My first experience with healing oil was a very tentative one. One of the active members of this church came to me 10 or 12 years ago. It was during one of our Wednesday night Communion and healing services. He asked me if I would anoint him with oil. As I pondered what to do with the request, he produced from his pocket a small vial of oil and asked me to use that in the service. I obliged his request without really knowing for sure what it was I was doing.  

During my first 30 years in the ministry I had not encountered this request for this kind of service at all. Yes, I had heard about it, but I thought it to be more marginal to the life of the church. Today I am a fully committed advocate. We offer it here monthly on the first Wednesday of each month at our service of Taizé. 

We began observing Taizé here in March of 2001—four and a half years ago. At first we could not even pronounce it, nor could many of you. A group of us went to the East Liberty Presbyterian Church to be a part of their weekly Taizé service. East Liberty is hardly a bastion of conservative theology and it is certainly not marginal in any way.  

We experienced together the power of this form of worship. Taizé is rooted in an ecumenical Christian community of mostly men in southern France. The service includes banners and candles and healing oil. The service is surrounded by a unique form of music, a number of prayers, small readings from Scripture, and lots of silence. 

We brought it to Christ Church in 2001. There is no preaching, but there is a strong musical component. Today that music is beautifully accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble. The music is sung over and over throughout the service. Someone has said, “The music penetrates you until you are thrust into silent prayer.” I believe I have experienced that phenomenon. Sometimes the service is called simply, “Taizé sung prayers.” 

Toward the end of each service we offer anointing with healing oil. I consecrate the oil much like I consecrate the elements for communion. All who wish to do so come forward. They may be anointed with oil, they may light a candle in prayer for someone, or they may kneel in private prayer. They may participate in all three of those forms of worship. All the while they come forward, the Taizé singing continues. 

The use of healing oil is rooted in a single passage in the letter of James in the New Testament. Many people believe that James was one of the brothers of Jesus. In 5:13-14 James writes, “Are any among you suffering… are any among you sick?” They should call for the elders of the church to have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” 

The oil used is olive oil. Olive oil was used regularly in the Bible—partly because it was readily available. Many ancients believed that olive oil had some healing properties of its own. It would be poured onto wounds, for example. We place a small amount on the forehead with the sign of the cross, and speak some words as we do so. 

Let me share with you some things I deeply believe about this act. They are fairly new to me, but I am fully convinced. 

HEALING IS A NEED WE ALL HAVE 

First of all, healing is a need we all have. I read a story about a little boy who was reluctantly taken to participate in a family reunion. He did not want to go. He wanted to stay home and play with his friends. However, his parents insisted. During most of the day he moved around among little clusters of adults whom he barely knew. He listened in on conversations. He began to pick up a thread to these conversations. One person said he had just had knee replacement surgery. Another said he had a rotator cuff that needed an operation. Another talked about arthritis. Still another talked about the fear of losing his memory. 

That night, when the child got ready for bed, he knelt down beside his bed and said his prayers. His prayer went something like this: “Dear God, please bless Mommy and Daddy and all my brothers and sisters. And dear God, please bless all of these people who are falling apart at the seams.” 

All of us need some form of healing in our lives. It may be physical healing. We may need healing from ugly or bad memories. We may need healing in relationships—experiencing forgiveness so that I can get on with my life. We may need to be healed from the fear of death. We may need soul healing—a deep down inner peace. I remember one member of this church who came faithfully to the Wednesday night service saying to me many years ago, “I believe God has healed me of my need to be healed.” It reminds me of a statement by Bill Moyers some years ago when he said, “Healing is possible even when a cure is not.” Healing is a need we all have. 

The founder of the Taizé community wrote these words about the music of Taizé:

It is singing that never ends, and that continues in the silence of one’s heart when one is along again… a few words sung over and over again … that gradually penetrate the heart and the whole being. 

AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE CHURCH’S MINISTRY 

Secondly, healing is an integral part of the church’s ministry. The New Testament tells us that Jesus came into Galilee preaching, teaching and healing. Today the church takes preaching and teaching fairly seriously. We may, however, be slackers in a relation to healing. 

I read somewhere that about 70% of Americans today say they have tried some form of alternative medicine. Those forms may include breathing aromatic oils, or acupuncture, or yoga. One of the alternatives that is listed is prayer. Imagine prayer being considered as an alternative form of medicine! 

Before science, healing always had a mystical and spiritual component. The spiritual link to medicine goes back hundreds of years. At one time, priests and physicians were both healers. In many cases they were one and the same person.  

Then came the division. Science, medicine and technology went one way. Religion went another way. In this new 21^st century, we are beginning to see a merging and a blending of the two disciplines. A recent USA Today poll says that more than 60% of patients would like a doctor to discuss spirituality with them. It may suggest a new age of training in medical schools.  

We are taking the healing ministry of the church seriously here. At Christ Church we have had a mid-week healing service for more than 40 years. I’m not exactly sure when it started, but I know it had been here many years when I came in 1980. Many of you can testify to the power of that brief service. Perhaps you’ve had only one or two experiences. Perhaps you experienced it over the long haul. I remember a powerful moment some 17 or 18 years ago when I was preparing for open heart surgery to replace a valve. A group of people at that healing service gathered around me and laid their hands on my shoulders and prayed for me. It was a moment I shall never forget. 

Four and a half years ago we added Taizé and the healing oil to our worship menu. A short time later we added a parish nurse to the ministry staff of this church. 

One writer says,

“The gospel ministry of healing would seem to be crucial if the church is to maintain its proper place in our society. Considering the call of Jesus to heal, the church should be a leader, not a follower, in this area. 

Healing is a vital part of the church’s ministry. 

TOUCH IS IMPORTANT 

Thirdly, in the healing ministry, touch is important. So much is being written about physical touch today. Some of it is a bit strange, to be sure. But much of it is profound. Be it a doctor, a surgeon, a counselor, or a friend, there is something about touch and the mystery of being fully human. Touch is a part of the mystery of the way God works through those who believe. 

You may remember the story about a very dignified pastor who was visiting a woman in the nursing home. She had been confined to a wheelchair for some time. When he arrived, she was in the lounge area. A number of other people were there—also in wheelchairs—watching television or perhaps dozing for a nap. The minister spoke quietly to the woman for a few minutes. 

Toward the close of their time together she asked if he would pray for her. He said he would do that. She said, “Would you hold my hands and pray for my healing?” He was a little less certain about whether he should do that, but he decided that since that was her request, he would oblige. Quietly but firmly he prayed for God’s healing to be operative in her life. 

When he had finished she said, “Reverend, would you please help me stand up?” Not quite knowing what else to do, he pulled slightly on her hands and she was able to stand up out of the wheelchair. Suddenly her feet began to move, then her legs began to move, and then she was dancing and shouting and yelling and celebrating at the top of her lungs—waking everybody in the room and calling attention to the two of them there in the middle of the room. 

With a red face, the minister got up and backed out of the room. He walked quickly down the hall, down the corridor, out the door to his car. He got into his car, closed the door, put both hands on the steering wheel and looked up to heaven and said, “Lord, don’t you ever do that to me again.” 

Jesus almost never healed physical illness or disability without touch. I have studied and learned from that important detail in Scripture. I saw a cartoon recently where a long line of people were waiting to be healed by Jesus. One man waited with a box under his arm. When he got to Jesus he said, “Jesus, could you program my VCR for me?” Touch is important. 

Of course I believe that basic intercessory prayer is important as well. And I am sure of that with our Intercessory Prayer Team and our Shepherds Prayer Chain. But touch is important also. One of the instructions I give to the prayer team is that they hold each of the green cards firmly in their hands, try to experience the touch of the person who wrote the note on the card, try to experience the touch of the person whose name is being lifted up in prayer. 

In the healing moments each Wednesday evening at our Healing and Communion service, those who desire it have a gentle touch on their heads with an individual prayer. The prayer goes something like this: “Pour out your healing Spirit upon this person in body, mind, and spirit.” 

In Taizé, we touch a small amount of oil to the forehead and make the sign of the cross. We say simply, “Receive the healing oil of Jesus, and then go in the peace that passes all understanding.” 

We all need one-on-one attention at times. We all need some touch from one another. I came across a quote from an unlikely philosopher, John Stuart Mill. Many of us read his essay on “Utilitarianism” as a part of a high school or college class. At one point, Mills said this:

You don’t have to be sick to get better. Sometimes the healing touch we need is not a cure but a growth experience, growing experiences that help us to leave behind the small, the bigoted, the untransformed parts of our lives. 

So we regularly offer expressions of God’s healing touch here, including the imposition of healing oil. Healing oil is faithful to our story. Remember the text: “Are any among you suffering? 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.” 

Healing oil is one expression of faith and trust in God. Healing oil is an expression of God’s love to all who need. 

Come to the Taizé service when you can. Come as often as you care to do so. Receive the healing and anointing oil of Jesus. Then go in the profound peace that God alone supplies.