April 19, 2009

Mt. 6:5-15; Ex. 3:1-6, 13-15; Is. 49:14-15

Thank you Alisha and Wes for that drama. I have a hunch that some of us sort of view prayer like Alisha did in the drama.

Prayer is something we do, so we can check it off our list as done, and get on with the important things in life.

And when we pray – do we really expect God to speak to us or are we startled like Alisha when God responds? Is prayer primarily us talking to God or do we see a big part of prayer as listening to God?

Well, over the next few weeks we are going to be talking about prayer. We are beginning today a new sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer or what some call “the Jesus Prayer”.

In the Gospels we learn very quickly that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. Jesus would often get away from the crowds by going off alone to pray in a quiet place. Sometimes he would spend the whole night in prayer.

And before all of his major decisions Jesus would spend time alone with God in prayer. This time in prayer did not seem like a burden to Jesus. Instead, it seemed to energize him and refresh him and give him boldness.

Many of his disciples had learned to pray as children and they knew the prayers that people repeated on a regular basis in the synagogue. And yet as they hung out with Jesus they longed for something more – something deeper.

Luke tells us in his Gospel that Jesus’ prayer life so impressed his disciples that it prompted them to ask him – “Lord, teach us to pray”.

Notice here that even for Jesus prayer is really a learned experience. It is not just a release of our feelings.

I think it can be freeing to know that prayer is a learned experience. There is no one right way to pray. We can try new things and even if we fail we can start over again.

Jesus gave his disciples a prayer to pray, but I don’t think he meant they had to pray exactly those words over and over again.

When Jesus says “pray in this way” he means for us to pray similarly, not necessarily using the identical words he prayed. Jesus wants us to pray to God in our own words – no matter how simple they are.

In Matthews Gospel, Jesus sets the Lord’s Prayer in a broader teaching on prayer.

Jesus urges his disciples not to pray like the hypocrites. In essence, hypocrites don’t really pray to God. Hypocrites pray for a human audience and the praise they will get from others. Jesus says – that is not prayer.

Jesus also says long, empty phrases are not prayer either. If we think long prayers will manipulate God to give us what we want – we are mistaken.

Since prayer is really about a relationship with God – Jesus says go into a closet to pray. Now, he doesn’t mean go into a literal closet. He simply means that our prayer is to be directed to God alone. Prayer is about communing with God – not impressing people.

Jesus also tells his disciples that they don’t have to be anxious at all about whether or not God will hear them. Jesus says you don’t have to bombard God with many words to get God’s attention because God is aware of your needs even before you ask.

So, since God longs to commune with us – Jesus gives us a way to pray. The sample prayer Jesus gives us is meant to be prayed, but it is also a model of how to pray. It has elements in it that can help guide us in our prayer life.

In a way, the Lord’s Prayer is patterned after the Ten Commandments. As you may recall, the Ten Commandments have two sections.

The first four commandments have to do with God. And the last six have to with our relationships with one another.

The Lord’s Prayer has seven petitions in it. The first three petitions have to do with our relationship with God – hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and your will be done.

The last four petitions in the Lord’s Prayer have to do with us and our needs – give us our daily bread, forgive us our debts, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.

So Jesus teaches his disciples to start off in prayer by focusing on God and seeking God’s will – before moving on to focus on our needs and concerns.

Today I want to focus on the opening line of the prayer and the first petition – hallowed be your name. Over the next few Sundays we will look at the other petitions.

Jesus begins the prayer with “Our Father in heaven”.

The Aramaic word Jesus uses for God is “Abba” – which in English would be translated “Daddy”.

Abba was the term Jewish children would use in addressing their father.

By calling God – “Abba” – Jesus was breaking from Jewish custom which so emphasized God’s holiness that one was not even to say God’s name.

Jews refused to say God’s name for fear they might be accused of blasphemy.

To Jews, calling God “Abba” would have sounded very irreverent and way to chummy.

Yet, Jesus startles everyone in this prayer with his tender, intimate approach to God. It signified Jesus’ own very close relationship with God.

Jesus could easily have started his prayer by saying – “O Great Spirit in heaven” or “O Power of the Universe” or “O Ground of our Being” but he didn’t.

Jesus was teaching his disciples that God is a personal being – not just a force that gives us life

Calling God Abba would be like us saying “hey dad, can we talk?” Good dads are always there, always listening and always ready to talk.

I don’t think Jesus meant that calling God “daddy” somehow did away with God’s majesty and power. I think all Jesus did by calling God “daddy” was to make the majesty and power of God more approachable.

It was Jesus’ way of saying that we don’t have to go through ten administrative assistants to get to the God of the universe.

There is no call-waiting. No voice mail. God wants to talk with us. God is as close to us as a loving parent.

Now, I am well aware this morning that calling God Father causes difficulty for some people. For some, calling God Father implies that God is male and it brings up the whole issue of patriarchy and authoritarianism.

For others, they may have been sexually, physically, or emotionally abused by their fathers and so calling God Father brings up all of these very negative images.

These are all very real concerns and so some have chosen to call God – our mother, or our parent, or our grandmother or grandfather. These are all people they may have been close to in life and who now symbolize for them God’s closeness and tender love.

When I think about how to address God, I am helped in this when I remember that the language for God in the bible is always symbolic. God is not a male or a female.

Certain characteristics of God are more feminine and others are more masculine, but God is Spirit.

Today in our scripture from Isaiah 49 God is described as a nursing mother who could never forget her child. This is a feminine side of God but again the main message is that God is compassionate and loving and gentle.

For Jesus, calling God “Father” had to do with radical intimacy and nothing else.

Jesus’ understanding was that he could come to God at any time and in any place. God was as close to him as the air he breathed.

So Jesus revolutionizes our understanding of God through the use of “father” as one who is tender and near and trustworthy and approachable.

And this is exactly how Jesus wants us to approach God in prayer today – Daddy, lets talk.

But Jesus doesn’t only say “Father”. He says – “Our Father in heaven”.

The little word “Our” is just as important as “Father”.

By adding “Our” to father Jesus places us in the middle of the whole human family. It is no longer “my prayer” to “my God”, but “our prayer” to “our God”.

When we pray “our father” we recognize that we are all children of God – red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in God’s sight.

We pray “our father” because God is not the God of the South only or the God of the North only. God is not the God of whites only or the God of blacks only. God is not the God of the city only or the God of the country only.

Our Father is not a God that wears a tag that says “Made in America”. Our Father loves everyone the same.

To pray “our father” is to be connected to a new family that crosses nations, races, and cultures. When we gather in church with folks who may be perfect strangers to us we can still call them “sisters and brothers” because we have the same “father”.

We are all a part of the same family.

So the little word “our” in front of “father” is significant because Christianity is not a private faith. To pray “our father” lifts us out of our natural selfish tendencies and opens us to see all people as God’s beloved children.

Jesus also adds the phrase “in heaven” to “Our Father”. In the bible – heaven refers to the realm where God rules fully and God’s will is done completely.

When we pray to – our father in heaven – we are talking with “our father who rules the world with perfect justice and mercy and love and compassion”.

The phrase “in heaven” points to God’s sovereign rule in the world. To be “in heaven” in no way implies that God is distant from us or separated from us.

In fact, it means that we can’t hide from God. God even notices the sparrow falling from the sky. It also means that when we go through difficult times and when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death – God is there with us too.

So, by praying to “our father in heaven” Jesus is affirming that God really is the Just Ruler of the world and that God is present and bringing deliverance and healing into our lives now.

So this opening phrase – Our father in heaven – invites us into a tender and intimate relationship with God who is bringing healing and wholeness to all of creation. In prayer we are engaging the ruler of the world who is as close to us and concerned about us as a loving parent.

Jesus teaches us here to come to God as children come to a parent. We come with an openness and inquisitiveness that allows us to be totally honest and free with God.

From this opening phrase, we then move to the first petition in this prayer.

The first petition is “hallowed be your name.”

Now, I suspect that “hallowed” is not a word that many of us use in our normal conversations. It is probably the reason a little boy asked his Sunday school teacher one day – why is God’s name Harold?

The teacher wondered why he thought God’s name was Harold. He said – “Well, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say – Harold be thy name.”

Hallowed is just an old fashioned word for “holy”. In more modern English it would be “may your name be made holy or let you name be made holy.”

Now, what does it mean to pray – May God’s name be made holy? I think this petition is the hardest one of them all for us to understand.

Most of us today don’t put a lot of significance into our names but in the bible your name conveyed the essence of your nature and personality. Even your reputation was tied up in your name.

In the OT, God’s name was made holy (special or respected) whenever the Children of Israel were faithful to God’s covenant.

In other words, when the Children of Israel followed God’s commandments, they made God’s name holy in the world.

When the Children of Israel sinned – they profaned God’s name or they smudged God’s good reputation in the world.

In Ezekiel 36 we see an example of how God’s name was profaned. In verse 22 it says – “Thus says the Lord God: it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.”

In this passage from Ezekiel we see that the only way God’s name is made holy is through the actions of God’s people. When we are empowered by the Spirit to live up to what God calls us to be and do in the world we make God’s name holy.

William Willimon, former Dean of Duke Chapel in Durham, N.C., tells of a college student who was the first in his family to go to college.

“When someone offered the student illegal drugs with the taunt – go ahead, try it. It’ll make you feel good. The student refused.

The drug dealer continued – don’t be so uptight – nobody is going to know you tried a little dope.

That is not the point, said the student – the point is that my mother cleaned houses and washed floors to send me to college. I am here because of her. I am here for her. I wouldn’t do anything that might demean her sacrifice for me.”

This student’s response comes close to what I think it means for us to react to a holy God. When we steal, or bless war, or cheat on our marriages or our income taxes, or put others down we are smudging the good name of God – who sacrificed everything for us that we might have fullness of life.

So, when we pray “hallowed be your name” we are asking God to make his name holy and we are pledging ourselves not to profane God’s name by our actions.

Another way to say this might be – “O God, act in such a way that the world sees your greatness through us and praises you for who you are.”

To pray – “hallowed be your name” is to ask God to fill your life with divine presence and power.

God’s name is made holy when we allow God to transform our lives and to work through us.

So this morning when we pray – “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” we are reminded that our first words to God are to be ones of praise and thanksgiving for all that God has done and is doing in the world.

It is so easy to come to God with a thousand requests instead of coming with praise for who God is.

Our prayers are too often like young children when they greet their parents after a long trip.

Children are prone to ask – Daddy or mommy what did you bring for me? – instead of saying – I am so glad to see you! I love you. I am glad your home.

Like children, we often run to God asking for a thousand things instead of thanking God for who God is and just enjoying being with God and experiencing God’s blessings.

I think praying – hallowed be your name – is learning to treasure every moment and circumstance in life as truly a good gift from God.

Over time, as we continue to pray a form of “hallowed be your name” we begin to see God making the ordinary everyday moments of our lives holy, just as God is holy.

In naming the holiness of God, we discover not only who God is but who we are – God’s beloved children. God has called each one of us by name and we learn through prayer that we belong to God and are loved by God.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be made holy in the way we live our lives. Amen.