Emmanuel: God With Us, Through The Laying On Of Hands

Dear Friends,

On November 29 I wrote that there would be a shift in the blog format for Advent, and that I would be blogging on traditional Advent readings instead of blogging on the Sunday sermons. That was the original plan. And that is what I did last week.

But, God... Yesterday in both services, God presented Himself powerfully as Emmanuel: God with us. And I really can't keep yesterday's sermon to myself: I would be doing God, and you, a great disservice if I doggedly cling to the "original plan". So, for this week, I'll be sharing portions of Sunday's sermon. And I think we will all benefit from this discussion of Advent through the lens of expecting God to be with us in various ways: not just as a retrospective of what happened in past millenia, but as a living active element of our lives today.

During the earlier Back To Basics blogs I presented a list of things considered "basic" to our faith (see Hebrews 5:11 through 6:12) which Pastor Sam has been unpacking:

Repentance from works that lead to death;
Faith towards God;
Instructions on baptisms;
The laying on of hands;
The resurrection of the dead;
Eternal judgement.

Yesterday Pastor Sam preached on the fourth topic, "the laying on of hands". Sometimes we relegate this topic to the sidelines as something supernatural, sensational, or superfluous. But, according to the Hebrews passage, this is a natural, normal, and necessary component of the Christian community. I'll say it again plainly: THE LAYING ON OF HANDS IS BASIC. It is one of the things we all engage in as part and parcel of our faith.

A second misunderstanding is that the laying on of hands is relegated to the ministry of physical healing. That is part of the picture, but the laying on of hands is more than just a means of healing. As we go through this week, we'll dive into Scripture and see the ways in which the laying on of hands functions in Christian community.

I hope you have your SCUBA gear, because we'll be diving deep!