Power of Touch

These days, church is weird.

We have started back as one service. We are under the 50% occupancy rule. No choir. No offering. Extra cleaning. Marked off sections for our seniors. Spread out. No invitation at the end. Like I said, weird.

Limited singing. And a sermon. Prayer. Pretty much it.

No touch rules are in effect. That means no hand shakes, no high fives, and especially – no hugs.

But it’s also a bit … cold. This is not a reflection on our worship or how I know we are praising God and hearing from His Word. But it is a reflection on the human connection factor.

Can you imagine the early church – “Okay Marcus, thanks for coming. Did you bring your mask? Oops, you’ll need one. Welcome Lydia. Please, no greeting with holy kisses for three months. And Silas, stop passing out your copies of Paul’s newest letter. You don’t know who’s touched those.”

So, today’s worship. We walk out in shifts to avoid getting too crowded at the door. We wave but rarely really connect. And once music and services are done, on come the masks which prohibit smiles and warmth to be seen.

If your love language is touch, you’re just finding this really hard.

You see, touch is important. Meaningful touch is seen as an integral part of giving one a true blessing … Abe to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to his kids, and especially Jesus all through his ministry – sick, outcast, shunned, and children. He touched people.

So a worship that prohibits touch is out of sync in some ways.

avoiding healthy, appropriate meaningful touch sacrifices physical and emotional health in our lives and the lives of our loved ones

john trent

True, I’m not a hugger. And I might even ridicule those who try to hug me. So be warned. But I miss the connection we’ve ostracized. I don’t know how to really move past this or how to overcome this in this day and time. But we need to do something.

For now, I can at least hug my wife. She hasn’t mandated that as illegal yet.

Is there someone out there with an idea? Can you share with the rest of the class how you have over come this? How do we connect physically in a time where touching is seen as anathema?

I welcome your wisdom.

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For a pretty good article by John Trent, church this out.