Father, hallowed be your name (Luke 11:1-4, Romans 8:12-27)
Luke 11:1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
Romans 8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
–Luke 11:1-4, Romans 8:12-27 (NRSV)
August 7, 2016 Sermon Notes
This Sunday we are beginning a five week sermon series on one of the most familiar texts in Christianity, the Lord’s Prayer. This is often the first prayer that many Christians memorize, but sometimes people do not realize that this prayer is straight out of the pages of the Bible. When we use this prayer we are using words that are found in the Luke and Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ story. Even though the exact words are a little different between the two gospels, the structure are basic principles are the same.
In the Disciples of Christ tradition we usually use the following version of prayer every Sunday:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
These are the words that are found in the King James Version of Matthew 6:10-13. They are a compelling statement of our faith and they have worked their way into the hearts of Christians throughout the English speaking world. The poetry of this version of the prayer is why it has hung on for so long, even though we use far more modern versions of Scripture everywhere else in our worship services.
Unfortunately, the antiquity of this language has also made the prayer somewhat difficult for our modern ears to understand. We memorize the prayer, but do not really think about what it means. There is an old joke about children addressing God by saying, “Howard be thy name.” Sometimes in our own prayers we anachronistically use “thee” and “thy” as if those words will somehow bring us closer to God.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he did so because he wanted them to have a framework to shape their own prayer lives and to teach them about the God they worship. The Lord’s Prayer does the same thing for us today. Memorization is a way of internalizing these words and understand more about our faith. Musicians memorize scales and athletes run drills to internalize the skills they need for later use. Students learn multiplication tables so as to be able to do higher math. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a foundation allows us to have a well rounded prayer life that will sustain us throughout all the complexities of life and our maturation in faith.
The First Petition
There are many ways of looking at the Lord’s Prayer. For our sermon series we are going to divide it into five sections. Each section is called a petition. In today’s world, a petition is something that people sign in order to get someone in power to pay attention to a particular issue. Prayer often works the same way. It is a way of getting us and God on the same page when it comes to the issues of our lives.
The first issue, or petition, of the Lord’s Prayer addresses who God is. Jesus refers to God as Father. He does this to describe the incredibly close and intimate relationship he has with the Creator of the universe. By using that term Jesus is proclaiming that God is the one who has sent him into the world. When he invites us to use that same language he is proclaiming his solidarity with us and calling us into a close and intimate relationship with God as well.
A word of caution
All human language for the divine is inadequate. Anything we say about God is, at best, limited. Metaphor and analogy are necessary for us to be able to say anything at all. Because of this, there is a need to be sensitive to those who have life experiences different than our own. For people who have had abusive or absent earthly fathers, Jesus’ term “Father” can carry all sorts of terrible connotations. Others might hear an explicit claim that God is exclusively male.
Fortunately, Scripture also gives us a multitude of expansive descriptions of God that can be, and should, be used to more fully understand the infinite mystery of the Creator. The counter to an image of abusive father figure is the prodigal love of a Father who welcomes home a wayward child. We are told that both males and females were made in the image of God and that God’s devotion is as strong as a mother hen.
Our Father
One of the first claims that is to be made about the Christian faith is that God does not belong to any one person. We are told to address God as “our” Father. By doing so, Jesus invites us into his family and places human beings together as equals before God’s throne. Christianity is inherently a team sport. God is not “my” God or “your” God. We are all the Father’s children. This is true whether we are talking about people right here in Dexter or about people halfway around the world.
Of course, the implications of this are profound. If other people are made in the image of God, and we are all part of the same human family there is a need to pay attention to how our actions affect others. It also means that the same intimacy that God offers to me is offered to others. We cannot take our ball and go home. We are called into relationship with each other and the world. It also means that we are called to rejoice when others discover the love of Christ that we have for so long taken for granted.
Instead, too often we demonstrate the same response as the faithful child in the parable of the prodigal son: how dare “our” Father offer forgiveness to our sinful and wayward siblings? The passage from Romans reminds us that we too are children in need of God’s love and grace. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us and brings to us the love and reassurance that Christ provides
Hallowed be thy name
The word “hallowed” is simply an old English word that means “holy.” By using it in the prayer that he taught, Jesus was reminding us to keep God’s name holy. We are taught not to abuse God’s name and to rely on that name as our source of what goodness and love looks like.
By praying the Lord’s Prayer we are also given a caution that too many times we fall short of what God has called us to be. If our Father is holy, and we are God’s children, then we are also called to be holy. We sometimes like to explain away our deficiencies and rationalize our shortcomings. Praying this prayer is an assertion that God is bigger than all of the sinfulness of this world.
This petition is also a reminder of the quality of help available us in our time of need. If our God is truly the definition all that is holy, everything that this world has to offer is but a cheap imitation. There is nowhere else available that will be able to match the majesty, power, and beauty available to us in God.
The holiness of God’s name, and the intimate relationship that we have been offered through Jesus Christ is why we can, in confidence, join with all the children of God in crying out “Abba, Father.”
