[Hos. 1:2-10; Colos. 2:6-15; Lk. 11:1-13]
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Amen.
Our Father...
It’s called the Prayer of All Christians, and we find two versions of it in the New Testament, in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11.
Traditionally, it has been prayed three times a day, and you’ll be hard pressed to find an example of a worship service, sacramental or not, in which this prayer isn’t included.
Hundreds if not thousands of sermons have been preached on it, commentaries written, books published.
There are numerous musical settings of it, and in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, this prayer even has its own Carmelite church and convent.
The Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain has pointed out that
“The Lord’s Prayer was a prayer written by Christ himself, whose major themes are bread and trespassing. - You’re all running it through your head here, aren’t you.”
Yes? That’s exactly what Ó Briain told his audience.
From the onset, from the invocation, this prayer is bold yet humble, an intimate grace; it has a grand smallness to it, or a compact grandeur if you will.
Because who would dare to address the Creator of the universe so directly, without a litany of words or accompanying sacrifices as was customary in the ancient world?
“Do not” Jesus told us “keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” (Mt. 6:7)
We’re invited and encouraged, in simple sentences, to invoke the Divine, and call the Creator of the world, the Origin of existence, the great I AM
‘Father,
Mother,
Parent,
Carer
and Caregiver.’
When his disciples asked him “Lord, teach us how to pray.”, Jesus offered them this little gem, this veritable prayer treasure trove, which incorporates great theological statements, and yet is simultaneously a very concise and practical set of petitions aimed at everyday life.
One of the great Christian truths found in the Lord’s Prayer in the most unexpected way is the Trinity.
This is very important, because when we speak of God as Trinity, we not only speak of who God is: communion, be-ing, love; but also of what God does: creating, interacting, loving.
The Father we find hiding in plain sight.
Saint Augustine, Teacher of the Church, interpreted ‘in heaven’ as here with us, “in sanctis et iustis, in the holy and righteous.” God dwells in his temple and the saints are his temple, so ‘in heaven’ means ‘in the saints.’ (On the Sermon on the Mount, ii, 5, 17-18) -‘saints’ isn’t a moral classification, btw.
The Creator of the universe hiding in plain sight, closer to us than we could ever imagine.
The Lord’s Prayer refusing to separate the divine from humanity, heaven from earth.
Proximity is one of the things our God does best.
The Son we find in the Name, holy, creative, not to be taken in vain or misused. (Ex. 20:7)
“Therefore God... gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,.. Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philip. 2:9-11)
“Father, glorify your name...” Jesus prayed “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (Jn. 12:28)
The Spirit we find in ‘the kingdom’ but also in ‘the reign, the dominion’, because the original Greek basileía has that double meaning.
We’re subjects of the kingdom, we’re part of the governing of our God, we’re co-workers with God in creation.
It’s not just about the afterlife, but about building the kingdom of God in our time and for our world, because if life is eternal then that includes the here and now.
To fulfil God’s will on earth requires patience, we can’t skip ahead, there’s still too much work to be done.
The Trinity is the very blueprint of the Lord’s Prayer: it’s God, us and the neighbour, and it suggests we connect God and the neighbour.
The Lord’s Prayer is a blueprint for life: for living and communing and worshipping and creating.
As we progress through our prayer, we learn about Law and Gospel, about receiving in order to give, about being freed in order to set free.
This is why we pray for the needs all: our bread not my bread.
This is why we ask for forgiveness so we can better forgive: our trespasses and them that trespass.
This is why we want all to feel safe and valued and lifted up: lead us not, deliver us.
God, us and the neighbour.
Community, fellowship, Church.
In the catechism of the Lutheran tradition, more than half of the petitions are accompanied by the question ‘What does this mean?’ or in German ‘Wie geschieht das? How does this happen?’
It’s not about blind faith but about open hearts and open minds.
It’s a continuing dialogue, an ongoing exchange.
What’s more, it’s not necessarily the one teaching the catechism who’s asking the questions.
Back to Dara Ó Briain.
The comedian informs us that
“Somewhere, when we handed over all the documents to you, around the time of Martin Luther, you took this one and thought, ‘All very well, but -bleep-, we’ll stick a gazebo at the back of it, right, we might knock through here and make it a bit longer and a bit more exciting, increase the resale value years down the line.’ And it’s longer in the Protestant faith.”
Like the angels before God’s throne, who’re constantly praising, exalting, so we too are called to constantly pray.
Prayer, notably the Lord’s Prayer is one of the hallmarks of the Church, a wedding gift from the Groom to his Bride, a kind of wedding band, een trouwring in Flemish/Dutch, a ring of fidelity.
Communion, be-ing, love.
Creating, interacting, loving.
Trinity.
The Lord’s Prayer is our blueprint, our inheritance, a shared inheritance for the whole Church. The Prayer of All Christians.
It’s our shared gospel book, our liturgy and theology book.
It’s our guide, our intercession, our vocation.
It connects us to the Trinity in the most basic human wording, and at the same time through the most wonderful and eternal truths.
“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” (i Chron. 29:11)
“For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”