Christ's Promising Word

Time after Pentecost (Lectionary 26)
September 27, 2009
Anoint the Sick
James 3:13-20

Step by Step, Prayer by Prayer

Back in 1996 my wife, Laurie, was diagnosed with cancer.

“I have good news and bad news,” the doctor said. “It is a slow-growing cancer. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We can knock it back. We can slow it down. But we cannot cure it. You will probably have a relapse within the next couple of years. And then, we will knock it back again.”

But, here it is 13 years later. And (“Alleluia! Thank you, Jesus!”) there is no sign of it. No sign of it at all. As far as the doctors are concerned, the cancer is gone. Completely gone. And they have no explanation for it.

Ask me and I will tell you that Laurie was in such excellent physical shape that the doctors could be extra aggressive with her. They doubled up on some treatments they would not have done to someone who was older or weaker.

But ask Laurie … and she will tell you it was the prayers. All the prayers offered on her behalf by so many of the faithful. In fact, there is a little card that someone sent her. And it’s message became her motto and her mantra that she said to herself everyday. She put it above the kitchen sink. And that card is still there.

And that card said, “Step by step, prayer by prayer, the Lord will always get you there.”

Service of Healing

Lutherans have always valued the power of prayer. In fact, I would dare to say that a very tender and important moment happens in worship every week when we lift up by name those who are near and dear to us who are in need of healing during the “Prayers of the Faithful.”

We bang the doors of heaven on behalf of those who are near and dear to us. And many of those very people report back to me that they can tell for sure that those prayers are heard.

But one nice addition to our new red book of worship, the ELW—Evangelical Lutheran Worship—is that it now includes a “Service of Healing” which is intended to be used within a moment of corporate worship. Say, a service of Holy Communion.

This Service of Healing picks up on what James says in our first reading for today:

“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. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”

What this is NOT

Let me say some things about what this service is NOT. This service is not an act of magic. Just because you come forward and have someone lay your hands on you and anoint you with oil doesn’t mean that all your health issues will immediately go away. Sometimes prayer does result in physical healing and sometimes it doesn’t.

And just because it doesn’t, doesn’t mean that God does not love you. Or that you are bad. Or, that your faith is not good or strong enough. Saint Paul himself had a painful “thorn in the flesh” that he prayed again and again for God to remove, but God never did. Instead he got the answer, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Sometimes God has another cure than the one we have in mind.

And this service is not what the Roman Catholics used to call “Extreme Unction” or “Last Rites,” the anointing of people who are so sick that they are about to die.

When I started out in ministry, the only hospital in town was a Roman Catholic one and so most people from the church that I served went there.

And the staff and the Roman Catholic patients would shutter as I walked into the door. Here was the priest, they thought, coming to administer “Last Rites.” Back in those days, the only time a priest would come into a hospital was to administer “Last Rites.” To see a priest in hospital meant someone was going to die.

That no longer is Roman practice. Nor has it ever been ours. The expectation of this anointing is that a person will be healed.

Jesus Heals

In his ministry Jesus performed many acts of healing. He forgave sins. Those sins that can make our heads ache and our stomach churn. A lot of physical ailments can be traced to that guilty conscience that is still bugging us.

And Jesus cast out demons—those bad and evil spirits that can deflate us and oppress us. And Jesus cured physical illnesses of every kind. And Jesus raised the dead. A kind of healing, wasn’t it, of the greatest illness of them all.

And in his healing, Jesus used many different methods, such as lifting his hands and eyes and praying to the God who was his Father. And laying his hands on people—even the lepers—and touching the affected part. Or, speaking a healing word from a great distance even though he could not be there in person.

An Extension of that Same Ministry

This Service of Healing is an extension of that ministry of Jesus. That very same ministry. The laying on of hands, the prayers of the faithful, the anointing with oil are all signs that Jesus is the source of power for any healing that is affected. And that the prayers of the faithful are effective and powerful.

And that those who have committed sins are forgiven—personally, fully and completely. They were all forgiven the day that Jesus died. And that Jesus will heal all who are sick one way or another. Either by a healing now or (as Jesus did for my father) in a life to come.

And so, after the Hymn of the Day, we will switch over to the Service of Healing on page 276 in the ELW and we invite those of you who wish to come forward.

Those who are cheerful – They shall sing.

For a final word, I remind you of Laurie’s little mantra: “Step by step, prayer by prayer, the Lord will always get you there.”

© Pastor Paul Jaster

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