  We suggest to carry out lattice calculations of current correlators in
position space, sandwiched between the vacuum and a hadron state (e.g. pion),
in order to access hadronic light-cone distribution amplitudes (DAs). In this
way the renormalization problem for composite lattice operators is avoided
altogether, and the connection to the DA is done using perturbation theory in
the continuum. As an example, the correlation function of two electromagnetic
currents is calculated to the next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in
perturbation theory and including the twist-4 corrections. We argue that this
strategy is fully competitive with direct lattice measurements of the moments
of the DA, defined as matrix elements of local operators, and offers new
insight in the space-time picture of hard exclusive reactions.
