Rev. W. Clay Macaulay
A Prayer for All Seasons
(A Sermon Series on the Lord’s Prayer)
(1) In What Manner May We Pray?
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Matthew 6:5-9
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Matthew 6:10 (NRSV) [1]
Today, we begin a series of sermons on “The Lord’s Prayer”. Like the Apostles’ Creed, the ‘Ten Commandments’ and perhaps the 23rd Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer is among the most familiar of teachings and liturgy we offer in the church. It is universal in its appeal and use.
So familiar are the words of this prayer, we may not think about what they mean, or even misunderstand (at times) what they say. You may’ve heard the stories of how sometimes the words of the prayer have been confused, by both children and adults…
who sometimes say…
“Give us this day our jelly bread.”
Or, the kid who was convinced God’s name was ‘Harold’…and cited the prayer as his proof…
“Our Father, which art in heaven, Harold be thy name.”
But the prayer, despite its familiarity, also raises some questions…particularly on what some of the phrases mean, like…
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.[2]
Why do most Presbyterians say ‘debts’ rather than ‘trespasses’ or ‘sins’? Or the
meaning of such phrases like:
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…
or even…
“Hallowed be thy name.”
We will look at these and some other questions, in this series…beginning today as we examine…
The manner in which we are called to pray.
I
What can we learn from the first words of the Lord’s Prayer?
We begin, of course, by saying…
Our Father…
Jesus frequently referred to God in heaven as his ‘Father’.
He used it as a personal reference to God as a loving and faithful parent. In some cases (elsewhere) he called God ‘Abba’ which is an endearing term for father…similar to our familiar names like “Papa” or “Dad.”
But here, Jesus is addressing God as the Creator of all humankind.
One who is responsible for all people…one who is worthy of respect and obedience.
Prayer, of course, is a dialogue…a conversation.
Here Jesus shows us how we may begin a conversation with one whose guidance and direction we may trust – whose word is reliable.
Yet, in these two words, we are taught and given an approach to God that is both proper and personal…formal and familiar.
There’s an ancient story of a Roman emperor, who was returning home from his victorious battles abroad. As he entered the city in triumphal procession, the streets of Rome were lined up with cheering citizens. There were also tall legionnaires stationed along the way (like police officers) to keep the crowd back.
As the emperor neared the palace, his wife and children were watching the parade from a raised platform. Wanting to greet his father personally, with great excitement the emperor’s youngest boy jumped from the platform, pushed his way through the crowd…and nearly got by one of the legionnaires. The soldier swung the boy up in his arms, and said…
“Wait a minute, boy! You can’t go out there. Don’t you know who that is? That’s the emperor. You can’t just run out to his chariot.”
But the youngster just laughed in reply…
“He may be your emperor (said the boy)…but he’s my father.”[3]
There is something deeply personal in the way Jesus taught us to pray. For we pray to One who is far greater than any emperor, king, or president, of course. Yet we may freely approach this God and call him “Our Father.”
II
And as we continue by saying…
Our Father, who art in heaven…
We are affirming something basic to our belief… That this person…(for God is a Person) …who relates to Jesus and us as a loving Father (or Parent), is also the Creator of all.
The Creator of heaven and earth…the eternal realm
as well as all earthly existence.
The Founder and Source of all that is
unseen,
unsearchable,
unknowable (from a human point of view), and
all that we do see,
do search for,
do know and observe (both on earth and in the cosmos).
We worship and speak with a God who is in heaven – the eternal realm
(of which we know only a little)
and with the same God who is also here, with us, beside us in our daily living…who
knows each of us better than we know ourselves.
So, what are we affirming, as together we pray? We look to…
Our Father… One in whom we may place our trust and our confidence,
…who is in heaven… who is both personal and universal….
And then we say…
Hallowed be your name.
It’s not a phrase or greeting we use very often… We speak of certain places we cherish as being ‘hallowed’. Or we sometimes refer to a significant person or past event as a ‘hallowed memory.’
Some time ago, I led a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington…and as I…
· visited the grave of President Kennedy…
· saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier…
· observed the headstones of thousands of men and women
who had served their country…
I recalled (once again) that I was standing on ‘hallowed ground.’
But these uses of the word only approach the piety with which we are to call upon and revere the name of God.
III
You see, in the ancient world, to utter a person’s name signified more than just knowledge of the person…it indicated ability to exert power and control over them.
The naming of a child, by Jewish parents, usually occurred when the infant was eight days old. It was a formal dedication of the child to the Lord. In some churches we follow the custom during the Sacrament of infant baptism, when the minister asks the
parent or parents:
“What is the Christian name of your child?”
To formally name a child was to pledge responsibility and support for her or his well being.
To know a name…is to begin to know the other as a person.
The same is true for the God we serve…although for centuries, the name of the Lord of Israel was never spoken. The Hebrew letters, which we transliterate as…
YHWH
and sometimes translate into English as “the LORD” or “Jehovah,” were never spoken by the pious Hebrew. No one looked at the face of God… No one even spoke God’s holy name.
Jesus is underscoring the sacredness of God’s name…the respect and dignity with which we should give to it by saying…
Our Father in heaven, hallowed is your name…[4]
Or, as William Barclay translates:
“let your name be held holy.”[5]
In the hearing of his closest followers, Jesus says to God…(in effect) “Your name is sacred. We dare not speak it. We come to you respectful of your holiness, your majesty and mystery; humbly asking for your forgiveness and blessing in our lives this day.”
As we offer our prayer in faith, we do not approach God with any sense that what
we say will control or manipulate the will of God.
(Although, at times, we may run the risk of
using prayer in this vein.)
No, it is better to pray with the sense that God is so powerful…so mysterious…that we do not begin to fathom his holy name.
IV
How may we live the prayer we offer?
We may live the prayer in the manner with which we come to God. In teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus suggested that they go to their room…a secret or quiet place, if possible…shut the door and pray to our heavenly Father who is in secret.[6]
Jesus is not disregarding the value and need of corporate prayer in worship…or in some other gathering of believers. But he is reminding the disciples (then as now)…of the manner and intent of prayer.
Prayer, in its purest form, is a time in which we express our devotion to God…our concerns to God…humbly and sincerely. We pray with the awareness…
that God is near…
that God is listening…
that God knows what we are trying to say…
that God will respond to the expressions we offer.
When we pray in private…and faith in God is truly held…then we may speak honestly and directly to our Father in heaven…and open ourselves to the direction and calling God may in turn give to us.
* * * *
The Lord’s Prayer is one we offer in our service of worship each week. It’s a prayer, which not all Christians may say…or say alike. Yet it serves as the model for the prayers Jesus would have us offer as his disciples.
Even in its opening words remind us…
That God is our Father (or loving Parent)…one to whom we are responsible and accountable…one who loves us and in whom we may place our trust.
That God is our Heavenly Father…One who created all there is …who created us…and has a plan for us and for others in the great scheme of things.
And…
That the name of God is hallowed…God’s name is holy, one to be held in reverence above every other name…a name that we hold dear and treat with honor and respect.
To do even that…to believe that as we pray…is a good place to begin.
Endnotes
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture references are taken from The New Oxford Annotated Bible – New Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), a translation by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1989.
[2] “The Lord’s Prayer” (Traditional), as printed in The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), p. 16.
[3] William Barclay, Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1958), pp. 202-203.
