Sermon for August 30th, 2015

Luke 11:1-4

1He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Matthew 6:7-13

7When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Teach Us To Pray: Thy Kingdom Come

There's a very old joke about a man who is praying to God and asks, "God...what is a million years like in your Kingdom?" God answers and says, "In my kingdom, a million years passes just like a single minute." The man thinks about this for awhile and then asks, "God...what is a million dollars like in your kingdom?" God replies, "In my kingdom, a million dollars has the worth of a single penny." The man thinks about this for awhile and then asks, "God...can I have a penny?" God replies, "Sure. Give me a minute..."

Often, there is a world of difference between our individual perspective and God's heavenly perspective. We're going to explore that a little bit today, as we look at the second phrase in the Lord's prayer: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In the shorter version of the Lord's prayer in Luke, Jesus simply says "Your kingdom come," but I think the rest is still implied. The key Greek word in both versions is ἐλθέτω, from the verb ἔρχομαι, which means to come from one place into another. In 1st century cosmology (both Greek and Hebrew) the place where the perfect, divine world already exists is in the heavens, and so the natural place for it to arrive is on the earth.

Also in 1st century Greek and Hebrew thought, nothing happens outside of the divine will, so Luke's version "Your kingdom come" functions as a shorthand for the entire sentiment in Matthew, "Your kingdom come, and your will be done, as it is in heaven." If we're stereotyping based on writing style, Matthew is a lawyer, making sure every aspect of the concept is spelled out in explicit detail, while Luke is a detective--just the facts, ma'am--everything else is implication.

Last week, I talked about using the acronym "FRESH" to help us walk through the five aspects, five "movements" of the Lord's prayer, and to help us model our own prayers on Jesus' example. Last week we learned that the first movement of prayer is "F," which reminds us to put first things first--more specifically, to put God first: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

I used the analogy of a Ferris Wheel to represent prayer--when you get on a Ferris Wheel, the first thing that happens is that you are lifted up high into the heavens. The first thing that happens when we pray is that our focus is lifted up to the heavens, beyond ourselves and even our world, reaching for what is transcendent, waht is divine, all that which we call God.

The next thing that happens on a Ferris Wheel, while we are still up there at the top, is that we look down, and around us, and we see the world again--but we see it from a different perspective, a higher perspective, a more heavenly perspective. This is the second part of the Lord's Prayer, the part where heaven and earth meet, and where we try to align our perspective with God's perspective, where we try to see the world through God's eyes and not our own. Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The "R" in FRESH stands for "Really Big Things." Cosmic things. Heaven and Earth kinds of things.

FRESH

R = Really Big Things (or reconciliation)

Connection between heaven and earth, transition in the prayer, moving downward.

•Brunette, blonde, redhead, burning building. Firemen moving blanket at last minute for brunette and redhead. Blonde says "put blanket down and move away, then I'll jump."