I appreciate that Platt Park Church has a livestream so when any of us has to miss an in-person worship service we can still feel connected to the church body and the thread of our worship and teaching. But there is nothing like physically attending a worship service.
One morning last week I wrote only a few words in my prayer journal: My heart hurts. Lament.
The pain in our world felt overwhelming.
I decided that rather than watching the livestream Sunday morning, I would attend Mass with my daughter and her family. I needed to be with flesh-and-blood people, leaning into Jesus.
While I was sweetly distracted by a wiggly granddaughter, and at times flipping through the liturgy to find the right response, I asked God to give me something to hold onto through the worship. And he did.
The hymn we sang was unfamiliar to me, but I lingered over it and re-read the words, while the liturgy moved on to something else:
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours.
Here on this earth yours is the work,
to serve with the joy of compassion.
No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,
No hands but yours to soothe all its suff’ring,
No touch but yours to bind the broken hope of the people of God.
I noticed that the words were attributed to St. Teresa of Avila, and later I looked up the whole poem.
As I pondered these words, I also realized that this truth aligned with our journey in Acts, as we are seeing the unfolding of the work of the people of God in the world. Jesus is now at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. And the Holy Spirit is in each of us who follow Jesus.
So these ancient words ring true today, that Christ has no body now but ours … to soothe suffering and bind the broken hope.
I look forward to being back at Platt Park for embodied worship next month, but meanwhile, I’ll be watching and listening for how I can be the body of Christ in my current surroundings. And I’ll watch the livestream to keep up with my church community.