1 Thessalonians 5:26

Paul — the apostle who founded many early Christian churches and wrote much of the New Testament — closes his letter to the church in Thessalonica, a city in ancient Greece, with a series of short, practical instructions. One of them is this: greet each other with a 'holy kiss.' In the ancient Mediterranean world, kissing on the cheek was a common everyday greeting between close friends and family — nothing unusual about it. Paul takes that familiar cultural custom and puts the word 'holy' in front of it, meaning the greeting should be genuine, warm, and rooted in Christian love rather than mere social habit. He's calling the church to be a real community where people actually welcome one another with warmth, not cold formality or polite distance.

Lord, forgive me for the times I've been present in body but absent in warmth. Help me to actually see the people around me — to greet them with something real, not habit or obligation. Make my love for others less polished and more genuine. Amen.

There's a quiet temptation in church life to treat connection like a box to check — show up, nod at a few people, slip out before the last song ends. Paul had something messier and warmer in mind. The 'holy kiss' wasn't a liturgical ceremony; it was the ordinary greeting of the ancient world given a sacred purpose. He was saying: let your affection for each other be real. Let people actually feel it when you walk in the room. You probably don't need to start kissing people at church (please don't, without asking). But the spirit of this verse might ask you something harder: Are you actually present with the people around you? Do the people in your community know you're genuinely glad they exist — not just on Sunday mornings, but on a Wednesday when someone needs a call? Warmth is a spiritual practice, not just a personality trait. The most ordinary acts of welcome — a remembered name, a real hug, a text that says 'I was thinking of you' — can carry more grace than you realize.