A PRAYER

At the weekend a teenager was stabbed to death in Croydon, South London. Two teenagers have been arrested, and one of them had to be taken to hospital for injuries to his hands. A certain image from a news article about his murder was particularly shocking to me:

'Witnesses described seeing a man running along the road with his hands full of blood before collapsing on the pavement.'

(The Telegraph Online)

Searching in the bible for images of "hands full of blood" I found this same expression used in Isaiah chapter 1:15-18 -

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood.

Wash and make yourselves clean

Take your evil deeds out of my sight!

Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! ...

'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord...

'Though your sins are like scarlet, 

they shall be white as snow;

though they are red as crimson, 

they shall be like wool.'

Image from Mr Smallz's myspace page

This photo of a teenage boy is a beautiful picture to me of the need for cleansing from sin and the desire to be as white as snow... Mr Smallz is from Leyton. Obviously he has no relation to the incident mentioned at the start of this entry and no particular involvement in gangs as far as I can tell. However, I was struck by the title that he gave this photo: "My Soul Needs Cleansing".

The words of this Psalm seem to be a suitable prayer:

Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow...

(Psalm 51:7)

And which one of us doesn't also need this washing and cleansing?