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Is the Church Still a Place of Healing?
It used to be—especially here in the Bible Belt—that Sunday morning was sacred. Everyone went to church. If you had family in town, they came with you. If you were behind on work, it stopped until after worship.
Even as a doctor’s son, I remember hearing pagers go off in the service: “Dr. Carruth, please call the emergency room. Dr. Bedingfield, please call…” And they would step out of the sanctuary to find a phone. Even if my dad was on call, if it was at all possible, he was in church.
Now, things have changed. We live in a culture where weekend after weekend, other things compete with worship—travel ball, work, events. Please hear my heart: I’m not throwing stones—no judgment here. I’m simply grieving the fact that what used to be unthinkable on a Sunday is now normal. And I’m even sadder to admit that while the culture has drifted from Judeo-Christian rhythms, the church itself has often drifted from Jesus.
I share this because we’re continuing our membership series, focusing this week on the vow to support the work of Jesus Christ by being present. It’s a “we” thing. Most of that presence still centers on our Sunday gathering, which for us is our Sabbath.
For Jesus, the Sabbath was Saturday, and it was His practice to be in the synagogue every week. That’s where He was in our Scripture this Sunday—at church, on the Sabbath—when He saw a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years. He healed her. But the leader of the synagogue was furious—not because He did wrong, but because His healing didn’t fit their rules. Scripture even says Jesus looked at them with anger.
That’s worth pausing over: Jesus got angry when religious leaders made it harder for hurting people to find God’s healing.
Philip Yancey once told a story of a woman who had made terrible choices and was weighed down with shame. A counselor asked her if she had thought of going to church for help. She was shocked at the suggestion and said, “Church? Why would I ever go there? I already feel bad enough about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”
That’s heartbreaking—but if we’re honest, not surprising.
So here’s the question for us: When people come to Perry Methodist, do they find rules, or do they find Jesus? Do they find barriers, or do they find healing?
I believe the church should be the one place where everyone—sinner, seeker, struggler—has the best chance to meet the Healer. But the question is: do they even want to be here? And if they come, will they find Him?
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