The Lord's Prayer, Phrase by Phrase, Part 2
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we have also forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
"...in heaven"
Why does it matter when we refer to God as "Our Father in heaven" ?
God is present, powerful, and invisible. Should this make it harder for us to believe in a loving, present God, a God who is concerned and personally involved in what happens on this planet?
Would it be easier to believe in a visible God? Maybe. But think of how often all of us have been deceived by what we saw. Or what we thought we saw. Think about how often a job or business opportunity, a relationship or marriage, a selection of a school or new home was based on what we could "see", on what could be measured. Then, think about how many times our senses have misled or deceived us. Think about the times our judgments were wrong.
Yes, God did appear physically to humanity at one time and in one place. Jesus Christ, for a time, lived visibly and physically among us. As one writer put it: "God contracted to a span."
In our time, God invites us into relationship based on our openness to experience, not to observation or to sight.
In and from heaven, God calls us to know and experience goodness and love beyond what we can see. When we pray, our prayer always comes from the experience of knowing God as one who is larger than our visible world. We pray to one who is unlimited by time, space, or location. As we pray to this God, our prayers, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and actions also begin to lose the limitations we have learned and accepted.
What are you ready to unlearn?
Praying to the God of heaven transforms us.
God is above us, but not beyond us. This is what Jesus wants us to know as Jesus teaches us to pray. God acts and plans on behalf of God's followers, even when those actions are not visible or known to us. God waits for us, values us, loves us, and answers us.
Visibility is not a requirement of reality.
Coming next week: "Hallowed be your name."
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we have also forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
"...in heaven"
Why does it matter when we refer to God as "Our Father in heaven" ?
God is present, powerful, and invisible. Should this make it harder for us to believe in a loving, present God, a God who is concerned and personally involved in what happens on this planet?
Would it be easier to believe in a visible God? Maybe. But think of how often all of us have been deceived by what we saw. Or what we thought we saw. Think about how often a job or business opportunity, a relationship or marriage, a selection of a school or new home was based on what we could "see", on what could be measured. Then, think about how many times our senses have misled or deceived us. Think about the times our judgments were wrong.
Yes, God did appear physically to humanity at one time and in one place. Jesus Christ, for a time, lived visibly and physically among us. As one writer put it: "God contracted to a span."
In our time, God invites us into relationship based on our openness to experience, not to observation or to sight.
In and from heaven, God calls us to know and experience goodness and love beyond what we can see. When we pray, our prayer always comes from the experience of knowing God as one who is larger than our visible world. We pray to one who is unlimited by time, space, or location. As we pray to this God, our prayers, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and actions also begin to lose the limitations we have learned and accepted.
What are you ready to unlearn?
Praying to the God of heaven transforms us.
God is above us, but not beyond us. This is what Jesus wants us to know as Jesus teaches us to pray. God acts and plans on behalf of God's followers, even when those actions are not visible or known to us. God waits for us, values us, loves us, and answers us.
Visibility is not a requirement of reality.
Coming next week: "Hallowed be your name."
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