The holy hugs and handshakes that feature in our church’s weekly passing of the peace are, admittedly, a bit tamer than the “holy kiss” the apostles encouraged believers to extend to one another (2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Pet. 5:14), but they still reflect our physical embodiment in a way that online prayer meetings, texts, and other socially distanced forms of communication and/or spiritual encouragement do not. 

My wife and I were watching a program on Netflix the other night (I won’t say what it was; it’s too embarrassing). I was struck by my own reaction, while watching the program, to the interaction between characters on the screen. I flinched every time two characters shook hands, or brushed shoulders, or stood in close proximity to one another. I kept looking at all the hard surfaces in the sets—for example, the President’s desk in the Oval Office (have I given too much away?)—and wondering when they were last disinfected, especially when both President Kirkman and Vice President MacLeish were touching those surfaces.

It’s incredible how quickly we as individuals and as a society adapt to new social norms, or disparage those who don’t adapt quickly enough. It makes me wonder if the old norms for social interaction will ever return. I certainly hope they do; the current norms strike me as a triumph for the dualistic heresies of old that disparaged the human body and reduced every human being, in the final analysis, to some immaterial element that would eventually shed its corporeal cage and bask eternally in ethereal light.

I much prefer Christianity’s teaching that our bodies are integral to our identity and, as such, are fundamentally good. After all, our bodies will be resurrected and glorified and exist forever. I likewise prefer the social interactions that flow from such an understanding, both in the secular and the sacred spheres. The holy hugs and handshakes that feature in our church’s weekly passing of the peace are, admittedly, a bit tamer than the “holy kiss” the apostles encouraged believers to extend to one another (2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Pet. 5:14), but they still reflect our physical embodiment in a way that online prayer meetings, texts, and other socially distanced forms of communication and/or spiritual encouragement do not.

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