I get the laying hands on people when praying for them. But what's with the vague stretching out of hands towards them? Are you expecting to be able to throw lightning bolts, as with the Emperor in Star Wars? Or is it a telekinesis thing? Or a telepneumatological thing? In which case why does it need the hand?
I am happy to provide the answer! It is actually rather funny.
Hand-extension, believe it or not, developed in the charismatic movement quite randomly (or, through the mysterious workings of God the Holy Spirit if you prefer). John Wimber recounts with some amusement the following in his autobiography. The original Vineyard church used to meet in a school hall in California. They would pray for the sick every Sunday at the end of their services, with the laying on of hands. And it was HOT. The person being prayed for would often become uncomfortable if several people laid their hands on them because it would make them feel hotter. So the practice gradually developed that people would stretch out their hands towards the person being prayed for, with perhaps just one person laying their hands on them. Then what happened was, John Wimber started travelling the world training other churches to pray for the sick, and taking teams with him from the Vineyard. They carried on praying for people in the way they were accustomed - that is, stretching out their hands towards them. In the event of someone falling over it also avoided the charge of them being pushed! And the people being trained, quite naturally, simply copied what they saw the Californians doing!!
Having explained that, it is worth pointing out that extending hands is nevertheless a perfectly useful thing to do in prayer since it helps one focus one's mind and heart in a particular way. One might say it is irrational if by irrational one means that it accomplishes nothing in the purely material realm i.e. it doesn't help one's prayers reach the intended recipient (!) any more than putting one's hands in the air in worship gets one nearer to God (although hand-raising is of course explicitly commanded in Scripture!). But it's not irrational in the sense that there is nothing irrational about one's posture assisting one's mind/heart/spirit/soul/insert appropriate anthropological component here. One might as well say that kneeling to pray was irrational. It's true but not informative. Yes it is a symbol - but symbols are important and helpful.
By contrast, the Bible is shockingly clear that the laying on of hands is not a symbol. It does not merely symbolise the impartation of the Holy Spirit - it actually confers the Spirit! (2 Timothy 1:6 and Acts 8:18). Scripture often challenges our ideas of what is rational and sensible!
Raising hands is commanded for intercessory prayer, not for praise.
And my view of symbols is a lot stronger than the Zwinglian one...
Posted by: Custard. | February 01, 2007 at 11:40 AM