🎵 We All Need,
The Human Touch,
I-I need it,
The Human Touch…🎵
These sage, poetic words from 80’s rock n’ roll theologian Rick Springfield seem apropos at the moment. I’ve tried to work them into a sermon for quite some time, especially the line that, “You know I’ve got my walls, Sally calls them prison cells.”
Utterly Profound. Sublime I would say. Tom Waits, on his best day, couldn’t write that line.
I’m kidding of course, though I do have a nostalgic love for this song (here's your chance to love it too!) and in a cheesy 80’s way these words, put to new wave, radio-friendly dance pop, summarize what most of us are feeling right now – the absence of almost all forms of human touch that we used to take for granted: hugs between friends, a reassuring arm around the shoulder, even a handshake or fist bump!
I’m an incurable introvert, and yet I’ve missed being in the same room with friends – especially all of you. At times over the last few weeks I’ve even missed the company of strangers that I encounter at a coffee shop or crowded bus in more normal times.
None of this has anything to do with our sermon topic tomorrow, and yet everything to do with why we continue to gather as a community at the same time every Sunday morning just as we did during those quaint, seemingly ancient days before Covid-19.
We need human companionship. God himself tells us in the creation account in Genesis that he has intentionally created us to need MORE than just him; we need each other in order to feel and to be completely human.
We need to be in proximity, even if it’s through a computer screen to trusted friends and comrades.
And, when the world feels in complete disarray – metaphorically or during the time of a real global pandemic – we need structures and routines that root us to that which we know will outlast the disruption.
That’s what church is, or at least, that’s what it’s designed to be. And, that’s what Intown aspires to be as well. And, my hope is that these Zoom liturgies, these virtual gatherings might give us a sense of how God has determined to meet our needs of friendship and love through the church community.
I hope the faces on your laptop or phone convey to you that you are loved and valued and not alone during all of this. While Zoom lacks the visceral quality that being in the same room has, seeing each of your slightly pixelated faces every week has been a lifeline for me and I hope it has been to you as well.
Pastor Brian