We begin a new series in our 'Thought for the Week' section, looking in detail at the Lord's Prayer.

I heard a story the other day about a monk who was seen for years on end sitting meditating on the Lord's Prayer. He was asked how much longer he would be spending on the Prayer. His reply was that he was still meditating on Our Father! I wonder what new things he understood day by day – more, I suspect, than most of us have yet considered.

What will the Lord show us as we meditate this week on the first phrase of this foundational prayer that is probably more appropriately called the disciple's Prayer?

Bible Meditation

The Hebrew word for meditation is linked to the idea of an animal chewing the cud, turning it over and over to ensure complete digestion. So how does one meditate on the truths of the Bible like that monk? One asks the Father to show us something as we hold the words in our mind, framing questions and listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

As we see new things the prayer becomes richer, our faith grows and our worship springs forth from greater depths, even as we meditate upon the words and are shown new things.

Come Close to the Father

Jesus encouraged us to address the Father directly - to draw near. We are to address him as Father, going beyond even the name Yahweh that Moses was given, and certainly not the HaShem (the Name) of some branches of Judaism, a term of respect perhaps, but also indicating fear of getting too close for comfort. He is not a distant god such as is portrayed in many religions, but a personal father to us.

Think, then, of the tremendous door that Jesus opened for those whom he enabled through his sacrificial death, for us to become children of a new and perfect Father. It is a pity that some family relationships in our human experience did not prepare us for such closeness and such trust. Even if we are scarred in some way by human rejection we must press in with trust in our heavenly Father, lest we miss the fullness of what Jesus died to give us.

The first part of our meditation this week, therefore, is to consider both the wonder of the relationship we are invited into and also to consider whether we have fully accepted and achieved this. Perhaps for some it is the time to grasp this truth and opportunity for the first time, washed clean through the blood of Jesus, worthy of the call to live in perfect and secure relationship with a perfect father.

Our Father

But let us not limit this relationship. It is all too easy to only personalise our relationship to my father. It is not just my but it is our, as we pray the prayer together. We are a family with one Father who treats us all equally as children. For some of us, this making room for others may be even harder to accept than our personal relationship. Yet the our of our Father also draws us close to one another, as we are each individually drawn close to Creator God.

If we find this hard to accept, remember that Jesus Himself, in teaching us to pray our Father, had great joy in sharing His Father with us, giving us family status alongside him. Pause and think of that!

One Word, Not Two

The our is not a separate word in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew for our Father is the single word Avinu. This unified word contains the root word for father – av or ab, which is linked to the familiar Abba that Paul used in Romans 8:14. This is an intimate word for father such as a small child is taught to use reaching out in trust to dada or daddy.

So Jesus offered a deeper, reverential familiarity to his disciples than would have been known before this prayer was taught. It would have been a shock to his hearers to be taught such an intimate way to address the God whom many in Israel had come to respect, but to consider as distant and unapproachable on such intimate terms.

Pause and Consider

So here is the challenge for us this week. Have we fully grasped what Jesus offered us as His disciples? Even after all these years of the Christian Church have we become the children of God in family together, in the way Jesus intended us to be? That was what he died for. Let's not miss out on our privileged inheritance - together.

Author: Clifford Denton