Spiritual Counsel
Many people find the need to seek spiritual counsel from time to time. We all accumulate baggage as we walk the journey of life. If we are not careful, this baggage can move us away from God and each other. This is why spiritual counsel is so important in order to keep our spiritual journey on course. Sometimes, we also need someone in whom we can confide and who can help us to explore more honestly the burdens that we carry. If you find that you are needing guidance, prayers or spiritual support do contact the Vicar.
Visiting the Sick
Our Vicar, Lay Ministers and Visiting Team carry out the vital ministry of visiting the sick. Our aim is to visit those who are sick or shut-in so that they may experience God’s love, kindness and compassion through his Church in a very special and personal way. If you or someone you know would benefit from a visit please contact the Church Office.
Prayer and Anointing
Healing, reconciliation and restoration are integral to the good news of Jesus Christ. For this reason prayer for individuals, focused through laying on of hands or anointing with oil, has a proper place within the public prayer of the Church. God’s gracious activity of healing is to be seen both as part of the proclaiming of the good news and as an outworking of the presence of the Spirit in the life of the Church. A quiet and reflective midweek healing Eucharist is held each Tuesday at 12.15 in the old church. Feel free to bring a lunch; the service is followed by tea/coffee.
Home Communion
Did you know that it is possible to have Holy Communion brought to people’s homes? This is most often done for the sick, but we are happy to bring communion to those who are housebound too. When we bring communion to your home, we use bread and wine blessed at a previous Sunday service and as we say our prayers and receive the body and blood of our Lord in your home, so we unite with the whole of God’s family in their weekly Eucharistic sacrifice. When you are unable to come to church due to illness, home communion can provide comfort and spiritual nourishment. If you or somebody you know would like to receive communion at their home or in hospital please contact the Church Office.
House Blessing
The blessing of houses is a traditional practice usually requested when someone first moves into a new home to bring God’s loving goodness and peace at an exciting time of new beginnings. It can especially be a reassurance if the history of a place is not known. A house blessing may also be requested to lay to rest any feelings of dis-ease in a home (which can be especially strong if the home has been used as a place to attempt to commune with the dead or meddle in suspect spiritual activity). If you would like to request and plan a house blessing, please contact the Vicar directly.
End of Life Ministry
Life is a gift from God. Life is given as the opportunity to meet God in friendship and love; life is the journey to God; and the end goal of life is to live with God forever. Baptism has set the Christian on this pilgrimage of faith into an explicit and personal relationship with Christ who is ‘the Way’. We journey as fellow pilgrims within the Church, which is the community where Christ’s life is present through the Spirit. The life and death experience of Jesus reveals that God has entered every aspect of human life, especially suffering. God knows what it is like to lose everything—even his own life. God knows what it is like to lose a child! For the Christian, as natural life draws to an end, the goal of eternal life with God should be clear and the hope of its attainment should be evident. End of life is generally a time that spirituality and religion assumes a heightened significance. It is an opportunity to deepen one’s relationship with God. However, the physical, emotional and spiritual crises that characterise death can affect the Christian in many ways. Pastoral ministry to the dying Christian is essential to provide the assurance and the confidence that faith offers to the person and his or her family at this time. Sometimes this is called the Last Rites.
If someone you know needs end of life ministry, please contact The Vicar.
All Saints', The Parish Church of Orpington 