An Essay on The Load’s Prayer (Matthew, 6:9-13)

July 9, 2011

Our father

How should we think of God, what image serves well when we think of the image of God?  Think of the image of a father.  Some images for a father are a creator, a necessary object or being, without which, we would not be, could not exist.  A father in the best sense has unlimited love and concerns for its creation.   My father is one to which I look to for characteristics that I might (should) have, one I look to for traits that perhaps I can and do acquired.  I believe this is the essential in "Our father” - that we do share with God, God’s characteristics and traits; that God is beyond us as our father is beyond us, but also that God is within us, in a way that is inseparable, as our own father is within us.

Who art in heaven

This defines God by presenting a location where we find God.  The location is an image.   Heaven here is used, I believe, to define an intangible, not a tangible, location.  No tangible location - known as heaven – exists, but rather heaven represents where we will be within ourselves when we find God.  Heaven can mean different images for each of us.  This concept of heaven represents a concept of infinity since heaven has infinite images, heaven is an infinite quality of goodness, of peace, of whatever intangible that brings an individual to a state – thinking of Jesus – that are principles and concepts Jesus-related, his teachings, and those principles and concepts that continue to evolve as God, through Jesus, continues to speak to human beings.

Hallowed be thy name

This suggests respect. Again, here we are dealing with an intangible – with a word, a symbol, a name – used to identify, used to suggest, used to communicate, used to evoke, used as only a human is capable of  - as a part of language, as a system that separates us from other living things.  This separation is the holiness represented by this statement.  So, to the degree that human beings can respect themselves, respect life, respect the world in which we live, we need to have respect for that which is represented by a name, a name that needs to be hallowed, and by so being, allows us to discover a state of holiness, a state possible for being, which only through God we can find.

Thy kingdom come

So, now we are being told that yes we will discover, we will find a state of holiness, a state possible for our being, which only through God (as defined by our father, who are in heaven, hallowed by thy name) we can find – a Kingdom come.  But we have only been talking about intangibles, so this kingdom comes as an intangible – a state of being, a state of experience not at all defined by tangible conditions and terms, but by intangible conditions and terms.  What are some of these intangible conditions and terms?  Well, God’s will must be done.

Thy will be done

In order for God’s kingdom to come, God’s will must be done.  Here we are being provided a term (a condition) that is necessary – we must do God’s will in order for the kingdom to come.  But, what is God will?   We will not find out in this prayer.  This is baffling.   Where do we find out what God’s will is?  I believe the rest of the prayer is not about what God’s will is but where we well find it.  For each of us, God’s will is different, but where we find it is uniformed.  So, there is no way any prayer can defined God’s will.  God’s will varies for each of us.

On earth as it is in heaven

Although we have been talking about intangibles (heaven, kingdom, holiness, a name), we now come down to earth.   Here we find that there is a relationship between the intangibles of God and our lives on earth – and that relationship is defined by how we attempt to do the will of God.  Although God and his kingdom, and holiness, are intangibles, achieving his will, we find, requires actions and actions are tangibles.  We can describe an action, we can see an action, we can experience as a tangible experience, an action.  So, it is actions that relates us to God, it is through action that we find God and find his will.  God is still speaking.  Not only is God still speaking but God speaks constantly and speaks a new to each one of us, as we are a new, as our lives develop.  God speaks a fresh to each one of us, and is capable of speaking in terms of kingdom, holiness, and other intangibles, but also is capable of speaking to us in tangible ways about his will, through our actions.  Each of us must take action to find God, to find God’s voice, to find what God is saying to us, to find God’s will.   And when we are successful, we will be in a state that is God’s will.

At “On earth”, we are now firmly on earth (in our tangible lives) after initially starting with the intangibles of God.  The next five (and final) lines, I believe, deal with actions, tangible actions, that we can take, should take, to try to find the will of God, and through this discovery, be with God.     These five lines represent to me guidelines, items on a list, a check-off list, of how to live our lives, our tangible lives, in order to be more in touch with the intangibles discussed earlier, to be more in touch with God.

Give us this day our daily bread

I read this guidance as to seek for oneself a simply and adequately-lived life, simply to live, one that has what we need as nourishment, physically and emotionally and intellectually, but has also conservatism, and a recognition of what is sufficient, so that we might find God while living daily, living continuously, from moment to moment.

And forgive us our debts

As we live our lives, we will come up short, or at least will feel, think, perceive, believe that we are short of where we should be.  This is not God’s will.  God does not want us to feel like we owe, that we are in debt, that we have come up short.      Through action to interpret and understand ourselves, we will find that God’s will is for us to be at peace with ourselves, that we are capable of reaching wherever is necessary for us to be at peace. This is God’s will.  But, because actions are required of us, we are moved to strive, and in this process, to feel we are short, inadequate, and to feel we are debt-ridden.   We need to seek reconciliation with God on this.  This call “and forgive us our debts” is a call for action to find through God a peace with ourselves, and as we do we will find God’s will.

As we also have forgiven our debtors

It is clear from Jesus’ teachings that God’s will is for us to love our fellow human beings.  Well, we can give it a try through our actions and see if by doing so, by living to help others in need, to be concerned for others, to care for others, to be sensitive to others' welfare, whether God’s kingdom will come, whether this is God’s  will.  As we come up short in being in peace with ourselves, we will also come up short with giving to others.   Although God’s will is for us to give, God forgives us for that which we cannot give.   We are being told that our tangible acts of kindness are never complete, but we can find through God intangible will that it does not matter.  What does matter is the action of trying.

And lead us not into temptation

Because we need, as human beings, to act, we on earth face tangible decision making continuously.   Finding God’s will can be through decision making.  We should work during our decisions carefully so to be lead to God’s will, rather than away from God’s will.  Our essence of what we are is in our decision making process.   That process needs to be enriched by an interplay with God’s will

But deliver us from evil

And beyond the act of decision making, we need to act upon the decisions that are made.  It is not just the decision-making process where we can find the will of God, or lose connection with God, but also in the actions we take to complete a decision.  The directions in which our actions take us also are fundamental to what we are, will be.  These acts needed to encompass a search for God’s will.