Health vs. Healing
Classic “health” ministry is like the pastoral care provided in hospitals. The doctors take care of tending to the body, while the pastoral care people take care of tending to the soul. We listen, we journey with people as they suffer. We let them know they are not alone, and that God has not abandoned them either. We help them find meaning, if possible, in their suffering. These are all good things.
A “healing” ministry, though, is different. It is about using pastoral care to tend to the body as well. It is predicated on the belief that it is possible for God’s power to intervene, and on a fairly regular basis, to effect physical healings. Our first duty is to pray, and to pray with boldness, and to pray as a community.
I see the difference between the two in the attitude each approach takes to so-called “miraculous” cures. From the “health” perspective, Jesus and the apostles really did do these things, but they are now very exceptional and now the ordinary way God works is through us, and the care we can provide. The focus (again, I like this emphasis) is to remember to communicate God’s love at the same time as we ministry to people’s bodies and minds.
On the other hand, the “healing” perspective sees no reason why the source of those healings accomplished in ancient times need to have dried up. There is nothing wrong with seeking medical care, but first and foremost we need to place our illness at Jesus’ feet and ask him to continue the work he so often did when he walked the Earth.
The “healing” people think the “health” perspective lacks faith. The “health” people think the “healing” perspective can build false hopes, which then get dashed and people are hurt even more. And granted, sometimes the “healing” ministry is done by people who are borderline personalities. But then again, the “health” people sometimes suffer from the arrogance that medicine can treat anything, and when it can’t they have nothing else to offer except to call the priest for the last anointing.
Can the two sides meet? I think so. Each side opposes the other, I think, because of differing visions of suffering. But what is their vision of health? I think that is where common ground can be found….in the development of a theology of health. Not of health care, but of health itself. What does it mean to “be healthy”?
