Meditation on Healing

 

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” — John 20:21–22

March 16, 2020

Recently I meditated on these words in John’s Gospel about the Risen Christ: “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

I imagined the Risen Christ in space looking down on the 7.6 billion people on earth, many of whom are suffering from the coronavirus or other devastating illnesses, breathing on all of us and saying, “Receive God’s healing Holy Spirit into your lives.”

For me, this image gave me a way to affirm God’s healing power in the midst of the health challenges facing the people of our world, to let go my fear, and to imagine Christ breathing God’s healing Holy Spirit into the air we breathe and filling all of us with new life and hope.

I pray that God will bless and protect all the medical professionals in our world who put their lives on the line to care for those who are infected with the coronavirus. I pray that God will work through the medical researchers who seek to find a vaccine and treatment options for people who are infected. And I pray for all those who have lost loved ones to this devastating disease.

I invite everyone in our United community to spend some special time in prayer during Lent picturing our Living Lord present among us bringing healing and hope to a fearful world.

Remember our faith reminds us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear” (Psalm 46:1-2).

Grace and peace,

Dr. Kent Millard
President
United Theological Seminary