The Lord’s Prayers
This past Sunday I talked about the Lord’s prayer — not the usual one, but the shorter version: “Abba!” The apostle Paul refers to this prayer in both Romans 8 and Galatians 4: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” So it is the Spirit of Jesus in us that cries, “Abba!” Sometimes it’s a cry of delight and praise (“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” [Luke 10:21]); at other times a “groaning” (Romans 8:26) and a call for help (“‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me’…And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” [Luke 22:42,44]).
Maybe learning how to pray the “Abba” prayer can teach us how to pray the “Our Abba” prayer, or what our Catholic sisters and brothers refer to as the “Our Father.” Maybe instead of mindlessly droning the words in “vain repetition,” unconsciously parroting the same monotone pitch of our fellow worshippers, we’re meant to cry or cry out the prayer with the same delight, groaning and pleading of the one-word version.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!” Is this meant to be a somber, formal reverential form of address, or a childlike exclamation of praise? (Actually, Jesus’ contemporaries would have considered this an irreverential way to address God.) How do you think Jesus prayed these words? What about ”Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”? Is this one of those petitions that’s so general as to be generic, or is our saying these words a way to express our anguish over the state of the world and our deep desire for Jesus to finish what he began 2000 years ago? Are we crying for divine intervention or just trying to be theologically correct?
I suggest that we start with the shorter Lord’s prayer. If we can learn how to say and pray “Abba!,” then the other Lord’s prayer will probably come alive for us. Delighting, groaning, pleading — maybe we really do have to become like children to enter the Kingdom of God.
Maybe in order to pray the “adult” Lord’s prayer, we need to learn how to pray the child’s version first.
May 13, 2008 at 5:57 pm
My earthly dad died when I was ten. In all the years since, right up until some time during 24/45, I always would express that I had grown up without a father. But now, at my age, I know that’s not true. I have a Daddy, a Papa, who loves me so much and always did. I love to pray to Abba and whenever I begin by saying, “Abba Father” my prayer, the things I need to talk to Him about, take on a whole new meaning. Going to Him as a daughter would to her Daddy takes me deeper.
May 14, 2008 at 10:24 am
Janet, I’m so glad God has revealed himself to you in this way. It’s one thing to have these things in our heads, another to know them in our hearts. May your heart continue to be healed as you get to know Papa more.
May 15, 2008 at 9:21 am
I have a very vivid memory from my younger years of a very elderly woman in our church. She was really feable, she had snow white hair which was always pulled back in a bun. She didn’t particularly have a pleasant aroma to my nostrils but I think she must have had a wonderful aroma to God. She would say the Lord’s Prayer so loudly you could hear her over the entire congregation and if I remember correctly this was the one time she stood during the service. She definitly did not follow the rythm of the crowd. She was a curiousity to me as a child. As an adult I have come to understand that she was crying out to “Abba” directly and personaly. I still remember her name and although I can’t know for positive I am pretty sure He knows her name and her very well! Thank you Francis for a good memory and an even better lesson.