Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we continue our series on the Lord’s Prayer.

Last week we examined what it means when we invoke the opening words of the prayer Jesus gave us: “Our Father.”

Before we move on to the second line of the prayer, let me say a couple last things about that opening statement.

The first is this…note what the very first word of the prayer is.

OUR.

Jesus gives this prayer to his disciples…and the followers who come after them, including you and me.

OUR Father.

This prayer is a community prayer.

It unites us.

It reminds us that the work of the church, including prayer, is done alongside our brothers and sisters.

Even ones we don’t necessarily agree with or get along with…we are part of the same body.

Not just in our local church, but around the world.

Christians everywhere use this prayer.

Baptist…Methodists..Catholics…Presbyterians…Congregationalists…

…and at a time in history where we are so prone to separate ourselves from one another, so prone to criticize people who think and believe differently from us…what a wonderfully unifying word starts off the Lord’s Prayer.

OUR Father.

And secondly I’d say this…we talked last week about the fact that “Our Father” is a very intimate and personal way of opening the prayer…it speaks to the relationship we have with God.

But there’s more to that opening line, isn’t there?

It’s not just “Our Father.”

It’s “Our Father…who art in heaven.”

And we may not realize it, but with that single line we are making a fairly profound theological statement.

In just six words we’re speaking to the intimate relationship we have with God: he’s our Father, he’s close to us…but we’re also reminded that he is in heaven…he’s far above us.

He is both near…and far.

Theologians have some pretty fancy words to describe these concepts.

They speak of the…

(SLIDE)

Immanence of God (and the)

Transcendence of God

Transcendence meaning “above” and “beyond.”

God is above everything he has created.

He is great, he is matchless…he is beyond our understanding as mere mortals.

We heard echoes of this understanding of God in our Old Testament reading for today:

(SLIDE)

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.”

--1 Chronicles 16:25-27 (NIV)

But even as we acknowledge that God is far above and beyond us, we also believe that God is personal and knowable and present to us as his children.

The words we heard in Colossians communicate that kind of closeness with God, as Paul talks about the peace of Christ dwelling with us, the message of Christ filling us with knowledge of God...and Paul encourages us to be in fellowship with God as we worship and fellowship together by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Immanence.

God very near and present to us.

And of course, the ultimate understanding of the immanence of God is the incarnation of Jesus: God literally coming to us and being one of us, living among us and experiencing everything it means to be human.

It can seem contradictory, but Christians believe God is both immanent and transcendent, and we acknowledge that in the opening line of the Lord’s prayer:

Our Father…who art in heaven.

And then we find ourselves with this second line of the prayer:

(SLIDE)

“Hallowed be thy name.”

And almost immediately we are into language that for many people makes no sense at all.

Let’s be honest for a moment…how many of you use the term “Hallow” on a regular basis?

Actually…we do use it quite a lot every year for at least a couple of weeks towards the end of October…

…when we celebrate Hallow—een.

And I’m sure that pretty much everyone who references Halloween doesn’t realize they’re using ancient language that comes from the church.

“Hallow” means to honour something as holy.

And Halloween is an abbreviation of “All Hallow’s Eve,” because in the ancient church on the first of November…congregations would gather for a special service honouring those who had served Christ faithfully and were now in his presence…those servants of Jesus that in some traditions are called “saints.”

In that service you would proclaim those servants of Christ as sacred and venerated, you would “hallow” them.

So that service became known as “All Hallow’s Day,” and then the day before became known as “All Hallow’s Eve.”

And it all has to do with proclaiming something, in this case the dearly departed servants of the church, as being sacred and holy.

That’s what we do in this petition of the Lord’s Prayer: we are proclaiming God’s name as sacred and holy.

That’s something even the Jewish sceptics of Jesus’ time could’ve gotten behind, because the Jewish people definitely understood the name of God to be a sacred thing.

God’s name, after all, had been revealed to Moses at the burning bush, and the name he gave to Moses, Yahweh, was so holy and sacred that in Jesus’ day it was considered blasphemy to even say that name out loud.

As Christians we no longer believe that.

We believe that because of Jesus that barrier between humanity and God has been removed, and we are free to worship God with total freedom and intimacy.

In fact, that’s really what we’re doing with this line of the prayer: we’re worshipping God.

Think about that for a second.

The first thing we do in the Lord’s Prayer after the opening words…is worship.

We proclaim God’s name is holy.

That’s an act of worship.

Again…listen to how that plays out in the text we heard from 1 Chronicles:

(SLIDE)

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”—1

Chronicles 16:8-10 (NIV)

All throughout Scripture we find this link between the name of God…and the worship of God.

Again, it goes all the way back to Moses, who worshipped at the burning bush where God revealed his name.

And then when God delivers the Law to Moses…what’s the Third Commandment he gives?

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

That commandment is too often reduced to a prohibition about swearing, but it’s more than that.

It’s a recognition that the name of God is sacred and special and worthy of honour.

It’s worthy…to be hallowed.

Why?

Well, first and foremost simply because of the greatness of God.

God’s name is great because God is great.

We’ve been singing all morning: How Great Thou Art, How Great is Our God…

God is supreme.

God is mighty.

There is nothing and no one greater than God.

That alone is enough to declare his name as being holy and sacred…hallowed.

But then we go even deeper with it and we find another layer that leads us to worship.

God’s name is not just a reflection of his greatness…it’s a revelation of his love for us.

Think about this for a second.

Have you ever been in a situation where you chose, deliberately, not to reveal your name to someone?

Maybe you’re on the phone with some telemarketing salesman…or maybe you’re at a gathering of strangers…whatever.

And for some reason you choose not to give them your name.

Why?

When we do that…we do it because we don’t want to be known.

For whatever reason, we want to remain anonymous.

And yet…the witness of Scripture is that this transcendent God who made the universe…wants us to know who he is.

And one of the ways he does that…is by revealing his name.

Again…first to Moses as Yahweh.