Pastor's Weekly Word

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

I recently read about a gallery in Taos, New Mexico by photographer Lenny Foster. In it there is a showcase called the Healing Hands project. It is a collection of photographs of people’s hands, all kinds of people, all kinds of hands. Some of them are cracked and rough, others soft and supple. There are clean hands, dirty hands, large hands, small hands. Stacy Smith, former editor of Church Health Reader and a personal friend of mine, interviewed Foster about the project.

“You seem to find healing hands everywhere,” she said, “from Senegal to Roman Catholic healers to a little girl at the store. How do you spot healing hands?”

“All of us have them,” he replied, “you in what you do, me in what I do. I think the project helps people to recognize that in ourselves and in others. What really interests me, though, is the people who come to the gallery. I get people from academia to traditional healers to just every day folk. [They all seem to] sense the spirit in the different images. That’s the one thing – no matter what our backgrounds are, we can all understand and come together in healing.”

I haven’t been to the gallery, but just from the pictures in the magazine, I feel a tug on my heart to go. I think it would be moving to see so many different hands in one place, all holding on in some way, all grasping for something full and whole, all healing. Whether I go or not, it reminds of the hands of people around us. Take some time to notice what they are up to, their hands, my hands, your hands, hard at work. Look at them. Take a long hard look, for in them, and this is true, in them reside the healing hands of Christ.