Our Father

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father, hallowed be your name.                      Luke 11:1-2

                           Painting 45E                           K. Robinson

In this land of rugged individualism where evangelical preachers beseech us to develop a “personal relationship with Jesus,” I am struck by the fact that our Lord, when he taught his disciples to pray, instructed them to say, “Our Father.”  It is as though Jesus was reminding them that God is not property – and entity held in the hands of the most pious, but a mystery to be held corporately, to be worshiped corporately, to be praised corporately.

“Our Father,” suggests that we are not beseeching God alone, due to our own merits or piety, but as a unifying act on behalf of humanity. It recalls the church “catholic” – small “c” – wherein we are all a part of something must larger than ourselves. When I pray with others, I feel the kinship and love of God as it links us together in a unifying mystery that makes relationships stronger, compassion more visible, and faith more visceral.

For this I give thanks.