Conversations Journal existed to bring about honest dialogue on the ways our lives are shaped by God. One of the aims of the publication was to examine themes of Christian spiritual formation through various lenses of the faith (denominations/traditions/streams of Christianity). This month we’ll be studying the topic of “Healing,” with a rerelease of the Fall 2012 issue on that subject. This issue will have a permanent home here at Conversatio, with a companion course that allows readers to take the topic a bit deeper and journey into your own experience of the theme. The editors invited voices from a variety of Christian traditions to share about healing: body and soul, emotional and relational, miraculous and seemingly ordinary.
In the opening pages, Gary Moon shares how early Christianity viewed salvation as healing. He notes that the Greek word, sozo, means to heal or make well. When we consider that meaning in the context of what the Incarnational Christ came to this world for, it broadens the traditional understanding of salvation. Moon says,
I have found it very helpful to place on that foundation, what seems to me, an additional, and more complete view that involves a great healing—the restoration of relationship with the Trinity and the process of becoming whole and complete. . . . I know that I have a need to be both “saved” from my sins and “healed” from them as well—healed from my desire to continue living life separate and apart from God.
Throughout the pages of this issue, you’ll read stories about healing from those who experienced it, skeptics who witnessed it, and others whose faith was strengthened in the waiting. But this issue doesn’t focus solely on physical healing. Ruth Haley Barton discusses the journey from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight in her essay, Heal Our Inner Sight, O God: The Journey from Spiritual Blindness to Spiritual Sight. We’ll also hear about the healing powers of community from Mark Scandrette. Art, and making meaning from our stories also have healing powers as you’ll hear from Emily Griffin and Susan Phillips in their respective articles. Be sure to read Ben Patterson’s article, Communion and Forgiveness: How the Body and Blood Open the Way for Healing Relationships. It’s a lovely telling of the complicated relationship he had with his mother, and how God gave him a glimpse of redemption through a vision that awakened his heart.
The issue kicks off with an important interview with Francis MacNutt and Harold G. Koenig on how the church almost killed the ministry of healing—and how to get it back. In that same vein, we included articles in this issue on inner healing prayer by Mary Yerkes and spiritual direction and prayer ministry from Jacci Turner.
This issue was special, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Conversations, and for the first time, we had an interview with the artist whose work appeared on the cover. That artist is Makoto Fujimura, one of the most highly-regarded artists of the twenty-first century. He is the founder of the International Arts Movement and has served on the National Council for the Arts. He shared, “All true art leads to healing. Art (even done by non-believers) resides in the province of Eden.”
When I pause to reflect on the topic of healing, I’m reminded that it takes time. Journeying with Jesus is a lifetime process, not an abrupt arrival. As you savor the pages of this issue, reflecting on areas in your life that need healing, may God meet you with his grace right where you are. The companion course for this issue is for the article, Heal Our Inner Sight, O God: The Journey from Spiritual Blindness to Spiritual Sight, by Ruth Haley Barton. Visit the Classroom to access the article and summary written by Joannah Sadler.