As we begin our conversation about the Lord’s Prayer this week, I find myself wishing that I could jump in and talk about the larger themes of the prayer. But I can’t, because this week’s phrase — “Our Father in Heaven” — carries so much cultural and theological baggage that must be addressed first.
I wish I could just go straight to, “Oh wow, Jesus was so close to God. He called him ‘Abba.’ We can approach God that way too. We are included in the dance of the Trinity.” I believe all of that is true.
But I can’t get there without dealing with two kind of huge issues.
- God is not male.
- God does not live far away up in heaven.
I’m sure these two statements are not going to rock the world of anyone bothering to read the Darkwood Brew blog. Further, I assume that DB-folks approach Scripture seriously, but not literally. None of you are reaching for your telescopes to look for an old man floating around in the sky.
Still, most churches continue to use this traditional language at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer without any real sense of its metaphorical nature, poetic power, or breadth of meaning. Therefore, the language becomes internalized as literal.
What is the impact of saying, “Our Father in Heaven,” over and over and over in worship, Sunday after Sunday, year after year? What is the impact of making one masculine metaphor the dominant lense through which we name and engage with The Ground of Our Being?
Did Jesus really intend for “Father” to be the only name we use for God? Or are other metaphors (such as those found throughout Scripture) equally acceptable?
If other metaphors are also acceptable, then shouldn’t we at least balance out “Father” with “Mother” as well? Could we start The Lord’s Prayer with “Oh Unexpected Love that has found us?” Or “Holy God of Many Names?”
What does it mean for us to pray to a God who is in “heaven?” This word makes most people think of either the sky or some place you go when you die. Either way, God is far off, looking down on us from a disembodied distance. Somehow I don’t think that Jesus, who declared “the Kingdom of God is among you,” thought God was a remote observer.
Do these traditional words still connect us with God and lead us into deeper love and relationship? Or would a creative re-imagining of some phrases bring us closer to the Spirit in and through which Jesus prayed?
Look, I know that messing with the Lord’s Prayer is absolutely unthinkable to many Christians. These words have been prayed by followers of Jesus for thousands of years. There is a richness to that; a connection with all the saints of the past.
I am not suggesting we stop using the Lord’s Prayer. I am simply suggesting that some of the words of the prayer need to be thoughtfully and prayerfully examined and perhaps reinterpreted.
Jesus once challenged those whose strict observance of Sabbath had become so constricting that it did harm rather than brought life. He said, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.” I wonder if today Jesus might say, “I prayed this prayer as a model to help you connect with God, not to be a barrier or stumbling block. These words are to serve you; you are not enslaved to them.”
Words matter. Words that we recite repeatedly matter even more. They shape us and change us in ways we can not fully understand. We should choose our words about God with care.
Lisa- nice to see you at the DB blog. And I know you have experienced our church’s “Lord’s Prayer” liturgy. For ten years now I have been saying “Our Father, our Mother who art in heaven . . . “. Now when I go to other churches it just seems strange to leave Mom out, so I just take a little longer at the beginning of the prayer. Kind of like those who rush through “trespasses” while everyone else is saying “debtors.” I am thankful to those in my congregation who lived into this change before I even got there.
Dear Catherine: Yes, University Congregational has been the place where I have soaked up prayers that actually resonate with the movement of the Spirit within me. No translation needed! I think the repetition of “Our Father, Our Mother” each week has done much to help me more fully claim my identity as one who is indeed made in the image of God.
Love “our Father, our Mother”! Great post!
Thanks, Deb!
Lisa- thank you for this thought provoking read. I am considering that though I am trying to teach my young daughters to know God in a different way than I did (being raised in a “fundamentalist family”), praying the Lords Prayer with them regularly reinforces “Father” and “Heaven” in their minds. I am not sure what I will do about that, but suddenly I am aware, than even with my best efforts to introduce a bigger God to them, some old routines may introduce ideas that I had not intended. I am eager to follow our series on the Lord’s Prayer and bring new life to this familiar passage.
Hi Tara: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I struggle with the same issues in trying to communicate with my boys about a God that is bigger than the one I knew in my fundamentalist past. Prayer has actually been the most difficult place for me because for a time I found the forms of prayer I was used to no longer worked for me. When we are personally reconstructing our understanding of God, it can be really challenging to do God-talk with our kids! I continue to explore this in conversations (like this one!) with other parents seeking to follow God in the way of Jesus. Learning new ways to pray, and sharing that process with our family, can be a very life-giving pursuit. Blessings to you as you continue this journey.
Here is a version of the Lord’s Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book:
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.
Amen
Love, love, love this! SO beautiful, Stuart. Thank you for sharing! I especially like the phrase: “Loving God, in whom is heaven.”
Stuart, I love this prayer. I have had a hard time feeling any great “connection” when I say the Lord’s Prayer, but this stirs something in me. When we say the Lord’s Prayer in church, I often just listen to the people around me (kind of “vampire” off their prayer-in a good way ;). I think I will get more out of saying the Lord’s Prayer in church after sitting with this prayer. Thanks!
Lisa,
I enjoyed reading your post. The last 4 sentences spoke loudest to me. Thanks for sharing your insights with us!
Thanks, Anji!
In Neil Douglas-Klotz’ “Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus” the first line of the Lord’s Prayer is transliterated as ‘Abwoon d’bwashmaya’. He explains the sound-meaning of ‘abwoon’ in the following way:
A: the absolute, the only Being, the pure Oneness and Unity,source of all power and stability.
bw: a birthing, a creation, a flow of blessing, as if from this Oneness to us.
oo: the breath or spirit that carries this flow, echoing the sound of breathing and including all forces we now call magnetism, wind, electricity, and more. This sound is linked to the Aramaic phrase, ‘rukha d’goodsha’,which was later translated as “Holy Spirit”.
n : the vibration of this creative breath from Oneness as it touches and interpenetrates form. There must be a substance that this force touches, moves and changes. This sound echoes the earth, and the body here vibrates as we intone the whole name slowly: Ah-bw-oo-n.
The rest of the phrase completes the motion of divine creation. In ‘d’bwashmaya’ the central root is found in the middle: ‘shm’. From this root comes the word ‘shem’, which means light,sound, vibration, name or word. The root ‘shm’ indicates that which “rises and shines in space,” the entire sphere of a being. In this sense, one’s name included one’s sound, vibration, or atmosphere, and names were carefully given and received. [a personal observation: This give added power and richness to Jesus instruction to; “ask in my name” … ask in my sound, vibration, or atmosphere. ] Here the “sign” or “name” that renders ABWOON knowable is the entire universe. The ending ‘-aya’ shows that this shining includes every center of activity, every place we see, as well as the potential abilities of all things. In effect, ‘shmaya says that the vibration or word by which one cane recognize the Oneness — God’s name — is the universe. This was the Aramaic conception of “heaven”. This word is central to many of the sayings of Jesus and usually misunderstood. In Greek and later in English, “heaven” became a metaphysical concept out of touch with the process of creation. It is difficult for the Western mind to comprehend how one word can have such seemingly different meanings. Yet this was the world view of the native Middle Eastern Mystic.”
A little long winded, but discovering this author’s work opened up an entirely new appreciation of the Lord’s Prayer. I hope it works for you.
This is very interesting, Raymond, and not work that I was familiar with before now. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Douglas-Klotz provides seven translations of Abwoon d’bwasmaya or Our Father in heaven. Two of them are :
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
you create all that moves
in light
Source of Sound: in the roar and the whisper,
in the breeze and the whirlwind, we
hear your name
Such rich language! Beautiful.
Nice post, Lisa! I especially like your analogy between the Lord’s Prayer and the Sabbath – that it’s created for us, not the other way around.
Thanks, Eric! Looking forward to seeing where things go with this topic on Sunday.
Chance Hunter offers this version, his attempt to articulate what the Lord’s Prayer speaks to him…
(Here: http://www.timesandseasons.net/2011/the-lords-prayer-an-alternate-version/ )
Breath of Life,
In whom we live and move and have our being,
Your presence fills all of Creation.
May justice and mercy reign,
In our lives and in our world.
Today may our bellies be full,
Our hearts warm,
And our fellowship open.
May we reconcile with the people we’ve hurt,
Just as we reconcile with the people who’ve hurt us.
Lead us not into a time of trial,
But deliver us from evil.
For wherever grace and community abide,
There you are with us;
We are not alone.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Patrick. I love the reworking of Our Father in Heaven to really get at the Life-sustaining nature of God and our dependence on God for Life itself. The reconciliation language is also a helpful re-framing of the sins/debts phrase. Terrific version. I love it!