nine::seventeen

(A Homily)

"Lift up your hands." Why? What causes us to put our hands in the air. For some, a fist in the air is a symbol of defiance. A rapper may want us to not think about the words he's saying, so he tells us to put our hands in the air. For some, it happens in a moment of fear. The world over, soldiers and police officers point their guns in others faces, bullets and powers in their faces, and hands reach for the heavens. Folks in churches (not one I've been in for a while) put their hands in the air when singing. Sometimes, I consider throwing my hands in the air and moving to a cabin in the woods.

What kind of hands in the air are Paul and the Psalmist telling us of this morning? They are holy hands and they are hands lifted toward God's shrine. They are hands not lifted in anger or argument, but perhaps out of sadness, certainly in humility. They are hands connect to our deepest being, for they cannot say to the heart, "I don't need you." They are hands sent out with a knowledge of our unworthiness, like the Centurion sending synagogue leaders to Jesus. "Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but only say the word and your servant will be healed."

Now, what are we to do with our hands? Shall we put them in the air in an easily marketed worship pose? Shall we put fists in the air in defiance of something, again, a pose easily marketed? No, there's something about these hands of ours. They're qualified as being holy, as reaching toward something holy. "Only say the word and you servant shall be healed." The word of God, hearing the word of God, leads us toward holiness. Reaching out toward God makes our hands holy. Not some greedy reach, but a humble reach. A reach of faith, not of fear, a surrender of the whole self, not a quivering before the guns of the powers. Hands trained by mercy. Cleansed hands. Hands that lift the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, to the friend and the enemy and the stranger. The hands that offer up that deepest being to God.

Lift up your hands. Lift up your hearts. Lift up your very self to the Lord.

(1 Timothy 2:1-8, Psalm 28, Luke 7:1-10)