The Laying on of Hands

Yesterday we celebrated the calling of two new deacons at our church.

I have participated in a lot of laying on of hands ceremonies over the years and for the most part pretty much considered the whole thing as a merely symbolic act. We Baptists are inherently skeptical of rites and ceremony. That's why we have "ordinances" instead of "sacraments". Because we would rather be safe than sorry, we tend to stay well clear of what we see as a fine line between holy acts and "empty rituals".

But yesterday, as I held my hands upon the shoulders of our new deacons, I realized that my hands were more than just outward symbols of an inward blessing. I was literally trying to bless these two with my hands. The best way I can describe what I was feeling is to remember the movie Ghost, when that Patrick Sweazy character was trying to learn how to move things with his mind. The trick, he was learning, was to put all of one's self into the object.

That's what I was doing yesterday. I looked up and realized that my fingers were buried into flesh, and all of my physical and spiritual being - heart, and soul, and mind, - was surging through these 10 points of contact. I was trying literally to squeeze the Holy Spirit out of my fingertips into these new deacons.

And, I believe, the whole apostolic communion of saints, were squeezing with me.

Blessings.