by Richard Lee
Intention: The intention is to help someone who wants to be helped. It is important first to have the person’s permission before offering prayer. It is also vital that a Meeting for Worship for Healing be a gathering for Wholeness rather than a time for despair, grief, or anger. Often Friends are worried, frightened, and under stress, and then we can lose sight of the potential and the power of God’s Spirit through prayer and love.
Procedure: Friends gather together with the intention of prayer/worship focusing on the Inner Light and the desire for Wholeness. PLEASE KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Begin the Meeting by sharing signs of hope and by recapping the condition of the situations prayed for previously. Based upon this discussion, add or delete situations from the new prayer list as is necessary. Briefly discuss the new/continuing requests for prayer prior to worship, so that Friends are familiar with the requests.
Friends may decide to pray about a concern such as healing the earth, or healing a conflict/war, or healing a neighborhood. Our group has prayed for animals during hunting season and for trees after an ice storm.
The individual who is Clerking then lists the requests. The Clerk makes a brief reminder note which includes the name of the individual and/or concern and a brief description of the request. Notes are used as an aid towards placing the request in prayer. Later these notes are dated and kept with previous ones for follow-ups, prayer commitments, and for reference.
Please sit close together in a circle. (Friends may have hands or knees touching in a fairly tight circle.) One of the experiences Friends have in Meeting for Worship for Healing is that it is a Gathered Worship which unites us in the Spirit.
During worship/prayer, the Clerk places each request separately into the silence in an order as the Spirit moves.
Each request is therefore held in the Light separately. The Clerk discerns the amount of time spent in prayer/worship for each request as the Spirit moves.
During worship, please hold each individual or each request in the Light. A message/prayer may, or may not, arise concerning the situation. Silence with no messages is not unusual. However, there may be more messages in Meeting for Worship for Healing than there might be at Worship on First Day, depending on the movement of the Spirit. Worship is for about an hour.
Messages for those held in the Light are sometimes in the form of prayer or song. There may be a message in the form of an insight into what is needed for healing to progress and to bring about Wholeness. Please note that some messages may be meant to be shared privately with others after worship.
It is best to take on no more than 8 requests per meeting. At the close of worship/prayer, after the last request, Friends may have a time of open prayer. The Clerk identifies this time and then names or situations may be placed into the silence. Each name or situation is interspersed with silent worship/prayer.
The Clerk, with a shaking or a linking of hands closes worship. It is best to meet regularly at least once a month at the same time and in the same location.
The Clerking position may rotate, although some gifted Friends may be more consistent Clerks. Please try to let the Spirit decide who is to Clerk.
Friends often experience the recipient of prayer being held in healing, loving Light. If you get confused, or off track, hold the whole group in the Light/Prayer.
The late Richard Lee was a member of Red Cedar Monthly Meeting of Lake Erie YM, located in East Lansing, Michigan. This article is derived from an original post on the Red Cedar Meeting website. It was revised in July 2016. [Ed. note: Boldfacing in this posting has been reduced some for simplicity.]
This piece was compiled by Richard Lee from meetings with Florence Rose Morgan in the 1960’s and 70’s. Additional information is from meetings with members of Friends Fellowship of Healing in Worthing, Sussex (8/1992) and in London at Britain Yearly Meeting (5/1995). Other sources include Towards Wholeness and Hobart Mitchell’s Prayer for Healing.