Vince writes and asks this, hello Pastor John, I'm a farmer here in Indiana and I have

greatly enjoyed your app while I put in long hours and bringing in the harvest.

That's wonderful to hear.

Would you comment on Paul's encouragement that New Testament churches greet one another

with a holy kiss?

Romans 16, 16, 1 Corinthians 16, 20, 2 Corinthians 13, 12, and 1 Thessalonians 5, 26.

It may have been a cultural practice of the day, but even if the practice has passed away,

is there any contemporary relevance for us today to take out of it?

So yes, Paul, four times tells the church the Romans,

Corinthians, Thessalonians, to greet one another with a holy kiss.

And Peter says to greet one another with kiss of love.

And I would say that has at least three implications for us.

First, let's do it.

I mean, even if the hug and the handshake today in my culture,

more common among Christians in the West, as I know them,

at least it seems to me that we don't have to be resistant to learning something from other

cultures and places and times, we might do well to broaden our possible expressions of affection.

It doesn't seem to me that Paul and Peter tell the church to greet one another with a holy kiss,

meaning you dare not even see one another without kissing one another.

It's not that kind of rule.

You know, like if you walk out of this room while we're having tea and you walk back into the room,

I need to greet you with a kiss.

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