New Wine, women, and song. And healing!?

Well I promised a report, but have been busy, been away, and been frustrated by malfunctioning IT.

We were off-site, with a young child, so each day we only managed to attend one morning seminar and take turns for the evening meeting while the other sat in the creche facility watching the video link.

The teaching was very good indeed, touching on things that were relevant for us.

It was less charismatic than we expected.  The worship was good, and where in the past at such events I have felt like an observer mystified by what is going on around him, this time I was part of it, involved.

There is a strong pro-women-in-ministry agenda, with Biblical exposition showing how the Bible has been translated and used incorrectly, and if used correctly it shows that women should be in church leadership.  (There was some overlap in terms of principles of exegesis with my position on homosexuality)

We ate main meals with our church in the 'village' which gave good times of bonding with people that we have needed to bond with since our return to this church, and we were able to break down some communication barriers.

Mrs received prayer for healing, with no apparent effect.  (Let's be honest about these things).  So after wards, while we were extending our holiday, I prayed with her one night in the middle of the night in the Travelodge (after I had persuaded her that my touch was not for 'marital purposes').  I became quite emotional about her situation.  There was no instant healing.  But in the morning, whereas her first trip form bed to toilet would normally be a slow struggle with stiff and painful joints causing her to gasp in pain and hobble along grasping furniture for support, this time she only hobbled, unsupported.  So there had been a measure of healing following my prayer, and this was not some hyped-up mass hysteria, it was just me in a dark bedroom - moving from theoretical dutiful prayer to actually caring about it.

I think this is very significant.

Now, let's be honest, she still suffers severely from rheumatoid arthritis.  She still can't walk ANY distance without painful hobbling.  Her knees are permanently bent, like her deformed fingers.  And there has been a bit of a relapse since the healing.  So I would say, if she was at a score of 10 before I prayed, she went down to 9 on the morning after the prayer, and is now probably at 9.3.

I think it merits a cautious 'Hallelujah!'