Greet One Another

it does involve meaningful touch

Most of us are wondering when life will get back to normal. When will we go back to school, to our jobs, to the movies, to a restaurant, to church? Some people are talking about a “new normal,” and a “society transformed by this pandemic.” That is possible I suppose.

President Trump once suggested we might not go back to shaking hands. Me, I am going to go back to touching people as soon as possible, but not in the creepy kind of way that sounded.

For good reasons too.

It is commanded. “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” Paul wrote. In the west, we’ve substituted the handshake and hug for the kiss, but the point still stands. Some form of physical contact is good and right. God wired us that way.

Being touchy-feely is not my natural bent. I had to grow into being more affectionate. Years ago, when someone visited a church I pastored and commented to a church member that they thought I was cold and distant, I realized I needed to work on changing.  I’m still not and never will be the life of the party. But by God’s grace, I’m not that cold, distant, aloof guy I was once either.

People need to be loved and one of the ways we experience love is through a greeting that is warm and inviting. That can’t happen with a nod of the head from six feet away. It just can’t.

“But you’ll get other people’s germs on you!” Yep. I’ll do better at hand washing and face touching (don’t). I’ll probably make more frequent use of hand sanitizer if it is ever available for purchase again. But I have managed to survive almost 60 years of other people’s germs. Sure, some people have made me sick. Heck, I’m pretty sure my grandkids make me sick once a month.

I refuse, though, to become Bubble Boy. Let me take liberties with what C.S. Lewis once wrote:

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and you could get sick or even die. If you want to be certain of your safety, don’t give yourself to anyone, not even an animal. Lock yourself in your house with your TV and hobbies and avoid at all costs any personal contact. Lock your heart up safe in a coffin or casket of self-preservation. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

(Here is what Lewis wrote: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”)