Olivia Moorhead Preaching

      “Touch me”, Jesus commands his disciples. “Touch me and see.” But what does it mean to touch Jesus? Is it simply to be taken at face value? That the disciples merely reached out and felt the tangible, solid flesh and bones that was Jesus Christ? Or does it mean more than that? Was Jesus not just speaking to those closest to him in proximity, but to generations of Christians to follow? Jesus charges his disciples to feel the proof of God’s word before them and yet still they are disbelieving.
      In all honesty getting up here today to preach in front of all of you was not the easiest thing for me to do. You see, just like the disciples, in all of their joy and excitement at the manifestation of their risen Lord, I too felt the seeds of doubt. It’s been a long few weeks and in the aftermath of a devastating school shooting, the loss of a beautiful friend, and the news that I might soon lose another, that uncertainty seems to be more prominent than ever. It terrifies me because, at times like these it seems to me that the world is just spinning out of control and I begin to wonder if God has any power over our crazy lives, and I begin to grow afraid, I begin to doubt.
      The song sung by our choir this morning centers around the text from Mark, “Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief”. This passage reiterates Jesus’ message to his disciples in our scripture today with perfect clarity and affirmation; by reassuring us that in feeling doubtful and in experiencing those moments of “unbelief” this does not make us non-believers. In fact, it is the very thing that makes us witnesses. It is this doubt that brings us closer together as the body of Christ, to reaffirm our faith with one another. We do not stand today in this sanctuary alone in our uncertainty and there is no one in this place free from doubt. Doubt is what makes us human and unbelief is our greatest burden as believers in Christ. It is in all of us, even in the disciples who had the solid proof of Jesus’ resurrection and new life right in front of them.
      Which brings me back to my original question; what does it mean to touch Jesus? I think you and I already have the answer. I think that you coming here this morning, and opening up your hymnal and singing with one another, and greeting each other with handshakes and hugs and words of welcome and of friendship is exactly what it means to touch Christ. In reaching out to one another we bridge the gap that doubt creates in our hearts by coming together as the body of Christ and as a family.
      18 years ago I was baptized in to this very same church, at that baptismal fount right there by my own father. And I have to tell you that, from that moment on, any doubt I ever felt in my life, any disbelief I ever had, was null and void the second I walked in to this church. 18 years of junior and senior high fellowship, church choir, weekend retreats and mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Sunday school not only provided me with some of my closest, sweetest, and most understanding friends, but also with my second family. Because when I sit in the pews on Sunday mornings, when I walk up to the third floor for fellowship, when I come running in to choir a little late, when I stand side-by-side with my friends to offer up a song in memory of a beautiful woman with trembling lips and tear-stained faces I know what it means to touch Jesus. Jesus charges us all to reach out to one another and proclaim that we are stronger than doubt; that we are the one body of Christ, coming together to reaffirm our faith, in joy and in sorrow, in good times and in bad, in rejoicing, and in disbelief.
      So when you begin to doubt, when you start to feel a little unsure, look around you, look at the people in the pews beside you. This is Jesus. This is God. This is what it means to witnesses: to embrace this feeling, this place, these people…to see Jesus standing among us. This is what it means to touch Jesus. Thanks be to God.

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