"Touching" the World

Sunday at our church we had a whole day focused on missions.  We heard from Harry and Bea Ward about their work in Togo, West Africa.  Phil and I were both impressed with all that they had accomplished in their 12 years in Togo.  Harry gave a challenge that touched every age group in the crowd to consider what God might be calling them to do.  It was excellent.

 

We heard from a young lady who had spent three years in China.  She let us know that there are awesome opportunities for short term workers on the mission field.  We also heard from Greg Bartley, who always speaks with such passion.  He represents SCORE International, which works taking teams of students to play and put on sports clinics around the world.

 

 

I was happy to be able to speak on behalf of Camp of the Woods.  John Cofield joined me in sharing our heart for the ministry in a remote part of Canada.  It was great to be able to share what God is doing in us and through us as we work at COTW.

All this reminds me of a passage I read in Dr. Paul Brand’s book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, which  I have mentioned before.   In it, Dr. Brand makes some insightful connections between our physical bodies and the body of Christ.  The passage I will share here has to do with our skin and our sense of touch.   He says, “The skin of the Body of Christ, is an organ of communication: our vehicle for expressing love.”  Then he goes on to deepen the analogy…

“…it saddens me that the only thread connecting millions of giving Christians to [the needy] world is the distant, frail medium of direct mail.  Ink stamped on paper, stories formula-edited to achieve the best results—there is no skin involved, no sense of touch.

“If I only express love vicariously through a check, I will miss the incredible richness of response that a tactile loving summons up.  Not all of us can serve in the Third World where human needs abound.  But all of us can visit prisoners, take meals to shut-ins, and minister to unwed mothers or foster children.  If we choose to love only in a long-distance way, WE will be deprived, for skin requires regular contact if it is to remain sensitive and responsive.

“Again, the best illustration of this truth is Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God living on this planet.  The book of Hebrews sums up his experience on earth by declaring that we now have a leader who can be TOUCHED with the feelings of our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).  God saw the need to come alongside us, not just love us at a distance.  How could a God who was spirit fully manifest love except through human flesh?  Jesus is said to have “learned obedience from what He suffered” (Heb.5:8).  A stupefying concept:  God’s Son learning through His experiences on the earth.  Before taking on a body, God had no personal experience of physical pain or of the effect of rubbing against a needy person.  But God dwelt among us and touched us, and Jesus’ time spent here allows him to more fully identify with our pain.

“The ideal, then, is to give love to someone you can touch—a neighbor, a relative, a needy person in your community…

“Touch can be second hand, both in the human body and in the church.  Touch corpuscles are located deep inside my skin, and the activities on the surface can indeed reverberate through other cells, conveying the sense of touch.  I give to India through medical workers at the leprosy hospital there [or Camp of the Woods, or Togo, etc.].  They apply my love in person, and I expect from them a sensitive report on the results of that love.  It is my responsibility to enter into their work by learning about them, reading their reports, and praying for them.  As I pray for those cells on the front lines, I sense their pain and struggle.  We can all keep contact with members of the Body overseas and use them as our own personal touch corpuscles.”

That’s what my Amazing Race is all about.  I want to TOUCH the ministries that I support around the world.  And then I want to bring word of that touch back to my church, to stir the hearts of our members and lead them to greater involvement in many places around the world.