While I may see the good of using Hand sanitizer in a hospital, I have long been an opponent of the growing trend of having hand sanitizer on the Eucharist table. There's a great deal of practical and theological thought behind that statement (and a little bit of reading Julian of Norwich), and while I won't make this a platform for my "anti-hand sanitizer as the third element of communion" campaign, I will say that while I have nothing against the practice of cleanliness, the use of hand sanitizer as a part of communion is a deeply problematic symbolic act.
Symbols are important. Tom Wright wrote (and I paraphrase) that you can joke about a friend's nationality (provided you know them well enough) and you'll get a laugh, but see what happens when you try to burn their flag. Symbols speak of a deep and often unarticulated reality, and they say volumes about our identity.
The basis of my belief is the fact that we use hand sanitizer primarily because we're afraid of acquiring germs from one another. I know people want to be healthy, and they think that avoidance of all germs is the way to do so. I also know that well meaning pastors use hand sanitizer as a way to avoid passing germs in their congregations. Whether or not this actually works (the jury's still out on efficacy) the symbolic nature of the practice is the problem. Salvation is a messy business. It is blood and tears, dirt, sweat, and all manner of grime. God's singular act of redeeming humanity required incarnation, and we all know that being human is a dirty business. Hand sanitizer is a fundamental symbol of fear that in touching one another - in community - we may put ourselves at risk.
In this world, where we are afraid of one another. I think the church should look differently, and I especially think that the Eucharist should be marked by it's peculiarity. There is no place for such fear in a sacrament that is fundamentally about broken body and blood. About God's own self sacrifice to constitute a new community that is no longer afraid of one another, because they emulate that same deep love for one another, and for others. Life is messy as is Salvation. We must not live in fear off this mess.
If any of you have been in the hospital for an extended time, you might know that the normal method for hair washing of a patient who cannot leave bed is a cap of sorts that is supposed to shampoo and clean the patient's hair. It does nothing of the sort. In an attempt to minimize the mess, nothing is accomplished.
So Emily has been absolutely dying for someone to actually wash her hair, and Saturday night she got her wish when one of the CNAs came in to wash Emily's hair. She explained to me that the shampoo caps were useless, but she had another method for hair washing. This method I soon learned as I helped out, included copious amounts of towels and shampoo and a basin full of hot water that she carefully poured over Emily's hair, working it and sopping it up by hand until she had thoroughly washed all of the grime away. It was a full-on flood and there were prodigious amounts of water everywhere. We had to completely change the bed linens.
It was fantastic and Emily loved every second of it.
As she was washing Emily's hair, the nurse said "well, it's a mess, but it sure is worth it!" And I made note of that because I thought it was a fitting aphorism as an allegory for life in general, and our situation specifically. She may as well have said "life is a mess, but it sure is worth it." What she was doing was a prophetic symbol, declaring Emily's worth and the promise of wholeness.
There are many things that we've learned from all of this, but one of them is that it's no use living as if you're afraid to live. Everything is precious, and even something as simple as washing your hair can be a miracle.
Emily continues to improve slowly and by increments. Yesterday was tough, but even in the midst of that her breathing test improved to a -13. Over all she is improving. She is moving a bit more every day. Her hearing is clearer. Her smile is brighter. These too are symbols. They are miracles of promise, even amidst the mess.
