Hand Sanitizer as Worship

We do some of the same things in worship that we do in the rest of our lives.

We listen to music and sing songs both in church and out. We eat together both when we take communion and when we have lunch with our friends. We sometimes listen to sermons and we sometimes listen to stand-up comedians or political speeches which, on the surface are all somewhat similar. We greet each other at work or in the community and we sometimes greet each other as part of our worship service.

We do these things in worship as a way of reminding ourselves that our daily lives can be transformed by the presence of Christ among us. Those reminders aren't limited to the worship service itself. A lot of the relationship-building work of the congregation happens as we go through some of our rituals outside of the worship service – for example, the conversations we have as we hang up our jackets, visiting after the service, or as we eat together during a potluck meal.

In recent months we have not been able to do some of those ritual ways of recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in faith because of public health orders. It feels like a loss to not sit close together, sing together, hug, shake hands, and eat together. But there are new things that have started recently and quickly become a routine part of our lives inside and outside of church. We can claim these things and draw them into our worship in the same way as we have done with singing or listening to a speech.

The new habit that can help us in worship that I'd like to consider today is using hand sanitizer. We're asked to do it all the time now – in stores, restaurants, the doctor's office, and at church. It's a simple practical action that takes only a few seconds. It's the same no matter where it happens. We step in the door, squirt some sanitizer on our hands, and stand there for a few seconds rubbing the gel or spray between our fingers while we look around trying to decide where to go first.

When we do this in church, it's slightly different in that our ushers usually hold the spray bottle, we hold out our hands, they spray some sanitizer on, and we rub it in with a process that for many people looks a lot like prayer. You don't have to think about it very long to see the potential for Christian interpretation. As we come in the door for worship we hold out our hands to somebody else who offers cleansing. They don't cleanse our hands, they just offer the means of getting it done. The person who offers hand cleanser isn't in authority over us and we are not in authority over them – they are our brothers and sisters in faith. It's very much the same symbolic process as foot-washing except that we do it before the worship service instead of after. As we come in for worship we are offered and receive cleansing. There's nothing magical or mysterious about hand sanitizer any more than there is about grape juice and a cracker or singing a song. But we can, if we choose, use it as a reminder of God's presence during a time in which some of the usual reminders are not available.