There is a wound in the Creation,
and it groans and travails until now,
and I don't know why. Therefore I ask to be
given some part in the healing of it. It is the
only way in which I can give meaning to my life,
and indeed meaning to life upon the earth.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- Alan Paton

THE WORK OF HEALING
OVERBROOK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

An invitation to join in this work of praise and thanksgiving

Healing is central to our work at Overbrook Church. Here, we seek to share in God's work of healing through:

We also support the work of others in their work of healing around the world.

HOSPITALITY

A Christian community is a healing community, not because wounds are cured and
pains are alleviated, but because wounds and pains become occasions for new vision.
Confession becomes then a mutual deepening of hope, and sharing weakness becomes
a reminder of the coming strength.

Community arises where the sharing of pain takes place as a recognition of God's
saving promises.
AAAAAAAA- Henri Nouwen

Hospitality is our special calling at Overbrook. We worship at the center of metropolitan Philadelphia. We see, all too clearly, the wounds which separate rich and poor; African, Asian, European, and Latino, one from another. In the midst of walls and boundaries, we seek, through hospitality, to heal the wound which keeps us apart.

In this work, we discover "a mutual deepening of hope". Some join us as members, bringing the richness of their journeys. Others meet, play, attend, but do not join - still we are blessed by their trust in us.

Here at Overbrook, we may never heal the wounds of race, class and fear, but we do witness to what we know - repeated occasions of hope!

MUTUAL SUPPORT

Many members of the Overbrook community work each day in the allied disciplines of healing, for example:

Overbrook gives thanks for God's call to call our friends whom we remember in our prayers.

PRAYER, ANOINTING AND THE LAYING ON OF HANDS

Spirit of the living God,
present with us now,
enter you in body, mind, and spirit
and heal you of all that harms you.

Service of Healing, The Church of Scotland

On every 5th Sunday in morning worship, we offer the opportunity for those attending to come forward, to have hands laid upon them, their foreheads anointed with oil and this prayer for healing offered for them.

We first did this in the spring of 1996, for this is not a tradition with us. We are led to risk the new and unfamiliar by our deep sense of hunger; a need to claim for ourselves and for our world the healing power of God as known in Jesus Christ.

Comments on this service reflect the blessings which we have received:

…there was a sense of seriousness and graveness, but as I
walked out I saw smiles and happiness I hadn't expected - it
was as though we had experienced something powerful and
enlightening and we felt so grateful to be part of this wondrous
event…

…I prayed for guidance to help me make decisions that would
free me from the despair and feelings of depression and being
overwhelmed. My prayers were answered.

Whether we remain in our pews or come forward, we hold each other in prayer as we share this work together.

CARING

Caring involves worship and service.

Have mercy on me, O God,
aaaaaaaccording to thy steadfast love…
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaPsalm 51:1

Central to our faith is our conviction that we all need the opportunity to confess our sin and to hear the Good News of the forgiving love of God in Christ. In every morning worship, we are given this opportunity.

We are often humbled, however, by the work of others who demonstrate the love of God through the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous which meets at Overbrook Sunday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and Overeaters Anonymous which meets here Monday and Thursday evenings.

We also seek to care for those confined to their homes or in any special need through the work of our Board of Deacons and through financial support of the church throughout the world.