Living the Lord's Prayer "Our Father"

– Matthew 6
9"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10'Your kingdom come Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11'Give us this day our daily bread. 12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'

I am old enough to remember when we started our school day with the “God Save the Queen”, and the Lord’s Prayer. Yup, as my adult children constantly remind me, I’m old. Growing up in the church, the Lord’s Prayer was recited on a somewhat regular bases. Enough that I can recite it without much thought –therein lays the problem. Recent events have brought the Lord’s Prayer into a new perspective and priority for me. A number of those events I have already shared with you in the Haiti reflections. The young children begging for a dollar, and being told that do not worry, you will become immune; the drive through Citie Soleil thinking “God you have forgotten this place” – and hearing the answer in my heart “I have not forgotten, Neil you have”. Over the next week, I want to share with you some of the wrestling of my soul as they pertain to the Lord’s Prayer.

If we read the preceding account of the disciples asking, “teach us to pray”, we will discover that Jesus sets out the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for how we pray in general. The prayer positions us in the following:
o Orienting ourselves in the universe
o Orienting ourselves in society
o Orienting ourselves in our responsibility to God, each other, the world, ourselves
Reading, studying, and slowly praying through the prayer I am increasingly struck by its radical, subversive nature. The Social/political/economic/ spiritual implications of this prayer are both profound and life altering. So, let us journey through the words of this prayer to discover ‘why’ Jesus set this out as a pattern for all prayer.

Our Father –
God is our complete source. Our existence is found only in Him. He is the seed of life, awareness – of all things. He is Creator God, but more, He is Father God. Here we find a deep personal relational God. You have heard sermons, I am sure, before describing that the word Father here translates “Abba” – which is not a formal address but a very personal endearing name given. Our closest association would be “daddy”. It denotes a complete dependency and trust – of innocent and devoted trust. God is not far away, but close and aware - accessible.

It is a unifying word. The prayer is not ‘my Father’ but ‘our Father’. It is like when my sisters and brother visit my parent’s farm and each of us are aware that he is not simply ‘my’ father – but he is our father and although I am my own person, my existence, our existence, to borrow a Biblical reference is from his loins. Our Western sensibilities shy away from such language or imaginary. When I was attempting to remind my children that this was why I could make the decision as ‘dad’ their response was “ew gross”. However, it is true.

We have lost an important traditional sense of reliance, dependency and thankfulness for the life that has been passed on to us from our parents. Yes, I am my own person, but I did not do anything nor could do anything to bring this to pass.
Likewise, all of us have a common parentage. Not only us here, but every person that draws breath on this small rotating ball of dirt, suspended in an, as far as we know, endless universe. We are all intimately connected. Therefore, from the very first words of this prayer both relationship and responsibility are established. That little Haitian boy that pushed his hand through the window and asked “Dollar minister?” is in fact…my brother. The man dying of AIDS laying on a mat in Sudan is …my brother. Those young Nicaraguan girls that are forced to prostitute themselves in order to gain food for themselves and their families are my sisters. I think you get the picture.

If I am to pray the Lord’s Prayer and begin with “Our Father”, I must see, accept and embrace the solidarity of those words. We are not North American, Baptist, Pentecostal or Anglican – we are children born of the Spirit and Our Father is God.

Anyway, I was just thinking.


Neil