Pewee Valley Presbyterian Church



Hands: A Guided Meditation

Psalm 90: 16-17

Throughout our book of scripture, the hands of the men and women we meet are used in virtually every way possible to communicate the human condition in light of our God. Hands are used to shield eyes from the Holy; they are opened in supplication and with appeals to the same; they bring condemnation, and; they offer mercy. They fight and tear and slap, even as they calm and mend and soothe.

The hands of Jesus are, or us, especially mystifying. For perhaps twenty years he worked in a small town carpenter shop and his rough, calloused hands were surely driven by excellence and patience even as they anticipated and expected results and successful product. And then he began to teach. His hands healed and shepherded. But they also overturned and rebuked. They blessed children and denounced hypocrites. They opened eyes and sheathed swords. And they were nailed to a tree …

And what about our own hands? Where have they been and where must they go? We’re going to consider that question more deeply and “experientially” this morning. The following reflection is not my own, that is, I didn’t write. I found a three page, double-spaced “guided meditation” in my sermon files a few years ago when I joined this congregation in ministry. I have no definite memory of where it came from. However, I trust that the thoughts that follow and the memories and direction they create are available to us all. So let us proceed …

Sit, erect, feet flat on the ground, eyes closed, your hands resting in your lap, palms up. Tune into your breathing. Relax the tension points in your body …

Become aware of the air at your fingertips, between your fingers, on the palm of your hand … Experience the fullness, strength and maturity of your hands … Think of the most unforgettable hands you have known: The hands of your mother, your father, your grandmother or grandparents, an aunt or an uncle, a dear friend … Remember the oldest hands that have rested in your hands … Think of the hands of a newborn child … your own child … or a nephew or niece, or a neighbor … of the incredible beauty, perfection, delicacy, in the hand of a child … Once upon a time your hands were the same size.

Think of all that your hands have done since then … Almost all that you have learned has been through your hands … turning yourself over, crawling and creeping, walking and balancing yourself; learning to hold something for the first time; feeding yourself, washing and bathing, dressing yourself … At one time, your greatest accomplishment was tying your own shoes … Think of all the learning your hands have done … the things they have learned: Remember the day you could write your own name? … The things they have made: Valentine’s cards for friends, an end table in woodworking class, a painting or piece of art, a house, perhaps, that became your home … Think of the activities they have mastered: instruments, machinery, typewriters, computer keyboards, remote controls, and text messaging!

Touch your fingertips to your thumb and experience the fullness, strength and maturity of your hands …

Our hands are not just for ourselves, but for others as well … How often they have given help to another … Remember all the kinds of work they have done, the tiredness and aching they have known … the cold and the heat, the soreness and the bruises … Remember the tears they have wiped away .. your own, or another’s … how much hurt, anger, even violence they have expressed … and how much gentleness, tenderness, and love they have given.

How often, for us, have they been folded in prayer? A sign of both their powerlessness and their power … Your elders – your father and mother, your grandparents, perhaps a great aunt – guided you in the great symbolic language of hands: reaching out to lead or be led, the handshake, clapping or clasping, the wave of the hand in “hello” or “goodbye.”

There is a mystery which we discover in the hands of a woman or the hand of a man that we love … There are the hands of a doctor, nurse, an artist, a conductor, or a minister, perhaps, which you can never forget …

Touch your fingertips to your thumb, and once again experience the fullness, strength and maturity of your hands … Now …

Slowly raise your right hand … and gently place it over your heart … (this is the part when I see who’s fallen asleep, yes?) … Slowly raise your right hand and gently place it over your heart … Press more firmly until your hand picks up the beat of your heart … that most mysterious of all human sounds … your own heartbeat … a rhythm learned in the womb from the heartbeat of your mother … Press more firmly for a moment … then release your hand and hold it just a fraction from your clothing … Experience the warmth between your hand and your heart … Now carefully lower your hand to your lap … very carefully, as if it were carrying your heart … for, indeed, it does … When you extend your hand to another, it is not just bone and skin, it is your heart you are offering … A handshake is the real heart transplant.

Think now of all the hands that have left their imprint on you … Fingerprints and hand prints are heart-prints that can never be erased … The hand has its own memory … Think of all the places that carry your hand-prints, and all the people that bear your heart-prints …They are indelible and will last forever.

Now finally, without opening your eyes, extend your hands on either side and find another hand … (the hardest part of all, the human touch) … Find the hand of the person next to you, both sides if you’re able … Do not simply hold it, but convey a message … friendship, love, concern ... Let your hand speak, and let it listen to the other … Express your gratitude for this hand outstretched to you in the darkness … and then … bring your hand back to your lap ...

Experience the presence of that hand lingering upon your hand … the after glow will fade … but the print is now there forever …

Whose hand was that? … Perhaps you know them well, but it could have been any hand … It could even have been the hand of our Lord … In fact … it was … for Jesus has no other hands in this world than ours … Touch your fingertips to your thumb, and one last time this morning, experience the fullness, strength and maturity of your hands. What have they done? And what must they do in the months ahead?

Let us pray …

O Lord, our God, we thank you for the special gifts you have given us and for our hands – hands that may be held and cared for and that may reach out to hold and care for others. Be with us throughout this day as we remember our call to be Christ’s hands in the world, and remain us our whole lives as we journey toward wholeness. Fill us with your Spirit that we may own our beauty and our own responsibility and express them both in our daily lives. Fill us with a deep understanding of the care you have entrusted to us and the loving care you have for each one. In Christ’s name … Amen.

Now let us sing, so God may use us … (and don’t be afraid to use your hands if the Spirit moves you!)

Reverend Joel Weible, Pastor

Pewee Valley Presbyterian Church / June 29, 2014

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download