April 20, 2016

“Our Father who art in heaven.”

What does this mean?–Answer.
God would thereby [with this little introduction] tenderly urge us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him confidently with all assurance, as dear children ask their dear father.” (Martin Luther’s explanation of The Lord’s Prayer – Small Catechism)

Let this be the first and most important point, that all our prayers must be based and rest upon obedience to God, irrespective of our person, whether we be sinners or saints, worthy or unworthy. And we must know that God will not have it treated as a jest, but be angry, and punish all who do not pray, as surely as He punishes all other disobedience; next, that He will not suffer our prayers to be in vain or lost. For if He did not intend to answer your prayer, He would not bid you pray and add such a severe commandment to it.

In the second place, we should be the more urged and incited to pray because God has also added a promise, and declared that it shall surely be done to us as we pray, as He says Ps. 50:15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee. And Christ in the Gospel of St.Matthew 7:7: Ask, and it shall be given you. For every one that asketh receiveth. Such promises ought certainly to encourage and kindle our hearts to pray with pleasure and delight, since He testifies with His [own] word that our prayer is heartily pleasing to Him, moreover, that it shall assuredly be heard and granted, in order that we may not despise it or think lightly of it, and pray at a venture.” (Martin Luther’s explanation of The Lord’s Prayer – Large Catechism)

Here, in the beginning of the prayer, we lay out identity and location. We pray to a G-d we call our “Father” – and this is good and this is difficult. It is good because our G-d wants to be in relationship with us as a father to their child. It is bad because many have a negative or absent image of a father figure in their lives. So, how do we bridge this difficulty with the experiences we have today? I would say that along with the term “Father” we need to embrace the image of one who was exactly what a father figure should be in our lives – the one who was care taker, role model, mentor, and compassionate guardian.

Where is this person we call “Father”? Well, in heaven. Where is that? Good question, for there are all kinds of responses for us to consider. There is the answer that says heaven is “up there”. That could be, but we also can say that heaven is “all around us”. Heaven, in the truest sense, is everywhere that we can not access in this dimension. It could be above, to the right, to the left, in front or behind us. This is the realm that G-d possesses. G-d, in essence, is everywhere. G-d, who is in heaven, exists where we place our hope for an eternal existence – but also exists wherever G-d wishes to exist – which is everywhere. Think about that…..

Pastor Dave