Matthew 6:9
Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
PRAYER:
- Start of a Sermon Series
- Lord’s Prayer, Our Father, Jesus
- Good to know, tradition, every word is so damn meaningful
- gives us words, when we don’t have any
- A spiritual Swiss Army Knife
OUR:
- Plural, not a personal but congregational prayer
- By saying "our father" I put myself into the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), the community of followers of Jesus, the communion of saints
- Our Gold Medals, our Redeem Team
FATHER:
- Images of God: Doctor, Mother Bear, Lover, King, Wife, Husband, Mother and Father
- God is as loving as parents are
- Those who pray have a loving relationship to God
- Abba means Daddy
- Images have a tendency towards ambivalence: failing dads, cheating dads, drinking dads, beating dads, absent dads
- describing our personal relationship to God
ART + THY:
- Why this Shakespearean language?
- Evangelical Catechism (1929), Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662/1928)
- Not KJV, not Mormon Pop
- Not that a prayer has to be started "Heavenly Father" and sound like 17th century, God understand "Yo, Dad!" as well
- Rooted in tradition, uniting us with sisters and brothers in the mainline protestant tradition like PCUSA and most evangelical churches.
IN HEAVEN:
- the greatness of God
- don’t be misled: God is not just Daddy but the Creator of heaven and earth
- Ruler over everything that is, not part of this creation, but in heaven, that is: on the other side
- Almighty
- Incredibly independent yet in his independence incredibly loving
HALLOWED BE THY NAME:
- positive phrasing for "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" but positively hallow it
- Not just it, but himself
- as with Baptism: Your name is yourself, God’s name is God himself
- When you meet someone new, you let them know your name and thus make yourself vulnerable.
- Jesus, the Rabbi
- Jewish Qaddish
- Evening Shma: "Our God in heaven, hallow thy name, and establish thy kingdom forever, and rule over us for ever and ever. Amen."
- Hollow means make holy, that means separate from the rest
- Cherish as someone very special, among humans we would say: love
- "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." (Leviticus 19:2) It’s not a one-way street
- God hollows us and we hollow him thus lifting ourselves up to heaven where we are part of the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), the community of followers of Jesus, the communion of saints praying "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."
- Amen.
