CHRIST IS ALIVE AMONG US!
Luke 24:36-49
Her followers call her "Amma" or Mother. This Indian holy woman is being compared to Mother Teresa as she works to change the world one hug at a time. She's embraced over 20 million people across the globe, and even cranky New Yorkers stand in line for hours to receive something they should expect to get at home.
Elizabeth Laird greets returning American soldiers not with a crisp salute or a formal greeting but with a hug. Known as the official Fort Hood Hug Lady, soldiers in camo gear tower over this tiny woman as they lean down, holding their assault rifles and bags to the side so they can receive the fullness of her welcome-home embrace.
In some hospitals, neonatal intensive care units use special volunteers who come in to hold long-term care babies whose families may live several hours away and are unable to visit them on a daily basis. Because human touch is vital to their early development, these volunteers provide the attention such babies desperately need.
Research shows that human beings require four hugs a day just to survive. Eight hugs per day maintain a strong, healthy emotional level, and we need twelve hugs per day to become better persons.
In our faith, physical touch sometimes accompanies prayers for healing. The laying on of hands is also used to bless people. Through human touch, God's favor and love as well as God's comfort and assurance is conveyed.
So, it is little wonder on the evening of that first Easter when Jesus, appearing to his disciples and finding them afraid and in distress, invited them to touch his now glorified and and imperishable physical body. He even asked for food so he could prove he was not a ghost or a vision but the living, risen Christ. Here was the physical "see-me-touch-me" proof that all he had told them, all that the prophets had foretold, had been fulfilled. He assured them that, as promised, the gift of the Holy Spirit was coming.
Even though Christ would ascend to the Father, he would be present with them and in them through the Spirit. Through the Spirit, believers would be united in the church, the body of Christ to become the the physical presence of Christ in the world.
We may experience the love of God and the presence of Christ with us in a spiritual way, but often, Christ is shared with us through the actions of other people with a hug, a thoughtful note or phone call, a visit or words of prayer during a trying time.
I remember the loving kindness of the women from my church who came to sit with me after a miscarriage and the prayers of my women's circle after I was told I might have cancer.
As the body of Christ, we touch many people's lives in real, physical ways through bags of groceries and baskets of food; hats, scarves, mittens and snow pants; diapers, school supplies, blankets and wash cloths, heifers and wells; flood clean-up supplies, hammers and nails, and roofing supplies.
We are the hands and feet of Christ in Japan, Africa and Haiti. We bring Christ to those who are trying to put their lives back together in the aftermath of floods, tornadoes, wild-fires and hurricanes.
We are the living, physical presence of Christ in the workplace, at school, at the local gas station and in the town square.
As much as people need human touch, they need the touch of Christ even more.
Christ is alive and among us.
Christ is alive and in us.
Christ is alive and calls believers to be his body.
Christ is alive and sends us out to make a difference in the world, one tender, life-bringing, loving touch at a time.
Her followers call her "Amma" or Mother. This Indian holy woman is being compared to Mother Teresa as she works to change the world one hug at a time. She's embraced over 20 million people across the globe, and even cranky New Yorkers stand in line for hours to receive something they should expect to get at home.
Elizabeth Laird greets returning American soldiers not with a crisp salute or a formal greeting but with a hug. Known as the official Fort Hood Hug Lady, soldiers in camo gear tower over this tiny woman as they lean down, holding their assault rifles and bags to the side so they can receive the fullness of her welcome-home embrace.
In some hospitals, neonatal intensive care units use special volunteers who come in to hold long-term care babies whose families may live several hours away and are unable to visit them on a daily basis. Because human touch is vital to their early development, these volunteers provide the attention such babies desperately need.
Research shows that human beings require four hugs a day just to survive. Eight hugs per day maintain a strong, healthy emotional level, and we need twelve hugs per day to become better persons.
In our faith, physical touch sometimes accompanies prayers for healing. The laying on of hands is also used to bless people. Through human touch, God's favor and love as well as God's comfort and assurance is conveyed.
So, it is little wonder on the evening of that first Easter when Jesus, appearing to his disciples and finding them afraid and in distress, invited them to touch his now glorified and and imperishable physical body. He even asked for food so he could prove he was not a ghost or a vision but the living, risen Christ. Here was the physical "see-me-touch-me" proof that all he had told them, all that the prophets had foretold, had been fulfilled. He assured them that, as promised, the gift of the Holy Spirit was coming.
Even though Christ would ascend to the Father, he would be present with them and in them through the Spirit. Through the Spirit, believers would be united in the church, the body of Christ to become the the physical presence of Christ in the world.
We may experience the love of God and the presence of Christ with us in a spiritual way, but often, Christ is shared with us through the actions of other people with a hug, a thoughtful note or phone call, a visit or words of prayer during a trying time.
I remember the loving kindness of the women from my church who came to sit with me after a miscarriage and the prayers of my women's circle after I was told I might have cancer.
As the body of Christ, we touch many people's lives in real, physical ways through bags of groceries and baskets of food; hats, scarves, mittens and snow pants; diapers, school supplies, blankets and wash cloths, heifers and wells; flood clean-up supplies, hammers and nails, and roofing supplies.
We are the hands and feet of Christ in Japan, Africa and Haiti. We bring Christ to those who are trying to put their lives back together in the aftermath of floods, tornadoes, wild-fires and hurricanes.
We are the living, physical presence of Christ in the workplace, at school, at the local gas station and in the town square.
As much as people need human touch, they need the touch of Christ even more.
Christ is alive and among us.
Christ is alive and in us.
Christ is alive and calls believers to be his body.
Christ is alive and sends us out to make a difference in the world, one tender, life-bringing, loving touch at a time.
Comments
Post a Comment