“I grew up in a cookie-cutter village where everybody spoke the same language; had the same color of hair and eyes and skin. And although we had a few congregations, we were of the same religious denomination. Then a family moved into our village. Everything about them was different, from their language down to their clothes. And rumor had it their eating habits were unusual.

“I will forever be grateful to Beatrice my Sunday School teacher. She taught us about the gift of diversity we found ourselves in, by holding out her hand and saying, ‘You see, the fingers of my hand are different in shape and size. In the same way we are all fingers in God’s hand.’ God’s world is a creation of different shapes, differing sizes, a whole lot of variety in tribes, color, culture and religion. Imagine if all I had were thumbs!"

The Rev. Grace Imathiu, Ph.D. Can. New Testament, Vanderbilt University was born in Kenya and is a United Methodist Pastor.

May our prayers this week be that our hands and heads and hearts join with the hands and hearts and heads of all the people of all the tribes and of all the colors, of all the cultures and all the religions who touch our lives so that we may work together to offer hope and healing to all who come to this place. May we work together to hold and heal them gently in the palm of our hand so that in our work we may truly be the fingers in God’s hand. Amen.