O CHRIST, THE HEALER (Rev. Fred Pratt Green)

O Christ, the healer, we have come

To pray for health, to plead for friends.

How can we fail to be restored

When reached by love that never ends?

From every ailment flesh endures

Our bodies clamor to be freed;

Yet in our hearts we would confess

That wholeness is our deepest need.

How strong, O Lord, are our desires,

How weak our knowledge of ourselves!

Release in us those healing truths

Unconscious pride resists or shelves.

In conflicts that destroy our health

We recognize the world’s disease;

Our common life declares our ills.

Is there no cure, O Christ, for these?

Grant that we all, made one in faith,

In your community may find

The wholeness that, enriching us,

Shall reach the whole of humankind.

May the Blessings of our Lord wrap around you.

Sharon & Martin