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From the Rector

The Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams

Dear Friends,

For over 15 years we have been offering the Laying on of Hands and Anointing at the 5:15 p.m. Eucharist on the first Thursday of each month. Through this simple age-old sacramental rite, "God's grace is given for the healing of spirit, mind, and body" ("The Book of Common Prayer," p. 861). Now in order to make this manifestation of the Church's healing ministry more widely available to people and in response to requests from those who have experienced it in other Episcopal parishes, I want to include the Laying on of Hands and Anointing as part of our Sunday morning eucharistic liturgy.

Beginning December 2, a priest will be available at the baptismal font in the church during the distribution of communion at Sunday morning services of Holy Eucharist. Persons seeking God's grace "for the healing of spirit, mind, and body" are welcome to stand or kneel before the priest (either before or after going up to communion) to receive the laying on of hands and anointing. The priest using holy oil will make the sign of the cross on the person's forehead, and laying hands on the person's head will say, "I lay my hands upon you and anoint you with oil in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, beseeching him to uphold you and fill you with his grace, that you may know the healing power of his love" (BCP, p. 456).

Several things are important for us to keep in mind as we include this sacramental opportunity in our liturgy:

1) We are all at various times broken in spirit, mind, and body and in need of God's healing.

2) Jesus spent much of his public ministry healing the sick and restoring people to wholeness. (Half of Mark's 16 Gospel chapters are devoted to Jesus' encounters with the sick.)

3) The Church through the centuries has carried on Jesus' concern for the sick (Hospitals began as a ministry of the Church), especially through prayer and anointing, as recommended by James in his Epistle (5:14-15).

4) Sacraments are not magic or superstition, but "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace" (BCP, p. 857).

5) The traditional Anglican adage for the Rite of Reconciliation (sometimes called Confession) also applies to this sacramental Rite of Unction: "All may; none must; some should!"

Advent is a fitting time to begin to make this healing rite available. In preparation for Christ's coming at the end of the world and liturgically at Christmas, we long for the fullness of God's presence. We prepare the way of the Lord. We make his paths straight. Whether in praising God in word and hymn, or asking God's mercy, or receiving communion or the laying on of hands and anointing, we beg, in virtually the final words of scripture, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

- Stephen

© 2001: Chapel of the Cross