Touch someone near you in love if you can.

This is probably the most memorable part of this Jesus Movement song. It pretty quickly developed a penchant for touching people all around you while singing this line. Many of the youth groups that used this song turned this into a game. Each time the chorus approached the leader would call out a number and that was how many people you had to touch around you as you sang this line. Of course, each time the number would grow bigger until the last time he would shout out something like “23!” and sheer bedlam would ensue. Now maybe this is not exactly touching someone “in love,” but it sure did loosen up a group. Suddenly shoulders were no longer stiff, and people were hugging and chatting by the end of the song. It truly did do magic on a crowd and it recaptured the perspective rooted in love, togetherness and inclusivity. Besides, we need to be more playful and not take ourselves so seriously.

Touching is vital to any relationship. Jesus was always touching people, especially the “untouchables” like the lepers and the blind and the lame. He would grab them by the hand and lift them up on legs that were suddenly strong. He would touch the eyes of the blind, and the lepers were never touched by anyone except Jesus because when He touched them they were healed. Touch conveys emotional and physical comfort and connection. It’s not going too far too say that transformation can’t happen without touch.

Perhaps the most important part of this line is the last part, “if you can.” Not all of us can. Touch takes you out of yourself. As a result there are barriers to touching someone. Touching makes you vulnerable. It takes courage to overcome our fear and isolation and touch someone, and it take perhaps even more courage to be touched.

We just went through a horrible pandemic that isolated us from one another. We stood on our marked spot in line six feet from the one in front of us and six feet in front of the one behind. From there we couldn’t even reach the other person.  We pulled in like turtles. We got too used to being alone. Time to reignite the spirit of the Jesus Movement. Time for a renaissance in relationships. Time to touch someone near you in love if you can.