Rediscovering the Cross
Where Contemporary Healing Ministry meets a Theology of the Cross.
The Death and Resurrection Doula
A Charismatic 
Led by a Professional Death DoulaThe Death and Resurrection Doula is led by an End of life Doula Practitioner and Theologian. Death Doulas are trending as the future of death care and forerunners of the 'Death Positive' movement, a culture shift ushering in a positive mindset around death as part of living well.
Healing ministries abound in this age, and popular healing teachers preach that prayer for healing requires strong faith. Yet, the arrival of Postmodernity presents a new challenge to belief unprecedented in the history of the Church. Proposed is a refreshing purpose for contemporary Christian healing ministry in an age of unbelief; a radical theological alternative grounded in Scripture and tradition and dominated by a theology of the cross. We have arrived at a time such that a ministry of healing prayer must finally speak about death. |
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About Laurel Marr, End-of-Life DoulaLaurel Marr began serving in ministry at Calvary St. George's Episcopal Church in New York City. Under the guidance of the Reverend Jacob Smith (Calvary-St. George's), Laurel has worked extensively to reform healing prayer and has shared her initial vision at Mockingbird Ministries NYC conferences (Mbird.com). Calvary Church holds an important history in the story of Alcoholics Anonymous as it was the church's Rector, the Reverend Samuel Shoemaker, who spiritually advised Bill Wilson, and many of the steps were written in the Rector's office (61 Gramercy Park North). The turning point for reform in the healing prayer ministry for Laurel was the experience of her recovery from addiction, beginning in that same office.
After several years in parish administration and pastoral care, Laurel has stepped out into the role of an end-of-life doula (lmdoulacare.com) to care for patients and families facing death. Doulas are expected to be leaders of the Death Positive movement and the redefining of the current culture we hold around death. Laurel is a mother to two teenagers and has recently relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia from Manhattan after ten years. She is originally from the Southeast and spent 10 years in Colorado before living in NYC. Laurel studied Systematic and Philosophical Theology at the University of Nottingham (UK) and is a graduate of General Theological Seminary in NYC. Her main interests are in the areas of healing, the human will, and eschatology. Laurel is trained as an End of Life Doula by DoulaGivers. She earned her proficiency badge with the National End of Life Doula Alliance (NEDA). Read how End of Life Doulas are bridging the gap in death care. |
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THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION DOULA
In the latter part of the last century, there has been much discussion of our ‘denial of death.’
But it would seem to me that the problem is deeper and more difficult.
If it is true that Christ shows us what it is to be God in the way that he dies as a human being,
then, quite simply, if we no longer ‘see’ death, we no longer see the face of God.”
The Very Rev. Dt. John Behr*
John Behr, “The Christian Art of Dying,” Sobornost 35,1-2 (2013): 137.
