Our Father in Heaven

Memorization can be a good thing because when we memorize something it becomes natural and engrained in who we are. We can do it without thinking because it’s so much a part of who we are. It can be like tying our shoes, or riding a bike, or even driving a car. Remember back to when you learned to drive a car. When you first started driving you focused on every detail…every little thing you do has to be thought about. But once we have enough practice, we don’t have to focus on all the details. We can just drive and it becomes more relaxed, simpler. Right?

It can be like that with our faith life too, including this prayer. At first it can be awkward we have to focus on all the details and the exact words. It can be cumbersome and difficult because we have to focus so hard. But once we memorize the prayers and train our mental muscles, we can pray the prayer without thinking. It becomes easy and natural, second nature to us.

All of those are good things. The trouble comes when it is so natural that we never think about it. Think back to the driving analogy…have you ever been driving for awhile, or on the same roads you always drive that you can’t even remember driving a certain section of road or how you got from A to B? Your driving became so natural that you have no recollection of the details? It can be scary to realize that you have no idea where you just drove or what you saw…being an auto pilot is simpler, but not always safer…we need to be aware when we drive, right?

Well, we also need to be aware when we pray. We need to be intentional about talking with God. When our prayers are automatic, we risk losing sight of what we are actually praying. We can lose intentionality, focus, and meaning.

So, this month, we are focusing on the Lord’s prayer. We are going to go one line at a time to try and refocus on the words Christ taught us pray. My hope is that we will snap back to attention when we offer this pray, even when it is easy and natural, that we would still invest ourselves in speaking and meaning the words of this prayer.

Today’s line is: “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.”

The first word of this prayer reminds us of our communal life…Our. It’s not “my”. Simply by choosing “Our” we are reminded that we are called to be a part of community. We are able to have an individual faith, but we are always called to the collective life together. Does anyone remember why?

• Accountability
• Support
• Only way we can truly grow in love (we aren’t stretched to love or be patient or forgive if it’s just us)

The second word is “Father”—sort of obvious in the sense of a parent, a giver of life. But in the cultural sense of Jesus’ day, the father was the tradesman and the sons would learn that same trade. In essence, they were to grow up and do their father’s work. So, when we call God father, we don’t just think of a giver of life, but we also should see a role model who should be mimicked. In essence, we should grow up to do God’s trade, to do God’s work.

· Forgiveness

· Inclusion

· Justice

· Mercy

· Compassion

The last part of that line is: “who art in heaven”—this underscores where God is, and that God is distinctive from us. We dwell on earth, but God dwells in heaven. But heaven in this sense is both the ethereal heaven, and it is defined in the Greek as the gospel. In other words, God dwells in the good news…Gospel meaning Good news…the good news of forgiveness and redemption. God is present wherever there is Gospel. And in that sense, God is with us. God has a place in the heavens, a dwelling place distinctive from our own, but God also has a place in the midst of us….wherever there is Gospel…life, and truth, and compassionate community, God is there.

The next line begins “Hallowed”…which means to make holy, to purify, or to consecrate. When I looked up the Greek I was a bit surprised…I guess I have always heard “hallowed be thy name” as a statement meaning “your name is holy”, but in the way Hallowed is defined in the greek, it’s more like, “may your name be made holy” “may it be sanctified”. I don’t know if you hear a difference there, but what I hear is that we have desecrated the name of God and it needs to be redeemed. It reminds me of the third commandment, “thou shalt not take the lord’s name in vain”—that isn’t just a caution not to curse, that is a reminder that God’s name is powerful, and that that power should not be taken lightly. Like we shouldn’t shout “fire” in a crowded theatre, we should not call upon God’s name in frivolous or meaningless ways. So, when we pray “may your name be made holy”, I hear a reminder to us to honor who God is and to use God’s name with meaning, significance, and impact rather than in idle chatter.

In addition to simply understanding the meaning of the words, we also need to look at the bigger picture of this prayer. To start “Our Father in Heaven” helps establish a relationship between us and God. (*I feel like a need to do a side note here. We often use father language for God. And for many, that is difficult and challenging for their relationship with God. Not all of us have a healthy or good relationship with our Fathers. Some of us have been abused by our fathers, and so to call God father only reminds us of bitterness and hurt and for some, that may mean we want no part of a relationship with that kind of God. Which is understandable. I wish none of us had that kind of obstacle in any of our relationships, particularly our relationship with our father. But I also want to say, that even bearing that in mind, we need to be aware that “father” in this sense is meant to be positive. It is meant to reflect a loving and nurturing relationship, where we learn good habits and practices of love. So, if saying father is a barrier for you, think of a relationship that does signify love and care and a good model for you…whether that is mother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, best friend…and try and understand God in that way. It’s not about the word here, it’s about the relationship.