DAILY BYTE
This week, and at various intervals over the next couple of months, we’ll be studying portions of the Lord’s Prayer, which has much to teach us about the principles of prayer in general.
Today and tomorrow we will focus on the very first word of this prayer, which is ‘Father’. In Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer we read that Jesus said to his disciples, “When you pray say, ‘Father!’”
Matthew’s version of this prayer is a little different from Luke’s. But in both Matthew and Luke, in the original Greek, the first word of the prayer is the same – Pater, which means ‘Father!’
According to the teaching of Jesus, when we pray the first thing we should say is ‘Father’, which in its essence is a personal, relational word. Don’t get tripped up by what may seem to be a gender bias in the word. This is not about God’s gender, as if God could be confined to the categories of ‘male’ or ‘female’. And this is not to exclude God being thought of in mothering terms.
The 14th century mystic Julian of Norwich famously said, ‘As surely as God is our Father, just as surely is God our Mother.’ That is true. And the scriptures are full of motherly images of God.
But that’s not the point here. In calling God ‘Father’, Jesus was making a bold assertion. The God whom we approach in prayer is not some impersonal organizing principle of the universe. Neither is this God a distant, inaccessible deity, nor a frightening presence before whom we should cower in terror.
No, according to Jesus, God is our Father. A personal, relational being with whom intimacy, and tenderness, and love can be shared. A God before whom we can stand with confidence, with a trusting conviction that we can come without fear of being crushed, but with the expectation of being heard and embraced.
Jesus encourages us to come before God, not as sniveling worms, but as cherished children. Jesus encourages us to come with the bold and persistent expectation that God will deal with us with tenderness, kindness and compassion.
This is an important principle of prayer that we need to take note of. Prayer is not so much a religious thing, it’s a relationship thing. As soon as it becomes about religious requirements and legalistic obligations and formulaic do’s and don’ts, it’s no longer prayer as Jesus understood it – namely the building of relationship with a loving heavenly Father.
PRAY-AS-YOU-GO
God of love and grace, thank you that you have given yourself to us, and simply ask that we give ourselves to you. Thank you that you want a relationship with us. Thank you that we can come to you as we are, without pretending or having to perform. Thank you that the truest prayer you desire is simply when we are honest and real with you. Help us to pray more and more in a way that builds our relationship with you. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 11:10-13
Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing—you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"
