Original Lords Prayer

Double Damnity: The Poor Didn't Create The Financial Mess

Why would we ask God to forgive us for stepping on somebody else’s property? Trespassing is most commonly used as a legal term for an unauthorized entry upon the land of another. Google will tell you it means "intrude", "infringe", or "encroach"; not everyday offenses. Most folks don’t go into their neighbor’s home uninvited. Why then should we be constantly asking God to forgive us our trespasses? The answer is that the term comes from the language used in the British Court 400 years ago, when it was used in a much broader sense.  Modern Bible scholarship tells us that the terms used by Matthew were "debts" and "debtor," while Luke asks God to "forgive our sins as we forgive those who are indebted to us." We Americans are serious debtors. Many of us carry large personal debts like mortgages, car loans and credit cards, and our nation owes trillions of dollars. The weight of this debt has a serious impact on our economy, as more and more of our revenue needs to go to pay for what we owe. Congress and the President are at odds about the federal budget. Republicans and Democrats have different ideas about where to make the cuts in the budget and opposite views on raising taxes. Those who hold our national debt don’t necessarily see eye to eye with God on payment plans and debt forgiveness. It is unlikely that any of the nations and institutions to whom we owe all those trillions of dollars will tear up the chit. Why would anyone forgive the debts of the wealthiest nation? Therefore, we need to cut our spending. This seems reasonable enough. The question is where to make those cuts? Many members of Congress are determined to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and many programs that protect the most vulnerable of our citizens to bring down the debt. An alternative would be to take away some tax breaks from the wealthiest of all Americans in order to preserve the social safety net. But the same members of Congress who want to cut social programs are adamantly opposed to anything that remotely resembles a tax hike, even on the tiniest percentage of Americans:  those at the very top of the economic ladder.

The Lord's Prayer Encapsulates and Celebrates the New Exodus, I ...

Father/Our Father

In highlighting echoes from the Exodus tradition in the Lord’s Prayer, we must begin, of course, with “Father”: “Israel is my son, my firstborn; let my people go, that they may serve me” (Exod. 4:22–3); “When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).

Calling God “Father” not only evokes all kinds of associations of family life and intimacy; more importantly, it speaks to all subsequent generations of God as the God of the Exodus, the God who rescues Israel precisely because Israel is God’s firstborn son.

The title Father says as much about Israel, and about the events through which God will liberate Israel, as it does about God.

Jesus’ own sense of vocation, that of accomplishing the New Exodus, was marked principally by his awareness of God as Father (cf. my Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 13).

Now in the Lord’s Prayer he invites his followers to consider themselves Exodus people. Their cry for redemption will be heard and answered.

Hallowed Be Your Name

God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, speaking his name and giving it as the main reason why he could be trusted to bring the children of Israel out of captivity (cf. Exod. 3:13–16). And it was the honor and reputation of YHWH’s name that Moses would subsequently use as the fulcrum in his great prayer for Israel’s forgiveness after the episode of the golden calf—a theme that was also picked up by Joshua after the debacle at Ai (cf. Exod. 32:11–14; Josh. 7–9).

The sanctifying of God’s name, in other words, has to do once more not merely with God’s own reputation in, as it were, a private capacity, but with the fact that he is committed to and in covenant with the people of Israel.

To pray that God’s name be hallowed, therefore, is to pray that the Exodus may not only happen but be followed through to its proper conclusion—that is, that Israel be redeemed not only from the original slavery of Egypt, but also from the sin and rebellion that keeps her from arriving and safely settling in the promised land.

The Lord's prayer, sermons

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The Lord's Prayer

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On the Lord's prayer

These are the only three existing ante-Nicene treatises on the Lord's Prayer.

The Lord's Prayer, A Survey Theological and Literary

This book is a definitive study of the exemplary prayer of the gospel.

Living the Lord's Prayer, The Way of the Disciple

With Haase's counsel plus the wisdom of this great cloud of witnesses that includes Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Th_r+se of Lisieux and others, you'll ...