Lord's Prayer Series, First Petition: Whose name anyway?

Traditional Translation:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.

My Translation:

Our Father, right here in the heavens,
Bring honor to your name. 

Jesus taught his followers to pray in the middle of his sermon on the mount, in the middle of a portion about avoiding public piety to the detriment of knowing God closely. Jesus will not tolerate any ideas of a God who works magic through incantation. The God he brings up cannot be ignored for the sake of building a reputation for doing things pertaining to him. These were the two fundamental problems of prayer when Jesus spoke these words:

1. people expected God to make their lives better than the next guys 
2. or somebody expected to be praised by the next guy for his well known piety

 Today the fundamental problem of prayer is two fold:

1. Christians feel like God is distant, angry, or disinterested in them
2. Christians feel no reverence or respect for God

In this first request from the Lord's prayer we can see that Jesus' disciples have the privilege of addressing God as though his children. Christians can talk to God as though they are his beloved children, with whom he is well pleased, (Matthew 3:16-16) as though he were present in the heavens around them, whether in their closet or in a prison cell. But they are also to pray that God does something special in history and in their lives. Christian are to pray that this Father's name be revered, hallowed, or honored. The thought of God's name in those days was one of personality and reputation. The Father's character and his actual personal presence are to be revered. And Jesus here teaches that all powerful God, waits for his own people to pray before he acts to honor his name.

What does this petition mean? It means that God wants his name to be honored in the behavior and attitudes of people towards him. He wants our highest allegiance in all areas of our lives and will gladly act in consort with our prayers for this very thing. It means praying that God's character, as revealed in Jesus Christ, be recognized for what it is, and that people will live accordingly.

Perhaps as an experiment today we can pray this prayer intending that we live in reverence to God the Father by doing the commands of Jesus. We can also pray that the Father gives us faith in Jesus when he tells us that we can love God like a Father. We can also trust Jesus when he says that his Father loves his people like he loves Jesus.

Poised for Sin

Thanks be to God for his glorious grace.
We have trained ourselves to be poised for sin.
And even in these last days, even the day of salvation,
God's greatest word to us is in his Son.
He gave his life as a ransom for many.

The Lord's Prayer Introduction

A common portion of popular piety is the Lord's prayer (the Matthew 6:9-13 version), which Ben Witherington has pointed out should be called, "The Disciples' Prayer." The prayer's popularity actually gives it great potential for leading people into a deeper relationship with their Father, who art in heaven. The reason a piece of popular piety can be helpful for discipleship to the unpopular Jesus is because this piece of piety comes straight from his mouth in a sermon he preached about how to live as citizens of God's kingdom on earth. Jesus intimates to his disciples that a chief part of God's kingdom coming on earth will be the prayers of those people who take part in the Kingdom. God's sovereignty will be expressed through his answered prayers to bring evil under his good and gracious rule. Since most people know this prayer, but we can help them understand the major themes of Jesus' teachings simply by paying careful attention to this prayer.

Most of us are familiar with its content (I left out the doxology, though I think it is meaningful in Christian worship, it does not seem to have been in the earliest texts of Matthew's gospel:

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

I offer this fresh translation:

Our Father, right here in the heavens,

Bring honor to your name.

Bring your kingdom here.

Do your will on the earth,

just like it is done in heaven.

Give us the food we need for the day today

Also forgive us for living as rebels against you,

do so in the same way we give clean slates.

And do not lead us toward tests, instead deliver us from the evil one.

I will hopefully go briefly through each petition of the prayer giving it's context in the gospel of Matthew, the teachings of Jesus, and an application to present day living.

Lord's Prayer Series

Lord's prayer series:

1. Introduction
2. First Petition: Whose name anyway?
3. Second Petition: Allegiance, Kings, and Kingdoms
4. Third Petition: Not my will, but your's be done
5. Fourth Petition: We Have Needs, Man
6. Fifth Petition: How do we ask for forgiveness?
7. Sixth Petition: Don't test us, we're too weak!
8. Seventh Petition: While your at it, keep that devil off my back!