How would you support that practice of putting your hands together and closing your eyes in prayer from the Bible? Are there any biblical examples of it?
I can see a common sense argument that such things may help us to avoid fidgeting and distraction. Which is one of the things that reminds us we don't want a very rigid (caricatured?) view of the Regulative Principle of Public Worship as if "everything that is not [explicitly?] commanded [in the Bible / NT] is forbidden" in worship. Surely no one thinks closing your eyes to pray is always and necessarily wrong? (See John Frame's questions and thoughts about the Regulative Principle).
I'm all for reverence for God, of course, and so bowing down in prayer seems appropriate, but personally I also like to look up to pray from time to time - it feels more elevating, expansive, joyful, hopeful, expectant, open, almost, somehow.
On a rainy day, I'm sure a Bible study on postures for prayer (kneeling, standing, bowing, hand-raising) would be rewarding. But at the moment the sun is shinning (ish) and there's more pressing things for me to be doing...
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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2 comments:
Someone once commented that the only common posture for prayer found nowhere in the Bible is sitting bent over forward in a chair... ;-)
As a parent: 'look at me when you're talking to me!', I'm not sure why we don't look upwards. It's what Jesus did, and it's where God is. And hands raised?
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