How to do a hands-on healing service in a virtual setting.
Pray Dough
As President Celeste Hilliard and I were discussing the healing service for the upcoming D.O.K. Assembly, we were lamenting the fact that the laying on of hands is impossible in a digital gathering. While God is, of course, quite capable of healing us, or those for whom we intercede, without touch (Mt. 8), the laying on of hands combines God’s healing power with the assurance of human compassion. That’s quite a powerful combo, and an especially hard loss at a time when many of us are feeling cut-off from human contact.
God made us through and for contact. Thinking about the Creator molding us from clay and about Jesus declaring bread to be his flesh got us thinking about kneading dough as a tactile reminder of our human connection. That’s how Pray Dough was born! Each daughter will receive from her chapter a zip-top bag containing:
· 1 cup flour—"I am the bread of life” (Jn 6)
· 1/4 cup table salt—"Have salt in yourselves” (Mk 9).
· 1 t. cream of tartar—Did you know that cream of tartar is a byproduct of the winemaking process?
At the time of the healing service, each daughter will gather together:
· that bag
· 1/3 c. of water— “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”(Jn 4)
· ½ Tablespoon of oil— "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness” (Hebrews 1)
· A plate
As we begin to pray, we will mix the materials together in the bag, just as by seeking to mix such elements into our lives we participate in the work of healing. We will then turn the dough out onto our plates, and as we pray for each daughter who requests healing for herself or others (by way of private chat, for the sake of privacy), we will continue to work our Pray Dough in our hands, trusting that as we knead our prayers into the dough, so also will our sister knead our prayers out into herself from the dough.
Just as our prayers keep giving even after the words have gone silent, your Pray Dough will keep (if you put it back in the bag) for quite some time. You can dye it with food coloring or keep it plain. Take it out and work it between your hands whenever you happen to knead it.
Blessings,
Terri+
editor's note: you can download a copy of this blog post so you can prepare your zip-top bag before the Assembly.
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