Hallowed by Thy Name -- A Message for June 2, 2024

 

The Scripture Luke 11:2-411 

 

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.” 

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 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... 

 

The Message The Holiness 

This Sunday is the second of our four week focus on the Lord’s Prayer. Last week, we were focused on the opening of the prayer, the greeting where we say: “Our Father.” This week, we are still looking at the first part of the prayer, as we say: “Hallowed by your name.”  

When little children memorize poetry and prayers, sometimes they say what they hear and not what we want them to learn. I have heard kids ask about the Halloween part of the Lord’s prayer in reference to this section. 

The version of the prayer we most often memorize is in Shakespearean or King James English. So, the words we memorize are not words we otherwise use – we do not say “thy” or “art” or “hallowed” when we speak to our friends or family members. Since we do not typically speak using the language of the Lord’s prayer, sometimes we do not really think deeply about what we are saying. 

When we say “hallowed,” we mean holy or respected. “Be thy” means yours. And, “name” means what we call you. So, “Hallowed be thy name” means “God, we respect you, and you are holy.” 

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we immediately say to God that God is the source of all holiness. We desire to speak to God and approach God with joyful reverence and love. Think about how you interacted with your school principal in kindergarten or first grade...with reverence and love. When Lucia was little, the students, teachers, and moms acted like the elementary school principal was like a movie star or a senator in how they revered him and treated him like a celebrity. We should joyfully approach God with love and respect, with reverence and adoration. Hallowed be God’s name! 

Throughout the Bible, we read many prayers and praises to God. Often, as a portion of the prayer, God is revered and celebrated as the source of all holiness in the universe. When Jesus’ mother Mary was pregnant, she visited her very pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Both women were amazed by their unexpected pregnancies. Mary broke into song after she met Elizabeth. While she was singing, she exclaimed: “...for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.” We revere God and respect God because God has done wonderful things for us and for generations of humanity. 

In parts of the New Testament, the Greek word translated as “hallowed” in the Lord’s Prayer is translated as “sanctified.” To sanctify something is to make it holy. God is holy, and God makes us holy because God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. A few weeks ago on Pentecost Sunday, we were reminded that we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. God loves us so much that a part of God is with us all of the time. We are never separate from God because God’s Holy Spirit is with us. 

When I was a child, I felt like this was a little creepy. God was like the song about Santa Claus – “He sees you when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.” The idea of God watching over me made me feel like every mistake I made was going to be marked down on God’s naughty list. 

But, this simplistic vision of God is not what we mean when we say God is with us. God is with us, and God’s Holy Spirit is within us, to bring us comfort and to assure us in times of stress. God knows we make mistakes, that goes hand in hand with being born as humans. God wants us to take comfort and strength from God’s presence. God wants us to know we are never alone and we are never cut off or separated from God. 

God is the source of what is holy. God is the source of love. God is the source of compassion.  

Jesus wanted his followers to bring to God our joys and our concerns, our pains and our delights. When we talk to God in prayer, we appreciate that God is the source of all that is holy. Yet, God is approachable and God choses to be present with us to guide and assure us as we face the joys and challenges of this life and as we transition to eternal life with God.  

WE thank God for being both sanctified and holy and yet present and approachable. 

Amen.  

The Father -- A Message for May 26, 2024

 

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! 

Spirit for All -- A Message for Pentecost 2024

 

Scripture John 17:6-19 

 

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.  

⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  

⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  

⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  

¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.  

¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  

¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  

¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  

¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  

¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  

¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  

¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  

¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 

 

Message                     Guided in Prayer 

On this Mother’s Day morning, I am very aware of the effects of mothering.  I suspect that I am going to be perpetually tired, especially since Aida is not sleeping through the night. I remember my mother telling me that once you become a mom, you never sleep deeply in the same way again. Now I know the accuracy of her statement. 

In addition to waking up with Aida, I just wake up a lot in the night anyway. A few evenings ago, I woke up because I had a stressful dream, an “anxiety dream.” In my dream, I was supposed to lead a Bible study, at a church that was not Trinity, on a Sunday morning in the 45 minutes between our Wired Word Class and Trinity’s worship service. I had to rush to the other church and then rush back here. And, in my dream, as I was rushing, I remembered that I had not prepared anything to say at the Bible Study.  

I was panicking in my dream about not being prepared. Then I remembered that I could teach a lesson on prayer that I had used with elementary school aged children. In my dream, I then worried if it would be inappropriate to lead adults in prayer exercise that children could understand. 

I woke up from the dream at about 3 am, and then had a good hour or so to contemplate it before I fell back asleep.... When it comes to teaching people prayer techniques, is it inappropriate to instruct adults and children to use the same strategies? I do not think so, because God hears every prayer we say not matter how eloquent or how basic it is.  

Today’s reading is another portion of the lengthy sermon and teaching Jesus said to his disciples just before his crucifixion. We read a different portion of it in worship last Sunday. In today’s portion, Jesus prays...Jesus prays for himself. Jesus prays for the Disciples. Jesus prays for the church. And, then Jesus prays for all people. 

Although this pray of Jesus is not typically used as a model to base our prayers on, maybe it should be. Jesus was preparing for his crucifixion. He knew he was about to undergo a stressful arrest and trial. He knew he would die a terrible death. I think it is fair that Jesus prayed for himself. He prayed for strength and endurance. He prayed that he would be brave. He prayed that he could endure the pain. 

Many of us have also prayed similar prayers for ourselves. When we hear a frightening diagnosis or hear of the death of a loved one, we need to pray prayers for ourselves too. Asking God to be with us amid our time of trial is reassuring. We also need to feel free to ask God for strength and endurance. We also need to ask God to help us be brave and endure the pain. We need to be assured that God will walk with us during our time of fear and suffering.  

Jesus prayed for his Disciples. He wanted them to be comforted and strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit so they would be ok as Jesus underwent his own time of trial. And we do this too.... We pray for the people we are closest to in our lives.... We pray for our partners. We pray for our parents. We pray for our children. We pray for the people we love the most. I suspect our tendency is to pray more for the people we love than we pray for ourselves. We want them to be safe, comfortable, and reassured. Oftentimes, we are willing to suffer so that the people we love will not have to suffer. 

Jesus prayed for the church. We must pray for the people who make up the church. Here at Trinity, we are a small congregation. We know when the Christ’s are on vacation and when Andy has a cold. We notice when people are away. As members of this little body of Christ, we are called to pray on behalf of each other. We are called upon to bear each other’s burdens and share each other’s loads. When a member of our congregation suffers, we suffer alongside them. When a member of this congregation rejoices, we rejoice alongside them. We must pray for the people of this church, and for the people of the universal church, our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Jesus prayed for all of humanity. We are called to be like Jesus, to pray for people who are suffering and hurting throughout the world. We must pray for people who are hungry and thirsty and do not have access to nutritious food or clean drinking water. We must pray for people who have inadequate housing, the homeless people living in tents, in church fellowship halls, and their cars. We must pray for people who live in unsafe places—people who live in the war-torn cities of Ukraine and Palestine, people who live in countries led by dictators, people who live in neighborhoods with gang violence and turf wars. We must pray for refugees and undocumented immigrants and pray for the end of what caused them to become refugees or risk immigrating to a place they are not invited to live. We must pray for the victims of abuse, for the victims of natural disasters, and for the victims of human-made disasters. We must pray for people who are lonely and those who are depressed and those who are addicted. We must pray for the victims of bullies and for the people who become bullies. We must pray for those who are unjustly imprisoned and that people who are justly imprisoned will be reformed. We must pray for all of humanity. 

Jesus’ is a role-model for us in how he showed compassion for the people he loved and for how he showed compassion for himself. When he prayed his prayer that we reflect on this morning, he wanted everyone to feel God’s love and support as they lived through trials and tribulations. Jesus prayed for us. Let us pray for each other and for the people of our world who need support. 

Amen.    

Guided in Prayer -- A Message for May 12, 2024

 

Scripture John 17:6-19 

 

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.  

⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  

⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  

⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  

¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.  

¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  

¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  

¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  

¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  

¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  

¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  

¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  

¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 

 

Message                     Guided in Prayer 

On this Mother’s Day morning, I am very aware of the effects of mothering.  I suspect that I am going to be perpetually tired, especially since Aida is not sleeping through the night. I remember my mother telling me that once you become a mom, you never sleep deeply in the same way again. Now I know the accuracy of her statement. 

In addition to waking up with Aida, I just wake up a lot in the night anyway. A few evenings ago, I woke up because I had a stressful dream, an “anxiety dream.” In my dream, I was supposed to lead a Bible study, at a church that was not Trinity, on a Sunday morning in the 45 minutes between our Wired Word Class and Trinity’s worship service. I had to rush to the other church and then rush back here. And, in my dream, as I was rushing, I remembered that I had not prepared anything to say at the Bible Study.  

I was panicking in my dream about not being prepared. Then I remembered that I could teach a lesson on prayer that I had used with elementary school aged children. In my dream, I then worried if it would be inappropriate to lead adults in prayer exercise that children could understand. 

I woke up from the dream at about 3 am, and then had a good hour or so to contemplate it before I fell back asleep.... When it comes to teaching people prayer techniques, is it inappropriate to instruct adults and children to use the same strategies? I do not think so, because God hears every prayer we say not matter how eloquent or how basic it is.  

Today’s reading is another portion of the lengthy sermon and teaching Jesus said to his disciples just before his crucifixion. We read a different portion of it in worship last Sunday. In today’s portion, Jesus prays...Jesus prays for himself. Jesus prays for the Disciples. Jesus prays for the church. And, then Jesus prays for all people. 

Although this pray of Jesus is not typically used as a model to base our prayers on, maybe it should be. Jesus was preparing for his crucifixion. He knew he was about to undergo a stressful arrest and trial. He knew he would die a terrible death. I think it is fair that Jesus prayed for himself. He prayed for strength and endurance. He prayed that he would be brave. He prayed that he could endure the pain. 

Many of us have also prayed similar prayers for ourselves. When we hear a frightening diagnosis or hear of the death of a loved one, we need to pray prayers for ourselves too. Asking God to be with us amid our time of trial is reassuring. We also need to feel free to ask God for strength and endurance. We also need to ask God to help us be brave and endure the pain. We need to be assured that God will walk with us during our time of fear and suffering.  

Jesus prayed for his Disciples. He wanted them to be comforted and strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit so they would be ok as Jesus underwent his own time of trial. And we do this too.... We pray for the people we are closest to in our lives.... We pray for our partners. We pray for our parents. We pray for our children. We pray for the people we love the most. I suspect our tendency is to pray more for the people we love than we pray for ourselves. We want them to be safe, comfortable, and reassured. Oftentimes, we are willing to suffer so that the people we love will not have to suffer. 

Jesus prayed for the church. We must pray for the people who make up the church. Here at Trinity, we are a small congregation. We know when the Christ’s are on vacation and when Andy has a cold. We notice when people are away. As members of this little body of Christ, we are called to pray on behalf of each other. We are called upon to bear each other’s burdens and share each other’s loads. When a member of our congregation suffers, we suffer alongside them. When a member of this congregation rejoices, we rejoice alongside them. We must pray for the people of this church, and for the people of the universal church, our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Jesus prayed for all of humanity. We are called to be like Jesus, to pray for people who are suffering and hurting throughout the world. We must pray for people who are hungry and thirsty and do not have access to nutritious food or clean drinking water. We must pray for people who have inadequate housing, the homeless people living in tents, in church fellowship halls, and their cars. We must pray for people who live in unsafe places—people who live in the war-torn cities of Ukraine and Palestine, people who live in countries led by dictators, people who live in neighborhoods with gang violence and turf wars. We must pray for refugees and undocumented immigrants and pray for the end of what caused them to become refugees or risk immigrating to a place they are not invited to live. We must pray for the victims of abuse, for the victims of natural disasters, and for the victims of human-made disasters. We must pray for people who are lonely and those who are depressed and those who are addicted. We must pray for the victims of bullies and for the people who become bullies. We must pray for those who are unjustly imprisoned and that people who are justly imprisoned will be reformed. We must pray for all of humanity. 

Jesus’ is a role-model for us in how he showed compassion for the people he loved and for how he showed compassion for himself. When he prayed his prayer that we reflect on this morning, he wanted everyone to feel God’s love and support as they lived through trials and tribulations. Jesus prayed for us. Let us pray for each other and for the people of our world who need support. 

Amen.