FROM REV. CHARLIE SHOOK...
"Walking Together"
Lois and I recently enjoyed massages, the kind you pay for. An hour spent on a padded table leaves you feeling younger in body and brighter in spirit. There is a sense of healing and renewal.
The cost includes giving up your modesty, at least for a little while. The best results come when one exchanges one’s clothing for a thin sheet. That in turn can be easily moved, so that skilled hands can find the pain and stress that have plagued our bodies for too long.
In Biblical terms, the massage recreates an ancient and redemptive practice, the laying on of hands to impart healing and blessing from one person to another. Jesus used it again and again.
For all of its relaxing qualities, my recent massage was surrounded by a kind of tension, a measure of chaos. Alone in my waiting area, I was comfortably seated. My posh, elegant robe would have made King David smile. But my designated therapist failed to arrive. Instead, all these other “green jackets” kept showing up, calling out strange names that did not belong to me. Finally, the name calling and the chaos took a Biblical turn. “Noah!” “Abraham!” Had someone figured out that I was an old preacher? Was someone poking fun at me?
Mercifully, my masseur then arrived. But his introduction only deepened my prior question. “Hello, my name is Immanuel!”
I could not help myself. “Is there a Biblical connection?” “Yes” he answered. During my massage, he told me his story.
Immanuel’s mother had not married until she had passed 40. She had always wanted children, but now, in addition to her age, there were health issues. A thorough physical exam yielded a grim prediction. She must not become pregnant! Any future child would suffer early death or deformity.
The young man’s voice softened, as he spoke to me in our darkened room. His mother was deeply religious, he said, a woman of great faith. For months, she prayed. Finally, she received the greatest of gifts, a blessed assurance!
When a healthy son was delivered to her, the grateful mother turned to her Bible for a name. She found it in the Book of Isaiah. Perhaps, Handel’s majestic Messiah helped to guide her there. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us.”
In departing, I thanked Immanuel for his healing touch, his story, and his name with its glorious reminder that we never walk alone!
God Bless. Charlie
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