Touchables

by Phiwa Langeni | published on Jul 13, 2026

Discussion Questions 

  1. Read God’s encouragement in Joshua 1:1-9; you can find it here. Then read the devotional below, “Touchables.” 
  1. Are you familiar with Dalit theology, as described in the devotional? What catches your attention about this perspective on God? 
  1. Have you been taught—directly or by inference—that there are places that displease God? 
  1. Where is God? Where is the “wherever you go” that you have not previously envisioned? 

Devotional 

[God spoke to Joshua, Nun’s son:] “I’ve commanded you to be brave and strong, haven’t I? Don’t be alarmed or terrified, because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9 (CEB) 

My mind bent as I sat in my first seminary elective, “Jesus around the World.” We were learning about how Dalit Christians in India—people designated “untouchable” by the caste system—understood who Jesus was and is. 

For them, the incarnation wasn’t some abstract topic for centuries of privileged philosophers or future theologians to debate from a safe distance. Jesus was born into poverty, among the marginalized, under an oppressive empire. He touched lepers. He ate with tax collectors and sex workers. He died a criminal’s death, his body handled by those society deemed unclean. 

I’d grown up with a Jesus who was more divine than human, more above than among. Unreachable. That day in class cracked my thinking and belief wide open. God doesn’t visit the margins. God chooses the margins. 

Dalit theology gifted me a Jesus who sweated and struggled and showed up in places I’d been taught displeased God. 

“Brave and strong” looks different from here. From the places we can’t escape. From the systems designed to keep certain people below the bottom. From the grief we’re still carrying. From the wounds we’re still tending. From the moments we wonder if we’ve been forgotten. 

Into that wondering, God speaks: “Wherever you go.” Already there before we arrive. Already present among those deemed unworthy, unsafe, unclean. Already in the places we were told God wouldn’t go. Already in the mess of being human. 

Prayer
Meet us there, God. Wherever there is. You’ve always been the source of our “brave and strong,” haven’t you?

Phiwa LangeniAbout the Author
Phiwa Langeni creatively invites others into transformational liminal spaces between what has been and what is yet to be. They currently serve as the Associate Conference Minister for Equipping Leaders in the Southern California Nevada Conference UCC.