Pause with me a moment

to ponder the God who slips into skin,

human skin, skin stretched over flesh

over bones, over a beating heart, fleeting heart,

a God who comes close and touches…

skin on skin, heart to heart touches…

a God who embraces, you, who embraces me…

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This is the God we worship, the God we adore,

this is the God who did not hold back

but entered our reality,

our frail humanity

to reveal more of himself, of herself,

who reminds us what love is,

reaching out across boundaries to

touch those declared unclean, unworthy, unwanted

and challenges us to do the same….

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How many times have you withdrawn from touch?

How many times have you felt unlovable?

How many times have you cried “I am not enough”?

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How many times have you named others in the same way?

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God comes in skin today,

in your friend, your neighbour, your enemy

God in skin,

reaching across boundaries

neither Jew or Greek, neither male or female,

not one unloved,

not one excluded…

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God slips on skin,

and bleeds

life into our lives

heartbeat to heartbeat…

God slips on skin today,

your skin and mine….