God’s Hands

Email Devotion

Christ The King Sunday

The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. (John 3:35)

 

We lay our hands on the casket and hear the words spoken, “Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant.

I lay my hands on the two hands clasped in front of me and speak these words, “By their promises before God and in the presence of this congregation, our bride and groom have bound themselves to one another as husband and wife.”

I place my hand on the tiny hand of a small child, who is standing at the communion rail awaiting a blessings and say, “May God the Father, Son and Spirit bless to in this family, and in your family as a well.”

I stand at one of the sanctuary doors greeting people as they leave church, and one person grabs my hand firmly and says, “What a blessing to be here today.  That was a beautiful service and moving service today.”

We live in a world that at times prohibits any human touch with another person, because of some who cannot maintain the practice of healthy and appropriate human physical contact.  It is a necessary boundary, but one that has resulted in a great loss … namely the blessing of the touch of another’s hand that communicates being cradled in the hand of God.  If you would do a word search in the Bible, you would find the word “hands” showing up almost 600 times.  Many speak of actions taken by the human characters on the God’s stage of life.  But some reveal God’s desire to bless our lives through the touch of God’s hands of blessing.

Have you felt the hand of God upon your life recently, I wonder?  Has it come to you through a dream or a prayer … through a potent sacramental act that has touched your life or the life of someone you love … through the touch of a companion through whom God chose to work for the good in your life?  Has it come to you in a reflexive experience, when you were the one reaching out to another in the name of Jesus, and found that what you extended to another, returned to you ten-fold?

God’s holy touch upon our lives is something we often think of in symbolic and analytic terms.  We know it happens and we are grateful for a God who remains connected to the world that God has fashioned.  Maybe in your prayer life this week, you can pray for sensitive spiritual skin, that is open to the touch of God’s hand upon your life.

 

 

 

 

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Rev. Craig Ross

Senior Pastor

The vibrancy of life here at St. Peter’s makes my service on our staff a joy and privilege. Visitation, teaching and preaching are the ministries that feed my pastoral identity, as together our staff and lay members share in our missional calling … Building a community of faith by God’s grace.

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