Monday, August 17, 2015

John 6:56

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Hands

Old and young, parents with children in tow, the sick and worried, the hope-filled and shattered whose jobs, health or relationships are falling apart.

They shuffle to the kneeler where I stand with nothing but my hands and prayer to offer. They come, wanting that word which will open their awareness to a healing love that will ignite hope and set them free from the worry that possesses them.

They all want the same thing … life. And I can give them … nothing.

Still they come because they believe in a Love that can touch, hold and protect them, and change their lives.

They believe …that Love is mediated by human hands and words in ways they cannot understand. And so do I.

So I lay hands on their heads and speak their hopes, praying back their fears with words of love, words that let them know that whatever the future holds, you … Holy One hold the future, and the Love you are will always be enough for us. Always.

Words of Spirit, words of Love, the Love that was and is and always will be. 

And Life happens. The Life you are opens up in our souls and flows through our smiles and tears, connecting our fears and hopes to the Great Love you are.

And we know: We are not alone. 

The Love you are is never a breath away but closer than our breath, and in the touching and speaking you awaken our spirits and we feel alive again with hope for the day.

There is more than nothing in my hands and the words I speak are not empty, but full ... of you.

These hands bear a Great Grace, an Immense Mercy not of my own creation but of the Spirit … who is the Life who fills every emptiness.

Pr. David L. Miller