Lift Up Your Hands

Today's psalmist assures God: In Your name I will lift up my hands. I hear that to mean that we are to be God's hands in the world; to use our hands to do God's work; to do what we imagine God might do….what Jesus did do. That is the example that we await in this sacred season. The one who showed us in the flesh how to lift our hands in God's name.

 One of the ways that Jesus showed us how to live into God's dream was to make himself accessible…always. And the way that Jesus made himself accessible, was to make himself available to respond to the moment in front of him, at all times. Jesus lived in the margin. On the margin. In the margin. Free to lift his hands at every moment for God's purposes.

How can we live, likewise, in the margin? What would it look like to plan an hour of flexible free space into each day? What would it take to arrange a full hour every day for…maybe just one week to start, where the unplanned need of the day might be addressed. Maybe it is a space in which we spend more time with a member of our family. Or maybe it is a time when we respond to a need in our community. Or maybe it is a time when we tend our own needs, as they arise.

Today I invite us to schedule one hour of margin into every day in this third week in the season of Advent; from this Sunday to next Saturday…which just happens to be the shortest day of the year.
Nevertheless, I invite us to schedule an hour each day in which we might be free to respond to……who knows?…..maybe even an Angel of the Lord.

Psalm 63

א  מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד;    בִּהְיוֹתוֹ, בְּמִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה.	1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
ב  אֱלֹהִים, אֵלִי אַתָּה--    אֲשַׁחֲרֶךָּ: צָמְאָה לְךָ, נַפְשִׁי--    כָּמַהּ לְךָ בְשָׂרִי; בְּאֶרֶץ-צִיָּה וְעָיֵף    בְּלִי-מָיִם.	2 O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
ג  כֵּן, בַּקֹּדֶשׁ חֲזִיתִךָ--    לִרְאוֹת עֻזְּךָ, וּכְבוֹדֶךָ.	3 So have I looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.
ד  כִּי-טוֹב חַסְדְּךָ, מֵחַיִּים;    שְׂפָתַי יְשַׁבְּחוּנְךָ.	4 For Your lovingkindness is better than life; my lips shall praise You.
ה  כֵּן אֲבָרֶכְךָ בְחַיָּי;    בְּשִׁמְךָ, אֶשָּׂא כַפָּי.	5 So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands.
ו  כְּמוֹ חֵלֶב וָדֶשֶׁן, תִּשְׂבַּע נַפְשִׁי;    וְשִׂפְתֵי רְנָנוֹת, יְהַלֶּל-פִּי.	6 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth praises You with joyful lips;
ז  אִם-זְכַרְתִּיךָ עַל-יְצוּעָי--    בְּאַשְׁמֻרוֹת, אֶהְגֶּה-בָּךְ.	7 When I remember You upon my couch, and meditate on You in the night-watches.
ח  כִּי-הָיִיתָ עֶזְרָתָה לִּי;    וּבְצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ אֲרַנֵּן.	8 For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I rejoice.
ט  דָּבְקָה נַפְשִׁי אַחֲרֶיךָ;    בִּי, תָּמְכָה יְמִינֶךָ.	9 My soul cleaves unto You; Your right hand holds me fast.
י  וְהֵמָּה--לְשׁוֹאָה, יְבַקְשׁוּ נַפְשִׁי;    יָבֹאוּ, בְּתַחְתִּיּוֹת הָאָרֶץ.	10 But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the depths of the earth.
יא  יַגִּירֻהוּ, עַל-יְדֵי-חָרֶב;    מְנָת שֻׁעָלִים יִהְיוּ.	11 They shall be hurled to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for foxes.
יב  וְהַמֶּלֶךְ,    יִשְׂמַח בֵּאלֹהִים: יִתְהַלֵּל, כָּל-הַנִּשְׁבָּע בּוֹ--    כִּי יִסָּכֵר, פִּי דוֹבְרֵי-שָׁקֶר.	12 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by God shall glory; for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.