Scripture Luke 11:2-4
One day Jesus
was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to
him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them,
“When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who
sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the
people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,
May I not speak from myself or for myself, but from You and for
Your glory. May I speak with Your wisdom and truth, and not that of the world’s
wisdom and truth.
I pray that You will open our eyes and hearts to what You want us
to learn today.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Message The Father
Aida is right on the
cusp of saying words...She has been practicing her consonants and trying out
her voice...babababa, dadadada, mamama, papapa. We are looking forward to her
coming up with names for us.... I expect to be Mama and Andy expects to be
Papa. We are not sure what she is going to call her sisters and her niece, but
I suspect we will learn soon.
The names we give our
parents are usually our first words.... We give the people closest to us in
relationship the names we will call them for years to come. Eventually, Mama
may morph into Mom, but Aida will probably not ever call me Amelie or Pastor
Amelie or Mrs. Castillo. We have special, intimate names for the people who are
closest to us.
When Jesus taught his followers to pray, he did not
refer to God in a formal, distanced manner. Jesus called God “Abba” -- or
Daddy in English. Jesus wanted his followers, wanted us, to relate to God in a
loving, familiar way – God is Daddy.
This morning, we begin
to focus on the prayer Jesus taught us to pray: The Lord’s Prayer. Most
Christians recite this prayer together during our worship services. The prayer
is found in two of the Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew and Luke. The
version of the prayer in Matthew is slightly longer. Biblical scholars do not
know why the prayers are slightly different. In Matthew, the Lord’s prayer is
said as part of the Sermon on the Mount. Scholars have suggested that Jesus
gave the Sermon on the Mount a year earlier than the incident recorded in Luke
when the disciple asked Jesus how to pray. The questioner was possibly a newer
disciple of Jesus, a disciple who did not become one of Jesus’ followers until
after the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. So, this disciple wanted to know
how Jesus taught his followers to pray, and he missed the teaching the first
time Jesus explained.
Jesus starts his prayer
using an intimate, familiar name for God: Abba. Jesus wants his followers to
have a close, comfortable relationship with God. God is not referred to as
Adoni (Lord). In the first century, many Jewish people referred to God as
Adoni. Instead, Jesus called God “Abba” -- Daddy – Papa.
Many churches,
particularly those on the more liberal end of the spectrum, have modified how
they say the Lord’s Prayer and no longer start it by saying “Our Father.”
Instead, they may say “Blessed One, our Father and our Mother” or “Father and
Mother of Us All.” Why the change? As we are aware, many people have difficult
relationships with their biological parents, with their biological fathers.
Many people have had absent fathers, or abusive fathers, or troubled fathers.
And some people who have had troubled relationships with their fathers' bristle
at calling God “Father.” The name Father has negative baggage for them.
Jesus does not want us
to have negative baggage we associate with God. He wants us to see God as the
epitome of love – a loving parent, a loving Creator, who loves and nurtures us
as an idealized parent loves their precious children.
When Jesus described God
to his followers, he described God as being attentive and responsive to God’s
followers. God listens to our prayers and responds to them. God is good and
faithful. Earthly parents may fail us, but God never fails us. God shares God’s
Holy Spirit with us and is therefore constantly present with us. Our God
forgives us and loves us with a mercy that is incomparable to the mercy humans
extend to each other.
Jesus shared parables
with his followers to amplify his teachings. When Jesus described a loving
father, he told the parable of the Prodigal Son. A son rudely requested his
inheritance before his father died and then ran off and wasted it on frivolous
activities. The son fell into poverty and was eating food worse than the food
fed to pigs. So, he decided to return to his father’s home and ask to be a
servant in the household. The son hoped his father would at least allow him to
work in his household. But, when the father saw his son returning from a long
way off – he rushed to meet him, showered him with food and gifts, and welcomed
him home with open arms.
We don’t always feel
like we are doing the best job of following God. We don’t always honor God the
way we are taught to honor God. We don’t pray as often as we think we should.
We don’t consistently follow the Ten Commandments or the Greatest Commandment
that tells us to love God and Love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
We don’t read the Bible as much as we think we should. Despite our failings,
and despite our sins, God loves us. God forgives us. And God showers us with
mercy and grace.
When we pray the Lord’s
Prayer, when we pray all the prayers we say, let us remember that we can speak
to God as a close and intimate friend.... we can think of God as our loving
parent. Let us take comfort in knowing God loves us and cherishes us as God’s
beloved children. God is our Creator, our Comforter, and our Guide.
Thanks be to God. Amen!
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