Reach Out and Touch...

 

I read a story a couple of months ago about a man who was in Africa on a mission trip with World Vision.  One of the places they went was an orphanage in a small village in Tanzania.   There were hundreds of children in this orphanage that had a meal  that evening for days to come thanks to the gift of food from World Vision.   While they were in the process of giving food to the people of this village, the man telling the story picked up a small child and held him in his left arm while he gave food away with his left hand.   When the man took the child in his arm, the young child began to cry and continued to do so  despite the best efforts of the man to comfort and console the child.   After a bit, the many put the child down thinking that perhaps the child was frightened and did not want to be held.   Yet, the child continued to cry even when the man telling the story put the child down.  “Why”, the man asked.   He asked one of the workers at the orphanage why the child cried when he picked him up and continued to cry even when he put him down.   The orphanage worker replied,   “The reason why the child cried when you held him and even put him down is because he is not held very often.   That child was moved by your touch.”   You might have heard of the man that tells that story.  His name?  The late Alex Trebek, long time host of the television show “Jeopardy”.  

“Who touched me?”.   Jesus asks that question in Matthew 5 when he realizes he has been touched as he made his way through a crowd one day.   As we read the story, we hear of a woman who had dealt with a flow of flood for 12 years.   While it would be difficult to deal with any illness or malady for over a decade, her condition in her day and faith community meant that she was banished from religious and social life in her community.  People in her community saw this woman as “unclean”.   One day, Jesus comes that way and as he makes his way through a crowd of people she reaches out to touch him and is healed. 

“Reach out and touch somebody’s hand, make this world a better place if you can”.   Those are words to a song that Diana Ross sang many years ago.  Those words are as true now as they were 50 years ago.   All of us  yearn to touch and to be touched.   There is something healing and therapeutic about the touch of someone else.   Human touch might not heal our bodies, but they often heal our hearts and souls.   I lament that the COVID 19 pandemic has meant that so many people (especially those who live alone or in nursing homes or rest homes) have been been starved of human touch from friends and family. 

There are so many people today that yearn to be touched.   While that young child held by Alex Trebek cried tears that could be seen and whimpers that could be heard, there are so many people that cry tears that are only known in their heart and soul.   “Reach out and touch….”.   Reach out and touch in a world that is filled with people who yearn for the healing that can found as the great Physician, Christ Jesus, works even through you.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER   O God, thank you for the way that you have, you are, and will touch my heart, mind, body, and soul.   As you have touched, me, O Lord, use me  as your instrument  to touch others; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen