As you read today's Pause for Prayer,
open your hands before you...
Open hands offer a good image of the three ancient Lenten exercises:
prayer, self-denial and serving the poor.
Lifting my open hands in prayer is a sign of praise...
simply sitting with open hands, palms up,
is a gesture of being open to receiving
what the Lord has to offer us in the prayer we offer him...
Hands emptied of food and drink (and just plain stuff)
are the hands of one who fasts:
hands emptied of tangible nourishment
in hope of feeding the heart's deepest hungers...
Hands reaching out are helping hands,
ready to serve the needs of neighbors,
particularly the needs of the poor...
Empty, open, outstretched hands are beggar's hands
and before our God, we are all beggars,
praying for and seeking the peace that only God can give...
Lent is a time for hands:
lifted in prayer,
emptied to be filled,
reaching to help...
Are these my hands this Lent?
Lent20
Tweet
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please THINK before you write
and PRAY before you think!