Sunday, September 2, 2012

A Volley from the Canon, Number 141--Seventh Sacrament

A VOLLEY FROM THE CANON, NUMBER 141 THE SEVENTH SACRAMENT Just a few decades ago, what we call the sacrament of Unction, the practice of healing by prayer, with anointing and/or manual touch, was the stuff of tent revivals and Saturday afternoon television programming. We certainly wouldn’t see the act in church, in any of the mainline denominations, including ours. Today, Episcopal clergy, with the active participation of some laity, regularly offer the sacrament to those in need of healing. People are routinely anointed, and receive the laying on of hands, with prayer for healing, in hospitals, nursing homes, and private residences. Many congregations—though not by any means all-- also offer unction at special healing services on a weekday, usually accompanied by the Eucharist. So unction has come out of the shadows. And yet—it is the sacrament that remains isolated, still very much the step-child of sacramental acts. Where we don’t see it enough is in the context of a regular Eucharist, attended by the well and able as well as the sick and impaired. Should not every Eucharist of the Lord’s Day be an occasion for spiritual healing as well as for spiritual feeding? A few years ago, we also did not offer Eucharist every Sunday. We feared, and many warned, that we would get bored with it, that it would “take too long,” or that it would “offend” somehow. That has not been our experience. Now, we might offer the same concerns about making unction available at a regular Sunday Eucharist. Yet I, and many, could name multiple examples where the sacrament has been widely received with welcome and appreciation. It isn’t necessarily easy to work in the additional act, but it is worth the attention and effort. It is being done, creatively, in several different ways, in various places. With regular Sunday Eucharist, we have become a Christian body that emphasizes Christ’s feeding of his people with himself, with his own body and blood. With regular Sunday unction offered as well, we can be the church that emphasizes also God’s desire and willingness to heal, and the continuing, life-giving activity of the Holy Spirit. Couldn’t that be a good thing? 1S

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