GOD'S NAME

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name".

Matthew 6:9

What does your name mean? 

If you're anything like me, you’ve Googled the meaning of your name, and more likely than not, your name has not shaped your career decisions, your choice of partner, nor where you’ve decided to live. The fact that it doesn’t is a fairly recent development and a product of the modern world. 

There was a time in our very recent past where your name was given to you based on the hopes that were placed upon you by your parents rather than for its aesthetic—a name that shaped you, your decisions, and your character. In fact, in ancient practice and belief, to know a god’s name was to be able to control that god. 

So, names are incredibly important and powerful. And this is exactly where Jesus begins his prayer that has served the church as a paradigm for thousands of years.

Jesus asks us to 'hallow' the name of God. What does this even mean? 

To 'hallow' something is to set it aside as special not only in thought and word but in deed. This is not simply a call to refrain from using God’s name as an expletive but to not bring disrepute to God by the way we live our lives. This is a stunning call for the people of God—we pray that our own lives will be in concert with the purposes and beauty of God. 

But there are two other aspects of this prayer that are particularly striking.

Frist, Jesus asks us to call God 'our Father'.

Another product of our modern world is the (illusion of) absolute freedom and autonomy of the individual. And so when we think about a 'prayer life', we think about it almost exclusively as private prayer. 

While it certainly includes our times of secret prayer, Jesus is leading us into a corporate expression of prayer. He is asking us to address God as our Father. Prayer in the life of the disciple of Jesus is a team sport as much as it is a practice to be cultivated in solitude.

Second, Jesus asks us to call God 'our Father'.

To our modern ears, to call God 'Father' is no huge mental leap (we’ve been doing it for millennia by now) and definitely no scandal. But during the time of Jesus it was a revolutionary shift in the mindset of his disciples to call the omnipotent Creator of heaven and earth 'Abba', Dad. 

This goes right to the heart of the good news of Jesus, that through his blood and by his Spirit the transcendent God has adopted us into his family as dearly loved children and now invites us to experience intimacy with him as Father. What a privilege!

For some of us, to call God 'Father' may be painful given your experience with your own earthly father. We can project our relational dysfunctions with our earthly parents onto our heavenly Father.

But this prayer helps to recalibrate our hearts to their right position. This prayer helps us to reimagine what it means to have a good Father and allow that picture of perfection to shape our own experiences of our frail human fatherhood. We get to call God Father!

May this truth ignite your passion for the beauty and worth of Jesus today.