Bishop Michael Rinehart

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 – Haman is hung on the gallows prepared for Mordecai.

OR

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 – Murmuring motif. Manna whining.

Psalm 124 – Had the Lord not been on our side, when our enemies attacked us, we would have been swallowed up.

OR

Psalm 19:7-14 – The law is perfect, pure, better than gold. The commandment of the LORD gives light to the eyes. (Ps. 19:8)

James 5:13-20 – Healing text. Are any of you sick? Elders should pray and lay hands on you.

Mark 9:38-50 – Whoever is not against us is for us.

Healing

We are in the final week of a five-week series on James.

EPISTLE OF STRAW: A 5-week Series on James

• LISTENING – September 2, 2018: James 1:17-27 – Be quick to listen, slow to speak. Giving. Slow to anger. Be doers of the word, not just hearers. Pure religion: Care for orphans and widows.

• WORKS – September 9, 2018: James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17 – Don’t show favoritism to the rich. Faith without works is dead.

• TAME THE TONGUE – September 16, 2018: James 3:1-12 – Not many of you should
  become teachers. Tame the tongue.

• CONFLICT – September 23, 2018: James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a – Why do conflicts arise among
• HEALING – September 30, 2018: James 5:13-20 – Healing text. Are any of you sick?Elders should pray and lay hands on you.

Here is this week’s text (James 5:13-20) in its entirety:

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. ¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Suffering

Are any among you suffering? Well, yes. In any gathering of people, there will be many in the group that will answer in the affirmative. Know this, when the question is asked. It’s not necessarily a rhetorical question. The congregation will lean forward.

Pastors and deacons know this. We look out over the congregation each Sunday, seeing the suffering, knowing the things that have been shared with us in confidence. One family is suffering from alcoholism. Another family from abuse. One family is grieving the loss of a loved one. Another is battling cancer. One lost a job. We must keep in mind that people are often suffering with a host of unspoken maladies. Some are physical, some are mental, some are social, some are spiritual, and some are a combination of any of the above.

Is your church a place of healing? Do people get better here, or is the atmosphere such that things get worse? Some communities retraumatize. If there is so much unmanaged conflict, those who are suffering will stay away, for survival. What is your strategy for being a community of healing? Jesus’ preached the good news of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God and carried out a healing ministry in the community. What is your plan for a healing ministry in the community?

They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:13)

Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Lutheran Service Book (LSB) are the first Lutheran hymnals/service books to have a service for healing in the pew edition (ELW p. 276).

Why? What is going on here? The Spirit is doing something.

Many congregations over the last ten years have been adding healing services either as a part of Sunday morning worship every once in a while, or as a separate service after worship or at a separate time. More and more congregations mention healing services in bulletins and newsletters. It seems the crafters of the hymnals are responding to something that the Spirit is already doing in the congregations. As Mark Strobel says, “Rites not only reflect what’s going on in the culture, they also shape the culture.”

Healing rites became almost embarrassing in the post-Enlightenment Western world. Western Christianity saw these rites as vestiges of animism and magical religion, reminiscent of incantations and superstitious witch-doctor rites. They all but disappeared. So why are they resurfacing?

Perhaps the rising cost of medical care and health insurance have caused us to look at other means of finding health and wholeness. Perhaps the increasingly impersonal way we deal with the end of life has caused us to yearn for a new definition of healing. There is more the health and wholeness than HMOs. Whatever it is, we seem to be returning to a more holistic understanding of salvation, and reaching out for a high-touch, tactile approach to faith and healing.

Laying on of Hands

In James we read about the way the early church lived out this healing ministry:

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

James offers no liturgy for this, but one undoubtedly existed. Fortunately ELW does. It’s not complex. It involves scripture, oil, touch and prayer.

There is growing evidence that there was widespread use of women as deacons for the anointing of the sick in the first centuries of Christianity, but by the 8th century, the blessing of the oil was only an episcopal function of a nearly all-male clergy. Only bishops could bless oil. And only priests could anoint. Lutherans would reject this special “power” for a bishop.

In 1519 Luther wrote A Sermon on Preparing to Die, encouraging the dying to confess, be absolved, receive the sacrament of extreme unction, then die cheerfully. In 1519 Luther still held anointing with oil at the time of death in very high regard. He saw it as a “visible sign” and “promise” of the gospel.

Salvation is complex. It is not just physical; not just spiritual; not just emotional. It involves the whole person. Salvation is shalom: peace and wholeness. Healing is restoration of wholeness. The church offers care, not cure. Jesus offered healing to many of those he encountered. He even raised Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus. They all died at some point. All earthly healing is provisional.

Today, and probably always, illness is isolating. It seems people don’t have time for the sick. At one conference, Martin Marty asked the question, “What do I have to do today that is more important than visiting with my friend who is dying of cancer?”

Liturgy makes us feel less alone. We are drawn into community, a fleeting commodity these days. We experience touch. Music and architecture elevate us. Again Martin Marty: “Elevation is the service of the service.”

Good liturgy induces an altered form of consciousness. Illness does too. Liturgy can disrupt the everydayness of life. Silence is a liturgy of disruption.

Let us not abandon the opportunity to bring healing into people’s lives through liturgy. Let us offer the comfort of Christian community to those who are isolated by illness or hopelessness, that they may know God’s healing grace.

It is interesting that in his manual on Christian living, James included these passages on prayer, anointing of the sick and confession. Clearly, he sees these as indispensable parts of the Christian way of life.

What is the Good News?

Jesus brings healing of mind, body and spirit, which are, at the end of the day, one. In these passages, James invites us into prayer, anointing and confession. These are liturgical actions that can bestow comfort and grace. These are actions by which we invite the healing grace of God to be present through one another. Something always happens when we do. It doesn’t mean that our problems and diseases will magically go away, but it can bring comfort in the midst of sorrow. The love and attention of the community, along with liturgies of healing can drive away the darkness and loneliness brought on by illness.

So what?

Consider including a service of healing on this final Sunday. Honor the text. Make time for it. Perhaps you trim other parts of the service so that this can have the time it needs to not feel rushed. It could also be a station during communion distribution.

Carefully train those who will be laying on hands. Either give them a blessing to memorize, or, if you want them to pray for specific needs, choose your “elders” carefully, and instruct them on how to pray for the sick, so that they don’t say things that hurt or heighten the sense of isolation.

Expect things to happen. This is powerful. Prayer and anointing always moves people. Expect the Spirit to do something.

Be sure to incorporate a confession. There are some healings that need to take place that have nothing to do with physical maladies. You may never know all the things that take place.

Listen to people’s stories. Talk with them about the experience. Consider doing this on a monthly basis.

Know that modern medicine is blessing. Know also, that there is more to healing than pills and surgery. Without love, without belonging, without community, without hope, we lose the will to live, which is essential in any circumstance.

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.