In 1912 a young woman, called Dorothy Kerin, lay dying. Dorothy was a sickly child who had had several serious illnesses including scarlet fever and diphtheria. Remarkably she recovered from all of these but in1911she developed tubercular meningitis and peritonitis for which, at that time, there was no treatment. Dorothy became deaf and blind as a result of the disease and on 3rd February 1912 the doctor told her family that any relatives who wished to see her before she died should be called at once.

The next morning Dorothy received Holy Communion and all day her family sat by her bedside. Those who have sat beside the bed of someone who is dying can probably imagine the scene: people were whispering to each other and watching the patient carefully, looking for a flicker of the eyes, or a movement of the lips, or even checking whether she was still breathing. So imagine their surprise when suddenly she sat up and asked for her dressing gown and got up and walked. Later she told them that just before this happened she had become aware of an angel taking her hands and saying: “Dorothy, your sufferings are over. Get up and walk.” She was hungry and did not feel that the milk in the feeding cup was substantial enough, so she went down two flights of stairs and raided the larder. The next morning when she woke up her body had returned to the normal healthy condition of a twenty-two year old.

As a result of her miraculous healing Dorothy Kerin went on to develop the Centre of Healing in Kent called Burrswood.  Today Burrswood continues to care for the whole person, with each patient being allocated a doctor, counsellor and priest to care for every part of them. Each week all the professionals meet together with the nursing staff to discuss the progress and management of each patient. Burrswood will be celebrating its Diamond Jubilee this year.

The Acorn Christian Healing Trust also grew from a vision of Dorothy to equip the church through teaching, training and resourcing, and to bring Christ’s health of body, mind and spirit to all people - individuals, relationships and communities.

In my experience as a doctor such miraculous healing as Dorothy Kerin received is very unusual and although she went on to lead a long and full life she died in 1963. Some would argue that her, and St Stephen’s, ultimate healing was when they died and were born into the nearer presence of God. However, it is about what we have to learn from Dorothy after her miraculous healing that I want to concentrate on today. After the excitement of what she called ‘Her Beautiful Day’ Dorothy spent her ‘hidden years’, seventeen in all, learning to be obedient to God, drawing near to Him and trying to learn what He wished her to do with her life. She found a special affinity with St Teresa of Avila who also recovered from a life-threatening illness from which she experienced a miraculous cure at about the same age as Dorothy; she spent formative years in comparative seclusion too, learning what God had planned for her in the future.

So where does all this lead us to? What is healing? Do we all need it? Is healing just for people with serious diseases? Well obviously the whole subject of Christian healing is a massive one so I propose to look at one or two issues of healing that probably apply to all of us. Wholeness is often a better way to describe the healing that I am talking about: it is to help us to become the person that God created us to be, and it is available to all of us. Therefore our starting point for wholeness must be to look at our relationship with God. To spend time with Him, reading His Word, praying to Him and listening to what He is saying to us. To come to Him and ask forgiveness for all that is wrong in our lives; to let go of the sins we have confessed and leave them at the base of the Cross; to obey his command to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

We read in today’s Gospel:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me’.

That’s a pretty good start to our healing journey. Later in the passage we hear the familiar words of Philip: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus tells him that he and the Father are one and that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Often this passage is used to confirm the divinity of Christ but I believe it is also important because of the picture that it gives us of God the Father.

For many, God the Father is seen as an austere figure, our Judge. Perhaps this is based on our own views of father: when I was really naughty as a child I was told by my mother that I would be dealt with by my father on his return; my children were always rather in awe of their father when they were small and were tempted to make their confessions to me as they believed I would be more lenient! But if Jesus and his Father are one perhaps we should review our idea of God the Father by looking at Jesus.

In the First Letter of John we read this:

“Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are.”

In Romans we are told that through the Holy Spirit we become the children of God. ‘For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption, when we cry, “Abba, Father!”’ And what are we required to do to develop this relationship? We need to spend time with Him and ask for forgiveness for our sins. We can do this privately and also publicly as part of our worship.

One problem with set liturgy is that sometimes we can be tempted to read but not inwardly digest but today I want to encourage you to ‘luxuriate’ in it. In the absolution we heard:

‘May the God of love and power forgive you and free you from your sins, heal and strengthen you by His Spirit and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord’.

That is some healing we are being offered!

Later we will hear:

“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right, our duty and our joy, almighty and eternal Father, and in these days of Easter to celebrate with joyful hearts the memory of your wonderful works.”

And on it goes reminding us, as we praise God, how much we have to give thanks for.

And then we come to the heart of the Eucharist, based on the Passover meal that many of us celebrated last night: reminding us how the New Covenant has replaced the Old. That New Covenant is available for all who wish to enter ‘into relationship’ with God. We are the ‘Body of Christ’, worshipping and partaking of Communion together. The Agnus Dei reminds us that Jesus has taken on the sins of the world and in his mercy has exchanged them for peace, or more particularly ‘shalom’ which is a much more substantial completeness, something which fills you from within.

Those older members of the congregation may remember learning the catechism. One of the questions is: What are the benefits of partaking in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine. That sounds like healing to me!

As we partake of the bread and the wine we should give ourselves so that our sins may be forgiven by God. Healing must always start with us forgiving ourselves: as we ‘die with Christ’ so we can also ‘rise with him’. If we do not find the Eucharist to be healing maybe this is because we are not offering the hurt to be healed. It may be difficult to identify this but we may be guided by what we feel – we should be giving thanks to God for all that He gives us, but maybe there are parts of our life we find this difficult to say ‘thank you’ for. These need to be explored with God so that healing can begin.

Today we will also be offering ‘laying-on-of-hands’ in the new Chapel of the Transfiguration.  I believe that laying-on-of-hands is really an extension of the peace – a very special opportunity to sit in the presence of God and be ministered to by someone else being used as a channel. There may be particular issues that one wants to have prayed about or it may just be coming to God as a child, for blessing and sustaining, open to whatever He knows we need. If you wish to have laying-on-of-hands please go into the chapel at the end of the service.

I hope that laying-on-of-hands as part of our main Sunday service will become a regular fixture: if we are to grow as a church and undertake some of the exciting work that God certainly has in mind for us we need to be healed as individuals and as a community.

Our second reading reminds us that we all have a calling:

‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, a people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the glorious deeds of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’

As we repent, share God’s word, give praise, pray for others as well as ourselves, and draw nearer to God, we can fulfil that destiny described in Peter’s letter. We shall be a healed and whole people ready to follow God wherever He may lead us.

I look forward to that.

Amen.