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Two weeks ago (yes, it’s taken me a while to get these notes up) we looked at the next phrase in the Lord’s Prayer - Hallowed be Your Name.

Hallowed, or holy, is not really a word we use much now apart from describing an extra special place. For instance, the ground of the MCG if sometimes described as ‘hallowed turf’.

The dictionary defines hallowed/holy as something that is extra special, something that is devoted to or used by God. So when we pray this part of the prayer, we are asking that God’s name be set apart and regarded as more special than any other names.

But what is God’s name?

The story of Moses in Exodus chapter three helps understand a little bit about God’s name, as well as how we can understand what holy means.

Moses, at this point in the story, is a shepherd, looking after his sheep on Mount Horeb. There he sees a bush that is on fire, but not being consumed. Out of the fire, god speaks, telling Moses to take off his sandles for where he is standing is holy ground. This place, and this point in time, is special becasue it is the beginning of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and the birth of the Jewish nation. Moses is unsure if the people will respond to what God is asking him to do, so he asks God to reveal his name to convince the jews that his story is legitimate. God responds with I AM WHO I AM.

It might seem a strange name, but it speaks of god presence with us at every point in the past, presence and future. In everything that happens, I AM.

So the Lord’s Prayer is asking that at every point in time, the name of the eternal, ever present God be regarded as special.

There is a danger to think that because we are praying this prayer, somehow God’s name mustn’t be holy already. Of course, the Bible tells us that it is, and there is nothing that will ever change that. However, we’ve also heard that we are the ones that are changed the most when we pray.

In Galatians, Paul describes us as God’s children and heirs. As such, we, as a community, bare God’s name. When people look at us, they form opinions of God.

For God’s name to be kept holy thus means that our words, thoughts, actions and attitudes as individuals and as a community must never take away from the holiness of God’s name. We must never cause people to curse God nor should we simply stand by and let God be ridiculed. It’s a fine line, but one that we need to be conscious of all the time.

We finished the night with a challenge to write I AM WHO I AM on a piece of paper and write it in a prominent place where it would be seen at least once everyday. Every time we saw it, we were to pray the words “Hallowed be your name” and then be open to whatever it is the Spirit might be saying to us through the circumstances of the week.

If you’re reading this for the first time, give the exercise a try and let me know how it goes!

Well, it seems that that the epidural injection, as fun as it was, hasn’t worked and I’m back to square one with my back.

The pain is progressively becoming worse and a few times today I endured spasms that more or less paralysed me.

Needless to say, I’ve returned to spending most of my time flat out on the floor. It’s frustrating, but I don’t have much choice!

I’m off to see the surgeon again in two weeks time (the earliest appointment I could get) and until then will live on a diet of pain killers and chocolate!

Thanks for all your emails wishing me well!

On Sunday night we began a new series on prayer, using the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:5-15 as a framework for our exploration. I’ve spoken on prayer many times now, but this time around I wanted to avoid getting into the theological/academic questions surrounding prayer and just look at what it was Jesus was teaching when he spoke these words to his disciples.

The sort of questions I’m avoiding are things like, “If God knows everything, why do we have to pray?” It is good to ask these  questions, and searching for the answers makes prayer, and faith, more fulfilling. But for the purpose of this series, I’m assuming prayer is something we are required to do because Jesus himself prayed and he taught others to do the same. If it was essential for Jesus, it must be for us.

On Sunday night i concentrated on the first four words of the Lord’s prayer; Our Father in heaven.

Given the paragraph that comes immediately before the Lord’s prayer, it seems strange that the first word of the prayer is ‘Our’. Jesus has just described prayer as an action where you disappear into a private place in your home, where nobody can see or hear you, and where it can be just you and God. You would expect a prayer in this setting to begin with a personal address to God, but the word ‘our’ acknowledges that even when we are alone, we are still part of the Body of Christ. Faith is expressed the community of people known as God’s. So we are a group, owned by God.

There are many instances where more personal expressions of prayer are recorded in the Bible, with Jesus’ “My God, my God…” from the cross being the most well known. But in this teaching about prayer, Jesus seems to make the point that prayer is a community task, and the community is owned by God. We don’t engage in new age spirituality or post modern belief that constructs faith as a personal possession that can be manipulated and changed. Together, we are part of something much bigger than ourselves.

The next word of the prayer has been a stumbling block for many when it comes to prayer. Calling God ‘father’ is an impossibility for anyone who has had bad experiences with their own father. “If God is anything like my old man, then I don’t want anything to do with him…” is something I’ve heard a few times now. But in context, I think we can move beyond the word itself to see what Jesus was getting across.

The Jews had an instruction book called the Talmud, which outlined the rules for living as a Jew. The instructions for Jewish fathers were quite specific - teach your kids the Torah (things of faith), teach your kids a trade (the things of education/work), and teach your kids how to swim (be involved in their upbringing). Addressing God as ‘father’ thus meant an acknowledgement that God was involved in every part of life.

You might choose to use a different name for God, but I think it’s helpful to use a name that reminds us of the action of God in every part of life. “Living God, “Loving God”, “Creator God” and so on are all fine to use. I guess the good old “Dear God” is fine too, but to me it seems a little bit limp without some sort of expression that describes how God is involved in our lives.

The final part of the first line is “in heaven”. At first glance, it seems to run counter with what we’ve just said about God being involved in life. “In heaven” makes God seem distant and far away, not involved in anything we are doing on a day to day basis. But we are always in danger of thinking of God as part of creation when we only think in terms of our daily lives. The reality is that God is not part of creation but is THE creator. God is far more than we can see, feel, taste and touch, and can’t be limited to our experience of life. Addressing God ‘in heaven’ reminds us that this is the same God that reaches out to embrace us, his creation, and be involved in our lives as individuals and as a community.

The more I think abut it, the more I’m amazed at the profound truth that is contained in the first four words of this prayer. I’m also convicted about my own prayer life and how much I take for granted how I address God - I know we talk of the relationship with God as important, but after looking at this part of Scripture, something doesn’t seem right about viewing God just as one of my mates. God is so much more than that…

Anyway, we will continue to look at the Lord’s prayer next week and tackle “hallowed be your name”. What does ‘hallowed’ mean afterall. And what exactly is God’s name?

Feel free to leave any of your own thoughts or questions in the comments section below!

Well, I’ve survived the injection, but only just…

I went into the surgery and the doctor laid me face down on the bed before giving me a little anaesthetic in the lower back. With a kindly, “This might hurt a little,” he started to give me the epidural injection.

Well, the pain was excruciating. For the next thirty minutes, little by little, he injected all the stuff into my back as I gripped the sides of the bed and screamed into the pillow. The nurse held my arms down and told me it would be over soon.

As it turned out, it was far more painful than it should have been. The prolapsed disk didn’t leave enough room for the fluid to be injected, so as the doctor pressed the syringe, the disk was pressed further into the nerve and hence the pain…sheesh!

Anyway, at about the twenty five minute mark, I started to go into shock. My heart rate and blood pressure dropped, so he squirted the rest of the juice in before whisking me away to recovery where I spent the next hour and a half.

I was exhausted, so slept for most of this time. When I got home I felt pretty crook and spent the day in bed trying not to throw up.

A day later, things are feeling much better. I have very little back pain, though the full use and feeling on my left side has not returned. This isn’t such a good sign, but nothing can be decided until the end of the week when the drugs should have taken full affect.

Not a great way to spend my boys fifth birthday, but at least the lego made things a little better!

So, the back is getting no better.

I’m still here on the floor, swimming in pain killers thankful for a wireless network so I can still sermon prep and the like.

I saw my doctor on Wednesday morning, who then pulled some strings and got me in to see a neuro surgeon on Thursday, who then promptly ordered me off to hospital this coming Monday for a “CT Directed Epidural Injection” straight into my spine.

It’s a last ditch effort to avoid surgery, and while I’m hoping it will work, I’m also wondering if I should just get the operation now and get it over with.
 
I don’t like these sorts of decisions very much…

So, a few days after I returned from my beach holiday, my wife had returned to work and I was dropping my eldest at kindergarten for the afternoon.

The clouds were looking threatening, so despite it only being a five minute walk, we jumped in the car and drove up the road.

As we pulled up out the front of the kinder, it started to rain. Not just any rain, but the heavy,thumping, big drops, Australian summer type rain.

I grabbed My eldest by the hand and scooped my youngest into my other arm and we ran as fast as we could into the kinder.

Now my youngest is nearly three years old. He’s a stocky little bloke, just over 15kg. Running with him in my arms was hard work, but we got there.

However, that night I started to feel a bit sore. The back was uncomfortably sore and there was some pain in my left leg.

Now, nearly a week later, I’m in agony. I’ve just returned from a CT scan and am floating around the ceiling after taking some fairly hefty pain killers prescribed by the doctor.

I’m typing this whilst lying on the lounge room floor. The drugs are making my lap top swim in front of me, so my apologies if this makes no sense!

Anyway, I’m hoping to be able to post at least weekly now that I’m back from long service leave. The bike riding has stalled because of the back and I’m not doing any study, so I might have more time than I expected. Sixteen interns have signed up to IN*FORMATION which will keep me busy on the BUV front and things have started well at church - probably even better than if I’d been there!!

So, normal life begins again. Here we go….

Just a bit of shameless self-promotion…

I’m running another Christmas Drawing competition over at Chewing Pencils. There’s real prizes and a real judge this year. Who’s have thought…

Anyway, read the rules, check out the entries and send your own cartoon in if you want too!

I am a bike riding legend!

Well, in my house anyway…

It was stinking hot, and a bit windy at times, but I managed to finish the 210km of Around the Bay in a Day yesterday. The friend i was going to ride with fell ill at the last minute, so I ended up riding with a different team, and on a different bike!

But like last time, I had heaps of fun. Today, however my legs and my butt hurt like you wouldn’t believe.

Now to go back to my more comfortable lazy lifestyle.

This is for a new kids ministry magazine about to launch in the US…

Since when has a building had higher worth than a human life?

I ask this question becasue on the radio this afternoon, I heard a report that the Heidelberg Presbyterian Church burnt down over night. This is a sad thing, particularly given that it is the second time that it has happened in fifteen years. But then the radio played an interview with one of the parishioners. He said…

“I received a call early in the morning and immediately I thought somebody has died. When I answered the phone the news was even worse. the church had burnt down…”

WHAT?!!

With comments like that, it’s no wonder that people see the church people as out of touch with all reality. I hope my family are never stuck in a building on fire with this guy around!

If this is the attitude of other churches in Melbourne, may God burn them all to the ground this night.

End of rant.