Does God heal today?

In Luke 7:18ff, John the Baptist send messengers to Jesus to ask if he was indeed the promised Messiah. Jesus responded by saying: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor.” This is of course an allusion to Isaiah 35:5-6 and 61:1, and refers to events which are prophesied to take place in the year of the Lord’s favor, that time when God would rule in a new and powerful way. As we know, Jesus’ preaching was about the coming of the Kingdom of God. Wherever Jesus carried this message, there were signs which accompanied it – blind receiving sight, lame walking, deaf hearing and leprosy cured. As people who continue to live in, sacramentally signify and spread God’s end time Kingdom, we ought to expect physical healing to have an ongoing significance among us. This will take the form of the miraculous, and the medical. All blessings of health come from the hand of God, and all true knowledge is God’s knowledge.

‘Is it always God’s will to heal?’ I would have to answer yes; God’s will is for his humanity to be completely liberated from the effects of the fall, including sickness and death. So when we ask for healing for ourselves or someone else in our present age, we can be certain that we are asking for exactly what it is God wants for us. However, we live in an eschatological mid point (already, not yet). So perhaps the question is better put, ‘Will God heal me now in this present age, or will he wait for the consummation?’ We cannot live in denial that we still stand with one foot in “this age.” Even those people Jesus himself healed fell ill again and died. The mystery of who experiences as foretaste the gift of certain special benefits through Christ’s death and resurrection in our present age and who does not cannot be explained, and pastorally I have no answer. What I can reassure those seeking divine healing of is that they are indeed asking for exactly what their loving Father wishes to give them. The only question is ‘When?’, and the only response to ‘later’ is to carry on, whatever the circumstances, with faith and hope in the knowledge that “on that day”, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

What is the role of art in Christian life/worship?

Beauty is that which moves the affections and passions in a pleasing way. So when I say that I have an insatiable desire to experience beauty, that is to say, I long to be moved – I desire an ordering of things which upon observation causes me deep seated joy at the core of my soul.

Art is the creation of beautiful things. Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin says “beauty will come and save the world.” Call me an Idiot, but I believe him.

Beauty has the possibility of restoring humanity’s outlook on the world from a dominating view to a marveling one, thus causing us to relate ourselves to the world with amazement and thankfulness. In other words, the realization of beauty will teach us that the material world is not merely for utilization, it is for appreciation. Beauty enables us to be grateful for what has been donated to us – the world and everything in it – rather than to exploit it.

The way in which we judge what is ugly or beautiful is in many ways analogous to the way in which we judge right and wrong. In this sense, aesthetics is the mother of ethics. In a world where morality and meaning have eroded to the point of virtual non-existence, we have yet to entirely forget our sense of beauty. As long as we still have aesthetic good taste there is hope that we can continue to appreciate righteousness, and thereby be drawn to the beauty of God.

May the church be full of art and artists – may the world be moved to believe.