Worship for Cure slated in Maumee

5/21/2005

People have tried all sorts of approaches to combating cancer, said the Rev. Roger Miller, so why not try prayer?

We have races for the cure, biking for the cure, walking for the cure, but when have we ever tried worship? asked Mr. Miller, pastor of St. Paul s Lutheran Church in Maumee. We ll do all these other things, so why don t we stop and pray?

The church will hold its first Worship for the Cure service at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the church, 112 East Wayne St. in Maumee.

We want to provide a place where people can worship and yet they are being touched with personal ministry at the same time, Mr. Miller said.

The service will include music, prayer, and a message of hope. Staff and volunteers at St. Paul s, a member of the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America, have been planning the Worship for the Cure service for months but are still discussing ways to make it interactive.

One thought is that we ll have people dip their hands into a healing stream [of water], Mr. Miller said. Another thought is that we may take some broken glass and allow people to make a mosaic out of the pieces. It would symbolize how new life comes out of brokenness.

While some details are still to be determined, one thing for certain is that the service will include a time of prayer and the laying on of hands, as described in the biblical book of James, chapter 5, verse 14, Mr. Miller said.

The Scripture says: Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

He said the service will be for people who have cancer, or who have a loved one who has cancer, or even someone who has overcome cancer but still struggles with emotional scars fromt he disease.

We have general healing services, but this one will be just on this issue of cancer, Mr. Miller said. Cancer is so all-pervasive, and we hate what it is doing to families. It s kind of the leprosy of the day.

When somebody says, I have cancer, people want to shy away from them. That s not where we want to go. But Jesus ministered to the lepers.