (Ecumenical)	319	(4)
Broken World	323	(112)
Introduction	323	(5)
Community Need	328	(30)
Healing for a Hurting World (Ecumenical)	328	(3)
Remembrance of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (Episcopal)	331	(5)
Healing of the Church and Her Members (Anglican)	336	(5)
Apology to My Brothers and Sisters in Developing Countries (Roman Catholic)	341	(1)
Survival of Vulnerable Persons in the World (Uniting Church in Australia)	342	(2)
Blessing of a Victim of Crime or Oppression (Roman Catholic)	344	(3)
Missing Persons (Uniting Church in Australia)	347	(2)
For the Uprooted Ones: Remembering Refugees (Uniting Church in Australia)	349	(3)
Helping the Marginalized (Disciples of Christ)	352	(2)
Empowering the Homeless (Ecumenical)	354	(2)
Creating a Just Health Care System (Ecumenical)	356	(2)
Prejudice/Racism	358	(19)
Martin L. King Jr. Sunday (Afrocentric Methodist)	358	(3)
Juneteenth Observance (Afrocentric Methodist)	361	(2)
It Is Not Easy: Service of Prophetic Witness (Uniting Church in Australia)	363	(3)
People of Color and the Criminal Justice System (Presbyterian)	366	(6)
Common Ground: An Act of Witness against Racism (Interfaith)	372	(5)
Criminal Justice	377	(6)
General Prayers for Prisoners (Roman Catholic)	377	(2)
Service for Prisoners (Methodist)	379	(1)
Celebrating, Sending Out, and Blessing (Uniting Church in Australia)	380	(3)
Tainted Creation	383	(14)
Readings and Prayer for the Environment (Anglican Church of Canada)	383	(2)
The Joy of Water (Uniting Church in Australia)	385	(3)
A Healthy World (Nondenominational)	388	(1)
Litanies for Animal Protection (Anglican)	389	(8)
Community Reconciliation	397	(38)
Movement toward Reconciliation (Roman Catholic)	397	(2)
Remembrance, Penitence, and Hope: Memorial on 9/11/01 (Interfaith)	399	(9)
Repentance and Reconciliation (Anglican)	408	(4)
An Incurable Wound (Methodist)	412	(5)
To Dare Rebirth (United Church of Christ)	417	(2)
Recommitment to Common Ground (Roman Catholic)	419	(8)
Hallelujah Anyhow! (Methodist)	427	(3)
Praying for Shalom (Reformed Church)	430	(5)
Deliverance	435	(16)
Introduction	435	(3)
Exorcism (Antiochian Orthodox)	438	(10)
Cleansing of a House (Nondenominational)	448	(3)
CONCLUSION	451	(2)
APPENDIXES	453	(13)
Appendix A: Healing Centers	455	(7)
Appendix B: Worship Resources for Liturgies on Addiction	462	(4)
Notes	466