Praying with Our Hands
21 Practices of Embodied Prayer from the World's Spiritual Traditions
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A spiritual guidebook for bringing prayer into our bodies
The power of words is nowhere more evident than when we use them to pray, but prayer is also the place where we most often come up against the limitations of words. In this intriguing book of reflections and accompanying photographs, we see how our bodies, in particular our hands, can give meaning to our prayers in a way that words alone cannot.
Here are twenty-one simple ways of using our hands to speak to God, presented in word and image. These spiritual practices are from a broad range of religious traditions—from Anglican to Sufi, from Buddhist to Shaker. Some may be familiar, some new; all demonstrate the universal importance people of all faith traditions have given to embodied prayer. They teach us to experience the unique spiritual enrichment that can be found when we pray with our hands.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke of praying with his feet during civil rights marches. Sweeney (Who Is My God?) agrees that we don't pray just with words, but with our bodies, particularly our hands. In this brief, meditative book, short essays and stunning black-and-white photographs show off nearly two dozen prayers people perform with their hands. The Shakers knew that handiwork was prayer (photographer Jennifer Wilson provides a shot of gnarled hands weaving a basket). Jewish women light two candles to welcome in the Sabbath, while many Christians receive the Eucharist with their hands. Other images depict worshipers clasping hands before saying table grace or "laying on hands" during prayers for healing. Sweeney shows that we use our hands to break bread (whether at the communion table or the picnic table), touch icons, count prayers on rosaries or wash one another's feet. With hands we make the sign of the cross, sprinkle holy water, pass the peace and hold hands. The message of this book--that prayer happens in our bodies, not just in our minds or on our lips--is instructive. But more than instructive, the book is inspiring. It will make readers want to roll out their prayer mats, kneel or twist into the lotus position--and get praying.
