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Along the Way
Recollections of Our Trip Through
The Lord and His Prayer
8-9-09
Text: Luke 11:1-13, Matthew 6:9-13
● God must have known that this whole prospect of talking to an unseen deity
about issues of our life might be a bit problematic for us [that even if
we’re not convinced it’s effective, at least it feels “therapeutic”].
● Jesus also knew that our views of God will significantly shape and effect
our approach to him. Polls consistently reveal that Americans have (4)
distinct views of God:
1. Authoritarian --- he’s got a certain way that he wants things to
be done and has very little patience for variation. He has the capacity to
accomplish his desires, all the while making you think that your
contribution is actually effectual. Approaching a God like this seems a bit
futile.
2. Benevolent--- he’s just nice. He’s a humanitarian. He’s like the
kindly old grandfather who sneaks you the candy bar when your parents aren’t
looking. He tends to “wink” at our selfishness and always postured to
indulge us. This view of God certainly makes him more approachable, but with
less respect because he’s such a push-over.
3. Elusive --- he’s just kind of hard to pin down. He’s more like a
cosmic force or energy to be tapped. In terms of his involvement with us…
he’s kind of like the (14)-year old Life Guard who knows you’re in the pool,
but who’s probably not going to notice your appeals for help. Prayer to a
God like this is not real compelling; after all, what good would it do.
4. Judgmental--- when he considers all that he has made, he’s
primarily just disappointed. While he is aware and involved, he’s operating
on a short fuse. We pray because we know that we should and we are in hopes
that if he does respond, he’ll say something nice about us.
● The people Jesus was addressing lived in a world saturated with prayer.
They had daily habits of prayer, they memorized prayers, they had
“blessing prayers” which were
abbreviated responses to daily life, such as:
- when you heard the rooster crow in the a.m., you would say,
“Blessed is he who has given the
rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night”.
- when putting on your shoes, you would say,
“Blessed is he who provides for all
my needs”.
Around 400 A.D., rabbis added a prayer to be used
after going to the bathroom which read,
“Blessed is He who has formed man in
wisdom and created in him many orifices and many cavities”.
● It would resemble, in a way, teaching our children to say “please” and
“thank you”. They were small phrases which have the capacity to instill
gratitude and awareness of God and others.
Jesus also knew that when it is observed with such strict regularity, it can
easily morph into something rigid and lifeless. When we start to focus on
such things as frequency and postures and methods, prayer loses it
relational rhythm.
The joy of cooking gets lost in the
recipe!
● In Matthew 6, Jesus is contrasting his approach to God with the types of
prayer being utilized in the non-Jewish world. They were convinced that the
gods were generally inattentive to humanity, so prayer was a means of
persuading them through frantic repetition. It was an attempt to figure out
the “right combination” in order to secure a favorable response. Jesus
called it “babbling” or “vain repetition”.
Remember, our story is not about humanity trying to get the attention of the
gods, but about God trying to get our attention.
"Our Father in heaven,…
Prayer ensures that we remain centered in God and that axis always prevents
us from ignoring each other. The simple word “our” immediately takes prayer
out of the context of our own pursuits and broadens it and makes it more
inclusive. It’s so easy to become ‘myopic’ in prayer; to fail to remain
conscious of those whose well-being is our concern as well.
Prayer that doesn’t begin and end with God, quickly ventures into our own
selfish pursuits; in essence, it becomes a ‘monologue’.
● But, “Our Father”, is more than
just a term of cozy familiarity; it was
a bold, Messianic declaration.
The first occurrence of the concept of God as Father comes when Moses
confronts Pharaoh in Exodus 4: “This
is what the Lord says:
The phrase was the hope of rescue; the slaves were to be considered
‘sons’. When Jesus tells his
disciples to call God their “Father”, he was preparing them for a new
exodus.
● God promised to King David someone who would come from his lineage who
would rule over God’s kingdom which would last forever. Of this King, God
said to David in 2 Samuel, “I will be
his Father and he will be my son”.
So, Jesus says, “If you’ve seen me,
you’ve seen…”
Be reminded that when we identify ourselves with Jesus, we make that same
risky claim!
Our identity and mission are contained in the address of
“Father”… to be aware of what he
is doing and to perpetuate that heart and mission to a disorderly world
(“As the Father has sent me…”)
hallowed be your name,…
If God’s name is to be considered holy by our culture, it will be
contingent, in great part, upon the way that we as his sons and daughters
portray him to the world.
The prayer established this delicate balance between holiness and
familiarity.
● There is a danger in over-emphasizing his “otherness”--- he appears aloof,
disconnected, unsympathetic. On the other hand, God is not just a
“slightly-better” version of us;
he’s not us on steroids!
If we over-emphasize his “involvement”, we overlook his uniqueness, his
otherness and treat him as if he’s ordinary.
your kingdom come,…
Psalm 93:1-2
“The Lord is King! He is robed in majesty. Your throne, O Lord, has stood
from time immemorial”.
● When we pray, “your kingdom come”,
we are:
--- first of all, declaring our frustration with the way things are; with
systems and structures which ignore the rule of God.
--- secondly, placing ourselves in the context of a world that is created
and cared for by God.
● It reminds us that God refuses to “impose” the will of the Kingdom on us
like some anxious and insecure dictator; he lovingly and mercifully awaits
our trusting response to his invitation. God’s sovereignty is rarely
overwhelming and willingly allows for non-participation.
But, it also reminds us that one day God’s Kingdom will come on the earth,
not to just to “flaunt his authority”, but because it’s what’s best for the
world.
Everything about our life of prayer concerns life “on earth”. Prayer keeps our feet firmly planted in the present; “in the world”, as Jesus said. It’s not some ethereal exercise or an attempt to escape from the world. The earth is where God’s space and ours intersect; meld together into a return to creative-design.
your will be done…
Not just a passive resignation… “Oh,
God’s going to do what he wants anyway, so I guess I’ll just have to
learn to live with it.” No, it means re-aligning ourselves with God’s
desires so that we might participate in his Kingdom. It reminds us that life is neither random nor futile.
Give us today our daily bread. We can hardly pray prayer with any sincerity when we have enough surplus to survive a drought of biblical proportions.
In prayer, we denounce the misguided notion that to be human is to be
“self-sufficient”. We don’t pray to become less needy; we pray in order to
become more dependent… more human.
Needs prepare us for a life of grace; the readiness to live in the dynamic
of receiving and giving. Nothing dulls our senses toward God like feelings
of entitlement or self-sufficiency.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Jesus says, in no uncertain terms, that the sure sign that his followers had
experienced forgiveness for themselves would be their willingness to extend
it to others.
The forgiveness we offer to one another is to be an expression of
“the Kingdom come” and
“the Kingdom coming”.
Indebtedness is a “relationship killer”. It always obscures our view of
another human being. Any form of indebtedness causes us to harbor attitudes
of restitution or retaliation. All we see are all the ways that others are
“obliged” to us. It’s what
transpires when stewardship becomes ownership. But to forgive debt is to set
another free!
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
We confess that we are too easily seduced; too easily caught off-guard. We
acknowledge all the ways that our goodness goes bad. Nothing is as repulsive
as something good that’s gone bad [remember that evil started in the context
of all that was right and good].
The entire prayer is based on Jesus’ conviction that the present world is
under the influence of evil (and the evil one).
Prayer is about battle…
deliver us, rescue us, make us aware.
God’s desires for a world set right and made whole are being accomplished in
history in ways that remain both incomplete and mysterious; that although
many have gladly accepted the invitation to become part of this Kingdom,
there are still many who oppose it, or deny it and who erect obstacles which
make it difficult for others to enter.
It’s your Kingdom, your power and your glory forever. Amen”
~To pray this prayer means that we will not be satisfied until this Kingdom,
this glory and this power become the rule of the day. It means that we
cannot, with sincerity, pray this prayer and allow ourselves to be conformed
to the shaping influence of another kingdom.
~We can only pray this prayer as we are willing to see the world as God’s
sees it: with the loving adoration of the Creator and the deep grief that he
experiences as a result of its present broken condition.
~We can only pray this prayer if we are willing to commit to become a
community of Kingdom-participants: making his name holy by demonstrating a
life of transformed-affections, providing sustenance to those in need,
receiving and extending forgiveness, hating evil and clinging to good.
You get the sense that if we truly prayer the prayer, we might just have to
do something about it; to actually become part of God’s answer to the world.
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