A Tap on the Shoulder

By Bob Brown

When Mother Katie asked me if I would write one of these articles for News You Can Use, I quickly discovered why it is appropriately called “ramblings” because rambling is just what my thoughts began to do. Katie did suggest a focus of “encounters with the Divine” and that helped, but only a little.  

I’ve always thought of an encounter with the Divine as something like God tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention and it would take me pages and pages to try and recount all the times that has happened in my life. So, let me share just a few with the hopes that you will recall for yourself those times that God tapped you on the shoulder, got your attention, and  empowered you to move on with confidence and faith. God has often used other people or circumstances to tap me on the shoulder and I didn’t always recognize it at first but, eventually, I got the point. 

Early in my life, there were others who tapped me on my shoulder, but they were of God and my life was changed because of it. When my first grade Sunday School teacher, Miss Woolrich, used to pick me up every week and rock me in the big chair she used in our classroom and sing “Jesus Loves Me” to me, God was tapping me on the shoulder and I didn’t know it for what it was, but I remember! When Vic and Shirley Hazelwood, my youth counselors listened to my struggles as a teenager and offered kind advice, God was tapping me on the shoulder and it was real for me. When God tapped me on my shoulder and called me to follow Him as a minister of Word and Sacrament, it was a beloved Pastor, Dr. George Harrison that reminded me that through my doubts, God would show me the way and Dr. Harrison’s confirmation of God’s tap on my shoulder was just what I needed. 

When I met my future wife, God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “this is the one!” and I listened. All through my ministry with differing churches, God always found a way to tap me on the shoulder and get my attention. Sometimes by the quiet supporters, who never said much but you knew they cared. Sometimes by the bold ones who never hesitated to tell you what they thought and sometimes by those who didn’t know why God was using them to tap me on the shoulder, but who were faithful nonetheless.  

When June and I retired, we looked for several weeks for a church home where we could feel welcome and loved and when we finally visited Christ Church one Sunday, God tapped both of us on the shoulder and said, “this is it, listen to me!” The church immediately stepped up and reminded us what the family of God is all about when, soon after we arrived, we experienced a “wilderness” for us in the illness and 17 week hospitalization of our oldest grandson, Dylan. We heard from someone at Christ Church (even though we were in Houston) EVERY day of that journey and it reminded us of God’s ability to get our attention through the love and nurture provided by his children. 

Just a few weeks ago, June and I celebrated 50 years of marriage and because of the pandemic, it was a quiet (just the two of us) kind of day. We went out (first time in over a year) to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner and it was everything we hoped it would be. When we were finished and ready to pay our tab, our waitress (a good friend of many years) said to us, “your dessert this evening is on me and your meal has been paid for by one of your church friends.” She didn’t know their names and they were gone by then and so we don’t know their names either (and I don’t think they wanted us to know) but what a gracious and kind gesture on their part. It was like God tapped us on the shoulder one more time and said, “you are loved!” And we felt it. And, yes, God does work through others. Amen?

Here’s hoping you get to feel the tap of God on your shoulder often and that God can depend on you to do the tapping sometimes for others. And, thanks for letting me ramble a bit!

  In Christ’s love, 

The Rev. Dr. Robert W. (Bob) Brown