Some years ago, while reading Arnold Come's exceptional book, Human Spirit and Holy Spirit, I encountered some ideas that are directly relevant to pastoral care.
According to Come, the Hebrews understood a person's words to be the person in another form. This was not only true of persons, but of God. The Word of the Lord came to the prophets, or, according to John's gospel, God's Word became incarnate in Jesus. In this way, God's Word was God in another form, active upon earth in Jesus or the prophets, yet, God was still in heaven just as our words have effects beyond our physical presence.
Words get inside of us. All of us are blessed, condemned, forgiven, strengthened or weakened, by the words of others. Some psychologists call these words "scripts," and claim that people live according to the scripts assimilated in childhood. The Hebrews had even a stronger idea. They believed that a parent, for example, lived on in their offspring through the parent's words or deeds assimilated by their children. Similarly, Christ lives in someone as that person assimilates his words and deeds given in word and sacrament. And, conversely, we live in Christ and each other as we receive each other's words and deeds.
But words alone are not enough. Living in Christ depends upon the Holy Spirit. The words and deeds of Jesus, repeated in word and sacrament, can only redeem and heal if the Spirit gives them life, animates them so that we encounter the risen Jesus as the words. Then the words enter us, to bless, redeem, and heal. Apart from the Spirit, the very same words may well condemn us. For example, many people have condemned themselves and others by reading the Bible.
These ideas of Come have several consequences for pastoral care. First, Jesus is the chief pastor. He acts through the words and deeds of the Christian community. The worship of the church, not the office of the pastor, doctor, or psychologist, is the primary locus of pastoral care. Worship, bible study, prayer, and fellowship; the rituals of the Prayer Book, eucharist, reconciliation of a penitent, the burial office, baptism, Christian marriage, all mediate the pastoral work of Christ.
Secondly, although Christ is the chief pastor, he does not work alone. All members of the community are pastors. Through the social life of the congregation, every woman, man, and child, contributes to healing. There are also particular ministries. Sacramental confession, forgiveness, and the laying-on-of-hands for emotional and physical healing are vital. The church has been given the authority to forgive, to heal, to cast out evil spirits, to end the bondage to the old scripts that enslave and condemn. In a wider sphere, God uses doctors, psychologists, medicine and medications, but they cannot replace the critical work of the church. Secular therapy and sacramental confession are not the same thing. A priest is not a therapist. A priest administers rituals, the sacramental words and deeds of Jesus. Through the ritual, by the power of the Spirit, Jesus becomes the pastor.
Finally, the whole self is redeemed in Christ. According to Come, "human spirit" is the person, the unity of body and soul, animated with force and purpose. There is no secular part of ourselves healed by strictly secular means. Ultimately, the human spirit is only realized in relation to Christ and his community.
In short, pastoral care is the work of Christ in and with the community, directed to the redemption of all of us, body and soul. (Plenteous Harvest, June, 1994.)
Comments
Why did I write this little essay? I wrote it because so many in the church use secular models of therapy to do the work of Christian ministry. This is not helpful. I've seen what secular therapy can do, and I've seen what God can do in the name of Jesus Christ. Without denying that there are good secular counselors, and there are, I have found that there is tremendous power and grace in the name of Jesus Christ. God created us and he knows better than anyone how to put is back together. Jesus is the one who redeems people, and that is what the church should do, minister in his name. It is shameful that so few pastors know how to come before the altar with their parishioners, hear their confession, lay hands on them in the name of Jesus, and set them free. That is what the church needs, clergy and laity who work together to do these things.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
June, 1994.
