“Our Father in heaven” Matthew 6:9 Our Father – If you spend any time with Christian commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, you will soon discover the common assertion that this prayer is unusual because Jews did not address God as “our Father.” This idea seems to come from the work of a Christian German theologian…
Hallowed be Thy Name. Matthew 6:9 Hallowed – Have you ever asked what it means to “hallow” His name? Our first intuition is that it must have something to do with honoring, like the second Commandment. But “hallow” is not a familiar word anymore. Perhaps is never was. Today we are left with this nebulous,…
Our Father in heaven Matthew 6:9 Our Father – The usual interpretation of this opening phrase focuses on fatherhood. Questions are raised about how we can understand God as Father if we lack examples of human fathers. This is, of course, a monumental problem in our culture today. With more and more children raised in…
“Pray, then, in this way.” Matthew 6:9 Pray – Do you say the Lord’s Prayer? Most of us do. We have since childhood. It’s part of the liturgy now. But I wonder if we actually pray as the Lord instructed. You see, Jesus was not teaching us a prayer. He was teaching how to pray. …
