Gifts are received with open hands. It is the same with the offer of God's kingdom. Recently I reflected with a dear friend about her beginnings on the Christian Way. At the conclusion of a usual Sunday worship service the officiating pastor extended an invitation. All worshipers were asked to clench their hands into tightly balled fists. Evidently this was not unusual for this congregation. However, on this particular morning, things seemed different for my friend. The Liturgy came alive and she profoundly experienced a sense of God's searching love. She sat in the silence, clenched fists resting on her lap. Finally, worshipers were invited, should it be their desire, to express their response to God by unclenching their fists.
My friend described the moment simply:
"Somehow I stopped resisting and slowly opened my hands to God."
We live either with clenched fists or open hands. These radically opposed images symbolize two contrasting ways in which we can relate to the Holy One. Tightly closed hands indicate our refusal to be part of his kingdom of "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). To put it bluntly, clenched fists say no to God and his kingdom.
Open hands say yes to God. Taking the hand stretched out toward us in Christ, open hands express our heart's desire to receive all that God longs to give.
