I saw lots of hands in worship yesterday. Hands shaking in passing the Peace of Christ. Hands holding hymnals and bulletins to sing and speak and pray. Hands holding a cookie jar for a children’s message about forgiveness. Hands scooping and dribbling water for baptism. Hands holding a baby. Hands passing and receiving communion. A hand reaching from the pew behind me to take my little communion cup.
Hands dropping pledge cards into baskets. Hands playing the piano and conducting the choir. Hands turning the page in proclaiming the Word. Hands holding a microphone to share thankfulness around the circle for our church community.
My favorite hand of all though came from a 4 (and a half!) year old sitting on the floor among the other children during the baptism. Who, after catching my eye, gave me a sweet little wave. And I waved back. He knows me!
My heart breaks for the people of First Baptist Church and surrounding community of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Church should be a safe place. For everyone.
Paula, what a GREAT idea! It was a googled image. :)
Donna, I will ask the person who gave that message to write something up. Can you email me (lizperraud (at) genonministries.org) and I’ll send it to you?
I don’t know where you got the picture of the hands but how cool would it be to do a “puppet production” of some Biblical stories. Especially the Epistle texts like Romans 12, or Ephesians 4. We could paint the hands in Sunday school and the with a simple curtain, we could share the text. Each person would only have to catch their lines and the text was read.
Liz – would love to hear the forgiveness message with the cookie jar. Is the service you were at recorded? Or would they share the message?