Service of Healing: “New Life Rising”

 

Prelude 

 

Welcome

Pastor: Welcome, beloved of God. As the earth awakens in spring, so too God awakens new life within us. Today we gather to seek healing—for our bodies, our minds, and our spirits—and to trust in the resurrection promise that nothing is beyond God’s renewing love.

 

Opening Song

“In Christ Alone”

 

Invocation & Prayer 

Pastor: Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, who brings life out of death, hope out of despair, and renewal out of every weary place. 

 

Cong: Amen.

 

Prayer

Pastor: God of springtime and resurrection, you breathe life into dry bones and call beauty from barren places. Renew us today—mind, body, and spirit—that we may rise with Christ into hope and wholeness. In Jesus’ name.    

 

Cong: Amen.

 

First Reading: Ezekiel 37:1–14 

     The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

     Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

 

Psalm 30

Leader: I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up.

 

Cong: O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

 

Leader: O Lord, you brought up my soul and restored me to life.

 

Cong: Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

 

Leader: You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

 

Cong: O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

 

Gospel Reading: John 20:19–22

 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

 

Reflection

Pastor Brian

 

Devotion

“What Is Still Waiting to Bloom?”

 

Spring does not rush, yet it always comes. Beneath frozen ground, life is quietly preparing itself.

 

So it is with us. Healing often begins where we cannot yet see it—in the quiet places of the heart, in the slow mending of the body, in the unseen work of the Spirit.

 

The risen Christ does not return with force, but with breath: “Peace be with you.” A gentle renewal. A beginning again.

 

What in your life feels buried? What feels dry or weary?

 

God does not abandon those places. God enters them. And even now, something is stirring. Something is rising.

 

Resurrection is not only a past event—it is a present promise.

 

Poetic Meditation

“The soil does not fear the breaking,
for it knows what comes next.
The seed does not resist the dark,
for it trusts the light will return.
And we, too, are held
in seasons of becoming—
where God is already at work
in what feels like ending.”

 

Song of Reflection

“Dry Bones”

 

Healing Stations

• Lighting a Candle

• Individual Prayer – Stephen Ministers

• Prayer Basket

• Anointing Oil

 

Prayers for Healing

 

Prayer for the Body

Pastor: Healing God, you formed us from the earth. Bring strength where there is weakness, restoration where there is illness, and comfort where there is pain.

 

Prayer for the Mind

Pastor: God of peace, quiet anxious thoughts, lift burdens of worry and fear, and bring clarity, rest, and hope.

 

Prayer for the Spirit

Pastor: Spirit of the living God, renew our faith, awaken our joy, and restore our connection to you.

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Closing Song

“I Love You Lord”

 

Blessing

Pastor: May the God of resurrection bring new life to every weary place within you. May Christ’s peace settle in your heart and body. May the Holy Spirit awaken hope and joy again. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Pastor: Go in peace. Christ is risen—and new life is already growing within you.

​

Cong: Amen

 

Postlude