"There IS a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul." Last time we sang this in church, several of you asked me about the balm from Gilead, wanting to know what it is. Maybe hoping you could pop over to Patton's Pharmacy and have our own Paul Leoni fix some up for you. Well, the actual balm is thought to have been the resin or gum from the balsam tree of the Gilead region and was used to heal wounds.

But our hymn is actually a response to a pleading question asked by the prophet Jeremiah when the Hebrew people were about to be destroyed by foes because of their disobedience to God. The prophet Jeremiah worried: "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why has the health of my poor people not been restored?"

And our hymn-writer responds: "Yes, there is a balm that heals body, soul and covenant community."

This holistic healing balm should be familiar to the people called Methodists. In 18th-century England, John Wesley addressed himself to the healing needs of the people in ways that foreshadow the many forms of healing ministries which we now carry forward, from our decade-old Health Ministry, which we celebrate today, to all the ministries of healing the brokenness of the larger society.

In ways that could easily sound like "Carrots of Prevention" from our incomparable Health Ministry Nurse, Dorothy Kleingartner, Wesley prescribed the following list of rules for healthful living, in addition to his admonitions about hygiene:

1. Observe at all times the greatest exactness in your regimen or manner of living (a consistent schedule)

2. Abstain from all mixed or high-season food. Use plain diet, easy of digestion, and this as sparingly as you can . . .

3. Drink only water if it agrees with your stomach; if not, good, clear small beer

4. Use as much exercise daily in the open-air as you can without weariness. Walking is the best . . . for those who are able to bear it . . .

5. Sup at six or seven on the lightest food; go to bed early and rise betimes

Wesley urged visitation of the sick by his pastors and lay people, and lifted the role of women in ministry to those who were ill. He also realized the close relationship between the healing of bodies and the healing of souls and, in a manner which will sound quite contemporary to us, he criticized physicians for their narrow approach. "They prescribe drug upon drug, without knowing a jot of the matter concerning the root of the disorder. And, without knowing this, they cannot cure, though they can murder the patient." And he knew nothing of HMOs!

But he did understand the relation between faith and health, which researchers still explore to this day. He wanted to see physicians and ministers in partnership, working together to heal body and soul. You see, this is the premise of our Health Ministry which aims to teach us about healthful living; to advocate for us with doctors and health care facilities and services so that we get the care we need; to comfort us when we are sick and facing death; and constantly to hold our every brokenness and need in prayer.

There is a balm in Gilead, and for over ten years now, in this congregation, it has been administered through Dorothy and the many volunteers of our Health Ministry, joining medical practitioners with the ministry of the church. John Wesley would be proud and grateful, and, so are we all.

But Wesley also saw beyond the needs of individuals for healing to the larger societal issues which impact health and wholeness. He defined Methodists from the beginning as a people of faith who would address the needs for healing and restorative justice in the wider community. He worked on behalf of child labor laws, established homes for orphans and widows, and founded trade schools for women. He decried the gin trade and saw excessive use of alcohol as harmful. He opened dispensaries in London, Newcastle and Bristol, where people received medical help and drugs without cost. He was an advocate for the poor, and admonished the Methodist people to be in direct ministry with the poor each week.

We continue these healing ministries as well: when we volunteer to help the Venice Art Walk to benefit the Venice Family Clinic; when we send a team of youth to Appalachia to work to lift people out of poverty; when we send volunteers to help build the Ronald McDonald House; when, as we did just a couple of weeks ago, we bring in 740 pounds of food and $350 for the Westside Food Bank; when we enable families to move from homelessness into productive lives through Family Place; when we send physicians and students to work with the poor on the garbage heaps of Nicaragua; when we provide scholarships through our Nursery School for children who would not otherwise be able to attend, and give scholarships through the UMW and our Methodist Foundation for students pursuing higher education; when we send support through UMCOR for victims of earthquakes and floods.

In all these ways and so many more we are involved in healing ministries of mercy and justice which spread the healing balm of Gilead throughout this community and around the world. And woven through all these ministries is the warp and woof of intercessory prayer. We hold one another in love. We lift up one another through prayer and supplication before our loving God. We surround one another with a blanket of support that is palpable and makes all the difference in the world. So many of you have told me that you have felt it; have been lifted by it; have found through it a form of healing that goes beyond physical cure to health and wholeness of the soul. There is a balm from Gilead and we have shared it over many generations in this place.

May each of us find ways to participate in sharing the healing presence and power of God: through direct service, or through the giving of canned food and financial gifts; through teaching and mentoring, or through the loving word and caring gesture; through the witness for justice or through the power of prayer. God creates a way for each of us to take part in these holy healing ministries and then multiplies our individual contributions into a wide tapestry of love and care.

Dear sisters and brothers, may the healing ministries of this congregation long continue to offer mercy and justice, love and wholeness, to God's children near and far. Amen.

Notes:

Wesley quotes taken from ³Pastors, Preachers and the Healing Arts: The Wesleyan Tradition² by William C. Simpson, Jr. Found in The Living Pulpit, Vol. 6, No.2, April-June 1997, pp.22-23.

© Patricia E. Farris, 2001. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.