We Have Him at 'Hello'

Spirituality Column #116
January 27, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

We Have Him at ‘Hello’
By Bob Walters

Third in a series on The Lord’s Prayer

The familiar Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 has seven petitions (or requests), but don’t ever underestimate the importance of its one salutation:

Our Father who art in Heaven.

Where God is concerned, “what” we are asking for is never as important as “Who” we are asking it from.

“Our Father” describes a unique relationship with God that only Christ, His incarnate Son, makes possible. God the Father, Christ the Son, mankind the saved.

Understanding that relationship is the key to salvation.

God of course is neither a man nor woman, He is God. “Mother” – while certainly a loving title – is never used in the Bible as a title or reference to God likely because of the confusing and multiple earthly/pagan mother deities worshiped in Biblical times.

Besides, as Pope Benedict XVI points out in his 2007 book, Jesus of Nazareth, the implication of a mother’s womb would be that mankind is “of God” – a continuation of the Creator – and not a completely separate creation from the Creator.

So why are we here?

God created us for fellowship, and our purpose is to bring Him glory. That’s not a sexist thing; it’s a very, very major God thing. And when we pray, however we pray, our first aim should be to address God as Who He truly is … our Creator Who desires a personal relationship with each of us.

Jesus, the Lord, taught us this particular prayer that begins by calling God “Our Father.” While capital-F “Father,” because of Christ the Son, is a common title for God in the New Testament, in the Old Testament only Isaiah 9:16’s prophecy of Christ refers to God as Father.

“Our Father,” then, is an expression of our trust and faith in Jesus; that He is Who He says He is – Christ – and that He has described God as God should truly be understood: as the one Creator who created us, loves us, gives us freedom, and sent his Son to give us eternal access to eternal fellowship with God in Heaven.

You have all that just by saying, “Our Father who art in Heaven.”

After that, what more do you really need to ask for?

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will outline the seven petitions next week. Please don’t spend much time on the Jerry McGuire / Tom Cruise “Hello” line.

Whoops! A Prayer in 'Our' Pocket

Spirituality Column #115
January 20, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Whoops! A Prayer in ‘Our’ Pocket
By Bob Walters

Second in a series on The Lord's Prayer

I always felt that the Lord’s Prayer was enough.

It’s not, of course. But when I wasn’t going to church, hadn’t been saved, and couldn’t make sense of the Trinity as one God or the Bible as two inerrant stanzas of the same inerrant book, I had the Lord’s Prayer.

I’d learned it as a kid in church without thinking about the prayer itself. On the rare, usually awful intervening occasion (those non-church years) when I felt a tug to call out to God, the only club I had in my bag was the Lord’s Prayer. I’d pray it alone, never noticing the language.

It wasn’t until after I’d been baptized as a mature adult and began studying when one shocking day I noticed:

“Our Father …”

“Give us …”

“… our daily bread”

“… forgive us”

“… our trespasses/debts”

“… we forgive …

“… against us/our debtors”

“… lead us”

“… deliver us”

It was the first time I realized: it’s not a prayer about me. It’s a prayer about “our” and “we” and “us.” It’s a prayer about community. It points to our earthly community as believers and, perhaps more subtly, to the divine community of the Trinity.

Christianity isn’t about being “alone.” It’s not about being away from others or away from God. “Our,” “we,” “those” and “us” are all first person plural pronouns. No singular. No “me.” No “I.”

Jesus links us together in faith. Through His incarnation, death and resurrection (his humanity and the Cross), He links us with the holy and eternal “Our Father” God – not just in the immediate here and the imperfect today, but forever in the same perfect place He dwells, sharing His perfect presence.

We need Jesus, and we need each other. The Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, the Pater Noster … the prayer is about all of us.

Even when we pray it alone.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) suggests on this inauguration day we pray for our nation, pray for President Barack Obama and his family, and read Romans 13. Next week: the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

A Prayer in My Pocket

Spirituality Column #114
January 13, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

A Prayer in My Pocket
By Bob Walters

First in a series on The Lord's Prayer

Having grown up in the Episcopal Church of the 1960s, the Lord’s Prayer was a weekly staple in the worship service:

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

It was something you learned as a kid “by heart” (memorized) … like the Pledge of Allegiance or the Boy Scout Oath. You heard it over and over and just knew it in case you ever needed it, but probably never thought seriously about what it meant.

Today outside the liturgical churches such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist and a very few other denominations (“liturgy” means standardized worship services and prayers), the Lord’s Prayer is not part of the routine Christian experience. I think that’s sad.

And speaking of routine (and sad), at this point many Christians would routinely begin to argue various points of this example of the Lord’s Prayer:
- It’s “debts” not “trespasses;”
- No, wait … it should be “sins;”
- The “thy” and “thine” language is antiquated;
- “For thine is the Kingdom … ” etc., is a doxology and not part of the Catholic version;
- You should pray what’s in your heart, not some rote bit of archaic liturgy.
- It’s not a prayer, it’s an instruction.

The Lord’s Prayer comes from the Bible: Matthew 6:9-13 in the Sermon on the Mount, and again in Luke 11:2-4. Matthew, in the Greek, says “debts” (Gk opheilema), while Luke says “sins” (Gk hamartia). “Trespasses” doesn’t appear in any version of the Bible … the word was inserted in the prayer by Origen of Alexandria in the third century.

Christians often fight and disagree over all the wrong things, but here is why the Lord’s Prayer, to me, is critical:

When I wasn’t going to church and needed a prayer with no idea how to pray, I could say the Lord’s Prayer and know Jesus was listening.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes God loves all of us all the time; many of us however do a bad job of loving God. More on the Lord’s Prayer next week.

Reflecting God's Gift

Spirituality Column #113
January 6, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) Newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) Newspaper

Reflecting God’s Gift
By Bob Walters
Book available at Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

We are nearly through Christmas, a gift-giving season when people reflect on Jesus Christ more than any other time of year.

I say “nearly” because the Orthodox (Greek, Russian, Eastern, etc.) Christmas (Julian calendar) is actually tomorrow, Jan. 7. Fans of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” know that yesterday or today, depending on which Christian part of the world you’re in, is the “Twelfth Day of Christmas.”

Today, Jan. 6, marks the start of the ecclesiastical season of Epiphany (Gregorian calendar), celebrating the Magi’s visit to the child Jesus and thereby manifesting Christ to the gentiles (a very big deal … it meant Jesus came for all mankind).

Feel free to Google any of these terms if you care to ingest a larger dose of church history and ecclesiastical tradition. Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians all agree on Christ’s position as Son in the Father-Son-Spirit Trinity, but – even congregation by congregation – take vastly different approaches to doctrine, worship, salvation and church organization.

Christianity can look very confusing from the outside; shoot … it can look very confusing from the inside. Yet many of us arrive at a point where faith overrides confusion, and for that we must thank the Holy Spirit.

Especially at Christmas we Christians love to say “Jesus Christ is” this or that: He is Truth, Love, Hope, Joy, Mercy, Salvation, the Way, Light, Good Shepherd, Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, etc. Then we harshly judge and/or argue with those who simply look at us and say, “I don’t understand.”

If there is one thing we should know as Christians it’s that our actions are our real witness, not our words. “No one is argued to faith,” Cal Thomas wrote recently.

As badly as we may want to provide an understanding of Christian faith to others, we can no more do that by ourselves than provide salvation. Helping us understand our faith is the Holy Spirit’s job; Salvation is Christ’s job.

And this is true: We can’t, won’t understand Christ until we involve the Holy Spirit.

When Christmas is over, many people stop reflecting on Jesus. Believers should make it a point every day to be a reflection of Jesus that will make others ask the Holy Spirit to awaken understanding inside of them.

That understanding is a gift God provides every day of the year.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) isn’t missing his own advice about words … that’s why these columns are short.