No Hands But Ours

It’s an old story with a modern twist.  At the Christ the King Catholic Church in San Diego, California, there is a statue of Jesus with his hands missing.  Vandals broke them off in the mid 1980’s.

 

Rather than have the statue repaired, the pastor chose to put a plaque at the base that reads, “I have no hands but yours.”  A reminder of the fact that Jesus entrusted the mission of making disciples to each of us.  We are to “go into all the world.”  We are to share the “good news” of the gospel with our neighbors. The apostle Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Romans. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

 

In a few weeks we are collectively as a church going to make a concerted effort to be the hands and feet of Jesus as we begin the “50Day Parkway Challenge”.  For a little over 7 weeks we are going to be looking for creative and practical ways to reflect the love of Christ to our community.  I hope you are planning to get involved.  You’ll be hearing more about this in the next few weeks.

 

There is a poem attributed to a sixteenth century num by the name of Teresa of Avila that goes like this:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the eyes, you are his body,

Christ has nobody now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world.

Christ has nobody now on earth but yours.

 

Let’s be the body of Christ this week!  Let’s reflect His love, His compassion and His concern to a needy world!

 

Have a great day!

Pastor Barry