The
following is the first in a series of guest posts
as
my family embarks on a much needed vacation!
This
post was written by my new friend, Walt Gessner,
whom
I met through my husband, Phil,
who
met Walt when they were in the same cohort at
Northwest
Nazarene University, studying Spiritual Formation.
Walt
gives you a little bit more of his background
in
the post that follows.
Thank
you for sharing with us, Walt!
I am aware that those of us that have aligned our work and
ministry with the Church of the Nazarene have varied opinions and thoughts in
regard to the anointing of the sick. A mentor and very good pastor friend of
mine does not like to use oil in praying for the sick. His position is a well-reasoned
and understandable one: many people that sit in the pew will see the oil,
receive the oil, and somehow missing the prayer in being healed will think that
it was the oil that healed them. I guess he feels that many Christians do not
have a very good grasp of the basic tenets of the Christian faith to recognize
that the power is not in the oil, but in the one whom the oil represents: the
Spirit of God.
Other Nazarenes that have a more conservative approach to
theology and Christian living quickly pick up on the other name for the
anointing of the sick, the Sacrament of Last Rights, and cast it aside as being
“too Catholic,” and thus something that we Nazarenes best stay away from so
that our theology and Christian living are not corrupted. I see their point,
especially since our roots are in the Protestant stream of things. To be too
Catholic might somehow pull us into that void of works over faith salvation,
and thus we would fall into the trap of thinking our being good is being good
enough to “make it to heaven.” It should be noted, however, that the anointing
of the sick in the greater context of Christian history was practiced before
the Roman Catholic Church became the Roman Catholic Church and was seen in
terms of Christ’s healing of the sick and as a valid practice of the early
church through the Apostle James.
Now before we go any further, I should explain that I am an
ordained elder and pastor in the Church of the Nazarene, I hold a BAMin from
Nazarene Bible College, two Masters degrees from Northwest Nazarene University
(am I still allowed to admit that?), and am in the dissertation phase of a PhD
from Regent University (an odd relationship where Fundamentalists and
Pentecostals are bedfellows in the School of Divinity). My PhD will be in
Theological Studies with a Christian History concentration – of course should I
actually get the dissertation written and defended. My call and spiritual gifts
are to be a pastor/teacher, and specifically, to encourage the body of Christ
to be re-created in the image of God and ministry students to be spiritually
formed in preparation, not simply complete a course of study for the piece of
paper.
Why is it important to know my pedigree before we continue?
Because I see sacrament in historical as well as ecclesiastical contexts;
helping me at least to peel away the uninformed clichés that we often found our
beliefs upon. Please don’t get me wrong. I do not feel that we are living less
than Christian lives because of cliché. I do feel, however, that cliché has
become the easier thing to preach and teach which is up and against good
biblical exegesis and the exhortation to study to show one’s self approved. I
also am forced to reconsider presupposition and allow the stories of the church
to speak for themselves, even being willing to raise controversial questions at
the expense of my own notions and temperament.
So why is the anointing of the sick a varied practice in the
Church of the Nazarene? Really it comes down to that old saying, “In essentials
unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” We Wesleyan types
like this saying and attribute it to John Wesley, but it was probably something
that was said before Wesley, but in principle was practiced by Wesley and was
embraced by early Nazarenes.
The man that is considered the founder of the Church of the
Nazarene, Phineas F. Bresee, was not a fan of the proponents of the Divine
Healing Movement, which has its origins in the American Holiness Movement, but was
not embraced by all Wesleyan leaning holiness folks – Bresee fell here. Before
he set out and started that very first Church of the Nazarene in 1895, Bresee
worked with a city holiness mission, Peniel Mission, in Los Angeles. At one
point, Bresee got wind of the Mission’s inviting another holiness preacher by
the name of A.B. Simpson (Simpson would become the founder of the Christian and
Missionary Alliance) who was a divine healing proponent and considered an
extremist. Whether coincidence or intentional, when Simpson agreed to come,
Bresee pulled out and the Church of the Nazarene was born.
E.A. Girvin, a Bresee biographer, gives great insight into
Bresee’s position on healing and of the anointing of the sick in writing:
I never knew
a man who was freer from all forms of fanaticism, and from that presumption
which so often masquerades under the guise of faith. He insisted upon our using
all the means which were placed at our disposal, trusting God for the outcome,
and giving Him the glory. While he frequently prayed for the healing of the
sick, and his prayers were marvelously answered in many cases, he never
anointed with oil. He would pray with and for those who desired to be anointed,
but invariably have someone else do the anointing. His exegesis of the passage
in James, referring to anointing the sick, was that the oil was used as a kind
of medicine, and that we complied with that requirement when we gave to those
who were ill the best remedies at our disposal. He claimed that God healed in
all cases, whether means were used or not, and that healing was always divine
healing.
While Bresee had this position, it is also
obvious that he considered divine healing a non-essential.
In October of 1907, the Church of the
Nazarene would form a union with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of
America, becoming the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. One of the leaders
from the Association instrumental in the union was Hiram F. Reynolds. Reynolds
did see divine healing as having an important place within the Holiness
Movement having testified to being healed and sanctified after suffering a
nervous breakdown in 1880.
To read the articles submitted by both
Nazarenes and those of the Association in The
Nazarene Messenger in 1906 and leading to the union in 1907, it is easily
seen that one of the “issues” leading to the union was healing. Equally
interesting is to read the reports published in The Beulah Christian, the official paper of the Association. In
1906, there were reports of healing and of supernatural occurrences at the
college that would be the precursor to Eastern Nazarene College.
Why are these articles, testimonies and
reports important to our talk? They are important because they reveal that
unity, liberty, and charity were very much at the heart of the union. Our early
foremothers and forefathers in Nazarenedom would not allow non-essentials to
unhinge the greater mission: to proclaim scriptural holiness to the world. So,
where Bresee was not a fan of the tenets of the Divine Healing Movement, he
would not allow divine healing to be the divide of a holiness people. In fact,
a statement on divine healing was added to the statement of union between the
two formerly separate bodies now made one and called the Pentecostal Church of
the Nazarene.
The anointing of the sick with oil whether one is
comfortable with it or not, is indeed a valid practice within the Church of the
Nazarene. If one believes that anointing with oil is an important “sacrament”
(a Christ directed and biblically instructed practice of the church), then let
those who desire to be healed call upon the elders (spiritual leaders) of the
church, be anointed with oil, and prayed for in faith. If one should see the
potential of spiritual downfall for the local gathering of Nazarenes in the
practice, then let them still pray the prayer of faith, all in agreement, so
that sins would be forgiven, bodies made whole, and spirits set free to be
healed in heaven. If two Nazarenes disagree on the matter in fellowship, then
let them commit themselves to unity, offering liberty, and sharing charity as
sisters and brothers in Christ – for the Kingdom come on
earth
as it is in heaven. After all, this is our founding, this is our heritage.
