Hands

I stood there silent

as a church sang its praises to God

with their hands.

Hands singing what mouths could not,

hands singing for ears that could not hear.

A sea of reverent, exalting hands…

it was beauty to me:

a flock of wild birds rising up,

God walking among them,

their call flooding my heart,

piercing the heavens.

 

There is a God who goes down past muscle

and bone and gristle,

past speech and sight and hearing,

down to the soul… and resides there.

So hands dance with joy

for ears that do not hear,

for eyes that drink deep this gift of a kind God.

 

Do you think that we will not sign in heaven?

Since we will all hear and see and speak

as newly made creations,

perfect before our Father,

we will leave signs behind?

No.

Our praise will overwhelm us

and our tongues will speak

and our ears will hear,

and our fingers and toes,

and every single part of who we are

will burst forth with delight…

because of our Friend, our God, Jesus Christ.

Our entire bodies will sign with a new language

and they will say:

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.”

 

(excerpt from “Hunger And Thirst,” to be published fall of this year)