Buenos Dias, Iglesia! Good Morning Church!
*Today we continue with our Back-to-Basics series. We started this series two weeks ago with The Blessing, talking about the importance of great beginnings, traditions, and a sense of perpetuation or continuation. Talking about it we learned the word BENDICION! Which means exactly that, BLESSING.
Last week we moved to the topic of The Ends of Times, BUT rather focusing on The Here and Nowand about what is it that we are called to focused until the time of His comes arrives, which, by the way, we have no clue when will it happen.
SO, if you have missed the last two Sundays, please, that you can always go on line into our website, watch the videos, and/or download the script of the teaching. It is a great way to share the Word of God with others.
*Today, we are beginning a journey through The Lord’s Prayer. We have recited it. We have read it. BUT, I am convinced that it doesn’t matter how many times we say this prayer, every time, we fall short at following or understanding it.
PLEASE, understand thatwe can ONLY try to make the best-educated guess about it, using the sacred texts we have available to us, meaning The Bible.
*So this morning we are focusing on the words,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hollowed Be Thy Name.
What do those words mean to us?
I have to confess I was planning to copy or repeat a sermon from six years ago, BUT something happened this week that made me change my mind.
This week, my husband and I were asked to do the funeral and graveside *services for a 25 year old young E-4 Airman who lost his battle to depression, leaving behind a beautiful wife and three children between the ages of almost 6 and 2.
Suddenly, the words we just uttered acquired a different meaning,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hollowed Be Thy Name.
But, before we attempt to dive into these words, let us say our prayer asking for the Holy Spirit’s help,
*Holy Spirit, thou art welcomed into this place.
Open our eyes to see,
Open our ears to hear,
Our minds to understand,
And warm our hearts to believe.
Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts together be pleasing in your sight. AMEN.
Just at the moment when the father of the young widow and I were grabbing our microphones to begin the service, the oldest son of this soldier came to the front, pulled toward him the urn that contained his *daddy’s ashes, and gave it a hug, and walked away. For those of us who were closed enough to see it, was a pause in time. It was as if he was saying,
My daddy in heaven,
Hollow, Holy, Special, beloved Is Your Name.
During the Eulogy, the young widow said, it will be impossible to forget you, because our three kids are a living copy of you. They will always remind me of you.
I remember one time when my mother and I were walking behind my dad and my brother, and my mother pointed out at how the two of them had the same walk, the same pace, the same kind of swing while walking.
Good or bad, for better or for worse, whether we like it or not, we always take after someone. We always have a role model who, intentionally or unintentionally, plays a great part in the development of our identity.
My dad was a handy man. Now, so is my brother and, my brother’s daughters.
Jesus talked quite a bit about his Heavenly Father and the kind of relationship they shared.
*In John 5:19, Jesus is telling the Jewish leaders,
19 “. . . the Son can do nothing by himself.
He does only what he sees the [his] Father doing.
Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
*And a Little further ahead, in John 10:30 Jesus said,
30 My Father and I are one.”
When the relationship is right, communication flows; communication is profound and meaningful, it is intentional. And, it is a relationship full of accountability and honesty:
*Father, IF posible, pass this cup from me, Jesus dared to ask his Father in heaven. He felt comfortable putting that request out there.
Jesus is modeling to us an intimate relationship that transcended all realms: physical, spiritual, and emotional.
Jesus relationship with his Heavenly Father was a relationship of oneness, one with which no one else could tamper or interfere.
It was one of profound desire and joy. They longed to be in each other’s presence.
There was nothing hidden from each other.
It was one of intimate knowledge, full disclosure, and synchronization.
Look at this,
*Father, IF posible, pass this cup from me,
BUT (immediately)
Yet, not as I will, but as you will. (Matthew 26:39)
When was the last time we had a relationship of full transparency.
TRUE PERSONAL STORY:
I have shared this a couple of times, but here it goes.
At about two years into my marriage my husband said, you know what? You never told me . . . to what I responded saying, “oh honey, sorry, but you missed your chance.” We cannot tell God that because God knows all things.
When Jesus was forgotten, for three days, at the Jerusalem temple, he was seemingly NOT afraid. When his parents – Joseph and Mary – inquired him, his response was relaxed and confident,
Why are you searching for me?
Did you not know that I must be in MY Father’s house?
YET, he, obediently, went back with his earthly parents.
My dad would have said, Really?! Let me show you where your father’s house is.
As Jesus was growing up in wisdom and in divine and human favor, I’d like to think that his life’s moto was,
I not do my will, but the will of the one who sent me.
Some people have not had the blessing of growing up with a father, or with a positive father figure, a daddy who is or was responsable, accountable, transparent, honest, loving, respectful, protector, etc. Keep adding to the list. But God always provides a mentor or a person of integrity to lead the way the right way.
After my second marriage and living with my kids in Chicago, I got sick with bronchitis. My dad traveled from Puerto Rico to take care of me until I recovered.
One morning, he came to my room, sat at the border of my bed and said, let’s pray. He raised his hands and started worshipping.I remember looking at him and telling God, I want a husband like him, who loves you and worships you above all things.
I know what you are wondering. The answer is YES. My husband is one like my dad.
The prayers we treasure and we say will, somehow, be a reflection of our relationship with our Creator, with our Heavenly Father.
Even at the moment when Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray, he is saying, Pray to my Father who is in Heaven. Not to me, but to my Father.
From the moment we come to Christ, the shape of our spiritual identity is challenged by our earthly parents’ example. But, Jesus, our Savior, teaches us through the Holy Spirit.
Paul calls us to allow ourselves to be like Christ, meaning that if Christ is like the Father in heaven, we are called to be like our heavenly father.
What and how we pray will reflects our relationship with God, with our neighbor, and with ourselves.
And the relationship we have with our neighbor and even with ourselves, will affect the relationship with have with God.
OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HOLLOWED BE THY NAME.
The Lord’s Prayer needed to begin this way, because it was necessary to establish the correct relationship, how they saw themselves, and who they were praying to.
When we come to God in prayer, is because we acknowledge that this supreme being whom we are approaching in prayer knows better than us, AND that that is WHY is worthy to be worshiped, HOLLOWED BE THY NAME.
*Pope Benedict XVI said that the beauty of the Lord’s Prayer is that as we pray these words we are praying along with Jesus and Jesus with us.[1]
God is making God-self accessible to us through God’s Son Jesus Christ.
GOD is my Heavenly FATHER and that makes me a Child of God.
PERIOD AND END OF DISCUSSION & No one can take that away from me, nor from you, unless you surrender it.
If you have not said YES to Jesus, make sure you do it TODAY.
Tell Jesus, I want your Father to be MY Father.
And, remember you are of sacred worth because GOD shared his BREATH OF LIFE with you IN THE BEGINNING.
[1] https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/galleries/8-petitions-of-the-lords-prayer.aspx