Our Father

In my Lenten devotions this year, the Lord’s Prayer has played a prominent role, as I have been thinking about the meaning of this prayer that I have offered thousands of times.  In last Sunday’s sermon, I spoke about the prayer’s fourth petition, “Forgive us our sins.”  Now, I offer this reflection on the prayer's opening.

“Pray in this way: Our Father in Heaven...” (Matthew 6:9)

Jesus teaches us to begin our prayer with a most blessed gift: we get to call God our Father just as Jesus calls God his Father.  This implies our brotherhood with Jesus.  Our Father is the same Father of our Lord, which makes us Jesus’ siblings.  This tells us something about our relationship with God.  We are not first and foremost to think of ourselves as criminals in God’s courtroom, but as God’s children – family members in the household of God.  We are given confidence to pray boldly and honestly. Our prayer is being offered in the family room of God’s household, not in God’s courtroom.  We do not address God our judge, but God our Father.

           

            There are two primary ways in which God is our Father.  First, God is the Father of all creation.  Each of us is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27).  Since God is the one who formed us and knew us before we were even in the womb (Jer 1:5), it follows that each of us is a child of God and can rightly call God our Father.  So, when we pray “Our Father” we are immediately reminded of our unity with all human beings.  God is not “my” Father, as if I bear some special privilege that others do not.  God is our Father, and we are all brothers and sisters by virtue of our status as persons created in the image of God.

            Yet, for those who are incorporated into Christ’s body (the church) through baptism, there is yet another way in which God is our Father.  When we are baptized, we receive the seal of the Holy Spirit, which marks us as adopted children of God (Rom 8:15-16).  In the act of baptism we participate in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus (Rom 6:1-12).  Our old sinful life is drowned in the baptismal waters, and we are reborn (John 3:3-8), arising from the waters a new person – a child of God.  We enter the waters as children of Adam, heirs of sin and death. We arise from the waters as children of God, heirs of God’s kingdom and eternal life.

            While calling God our Father is indeed a great gift of grace, it is also a great responsibility for us who have been adopted as God’s children.  In our baptism God calls us to lead lives that are worthy of the children of God (Rom 12:1).  This means that we should submit to the commands of our Father, who calls us to walk before him in holiness and righteousness.  Our lives should testify to the goodness and love of our Father who formed us in his image.  To pray “Our Father” is both to remember the gracious Spirit of adoption we received in baptism, while also proclaiming our responsibility to live as children of God.

           

            The next time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, pause and reflect on the significance of calling God your Father.  If you have already been baptized, remember your baptism and the great commitment God made in adopting you.  If you are yet to be baptized, consider what a gracious gift we have in being created in God’s image.  Once you have reflected on these things, ask yourself if you are living a life worthy of a child of God.  Do you bring honor and glory to your Father through the way you live?  What areas of your life miss the mark when it comes to living faithfully as God’s child?