Our Father - praying with the church

Sometimes I find it very helpful to pray what other Christians have already prayed. Someone else originally said the words, but I take them in my own mouth and my heart embraces them. Maybe a good analogy is wedding vows. Gail and I thought it would be most meaningful if we wrote our own vows, but as we were looking at examples we found some that said exactly what we wanted to say to each other. The fact that we weren't the original authors didn't diminish the depth of the promise at all.
This prayer is from The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Although it is a convert's first prayer, it is one that even seasoned Christians would do well to pray daily.

“A Convert’s First Prayer” 

My Father,

I could never have sought my happiness

      in thy love,

   unless thou had’st first loved me.

Thy Spirit has encouraged me by grace

      to seek thee,

   has made known to me

     thy reconciliation in Jesus,

   has taught me to believe it,

   has helped me to take thee for my God

     and portion.

May he grant me to grow in the knowledge

     and experience of thy love,

   and walk in it all the way to glory.

Blessed for ever be thy fatherly affection,

   which chose me to be one of thy children

   by faith in Jesus:

I thank thee for giving me the desire to live

    as such.

In Jesus, my brother, I have my new birth,

   every restraining power,

   every renewing grace.

It is by thy Spirit I call thee Father,

   believe in thee, love thee;

Strengthen me inwardly for every purpose

   of my Christian life;

Let the Spirit continually reveal to me my  

      interest in Christ,

   and open to me the riches of thy love in him;

May he abide in me that I may know my union

   with Jesus,

   and enter into constant fellowship with him;

By thy Spirit may I daily live to thee,

   rejoice in thy love,

   find it the same to me as to thy Son,

   and become rooted and grounded in it

     as a house on rock;

I know but little –

   increase my knowledge of thy love in Jesus,

   keep me pressing forward for clearer

      discoveries of it,

   so that I may find its eternal fullness;

Magnify thy love to me according to its greatness,

   and not according to my deserts or prayers,

   and whatever increase thou givest,

   let it draw out greater love to thee.

Our Father - praying the psalms

The psalms have been the prayer book of the church from their inception. Every Tuesday through Thanksgiving we will have a psalm to include in our prayers. I encourage you to not simply read them, but rather to pray them. As you pray Psalm 103, pray it to our heavenly Father, and ask him to kindle in your heart and in your imagination a greater understanding of God as Father.

Psalm 103 Of David.

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

³ who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹ He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting

the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children—

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

²¹ Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

²² Praise the Lord, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Our Father - mining the Catechism

We are celebrating the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism this year. It is a faithful teaching tool that our church uses to guide us in our study of the Bible. It is divided into 52 "Lord's Day" sections so it can be taught easily in one year. Here are the questions and answers from the Lord's Day sections on "our Father in heaven" from the Lord's Prayer and “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth” from the Apostles' Creed.

May God use these to shape our lives and our prayers.

Lord’s Day 46

Q & A 120

Q. Why did Christ command us
to call God “our Father”?

A. To awaken in us
at the very beginning of our prayer
what should be basic to our prayer—

a childlike reverence and trust
that through Christ God has become our Father,

and that just as our parents do not refuse us

the things of this life,

even less will God our Father refuse to give us

what we ask in faith.¹

¹ Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13

Q & A 121

Q. Why the words
“in heaven”?

A. These words teach us

not to think of God’s heavenly majesty

as something earthly,¹

and to expect everything

needed for body and soul
from God’s almighty power.²

¹ Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-25
² Matt. 6:25-34; Rom. 8:31-32

Lord’s Day 9

Q & A 26

Q. What do you believe when you say,
“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth”?

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who out of nothing created heaven and earth

and everything in them,¹

who still upholds and rules them

by his eternal counsel and providence,²

is my God and Father

because of Christ the Son.³

I trust God so much that I do not doubt

he will provide

whatever I need
for body and soul,⁴

and will turn to my good

whatever adversity he sends upon me
in this sad world.⁵

God is able to do this because he is almighty God⁶
and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.⁷

¹ Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11; Ps. 33:6; Isa. 44:24; Acts 4:24; 14:15
² Ps. 104; Matt. 6:30; 10:29; Eph. 1:11
³ John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:15-16; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:5
⁴ Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:25-26; Luke 12:22-31
⁵ Rom. 8:28
⁶ Gen. 18:14; Rom. 8:31-39
⁷ Matt. 7:9-11

Lord’s Day 10

Q & A 27

Q. What do you understand
by the providence of God?

A. The almighty and ever present power of God¹

by which God upholds, as with his hand,

heaven
and earth
and all creatures,²

and so rules them that

leaf and blade,
rain and drought,
fruitful and lean years,
food and drink,
health and sickness,
prosperity and poverty—³
all things, in fact,
come to us

not by chance⁴
but by his fatherly hand.⁵

¹ Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-28
² Heb. 1:3
³ Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17/a>; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2
⁴ Prov. 16:33
⁵ Matt. 10:29

Q & A 28

Q. How does the knowledge
of God’s creation and providence help us?

A. We can be patient when things go against us,¹

thankful when things go well,²
and for the future we can have
good confidence in our faithful God and Father
that nothing in creation will separate us from his love.³
For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand

that without his will
they can neither move nor be moved.⁴

¹ Job 1:21-22; James 1:3
² Deut. 8:10; 1 Thess. 5:18
³ Ps. 55:22; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:38-39
⁴ Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov. 21:1; Acts 17:24-28

Our Father - praying the Scriptures

Some years ago I began praying Bible passages as part of my prayers. Scripture not only guides us in our conversations with God, but also open us up in both our speaking and our listening. A friend just pointed me to Matthew Henry's Pray the Bible online, which is just that kind of guide. Henry has several Scripture-saturated prayers (or prayer pieces) that help us focus on and understand Our Father. May these serve to help us draw near to God our Father in prayer and in life.

Will she be safe today?

Will she be safe today?

I just put my daughter on the school bus. 6 going on 7, headed off to 1^st grade.

6 years old, first grade. One week ago the first 100 thoughts that would enter my head upon hearing those words were of my daughter. Only my 101^st thought would go anywhere else, and then it would be to her classmates, all of whom I know by name. 

I can hardly believe it, but right now when I hear those words, my mind first jumps across the country. I don’t blame the media for that – I have not read every latest article. I can’t. What I have read is already scarred on my heart like graffiti gouged with a rusty nail. 

I just put my daughter on the bus. I hugged her, like any other day. I kissed her, like any other day. I told her I was proud of her, that she is my pride and joy – like any other day. I told her to be a good friend and a good student – like any other day. She got on the bus and excitedly crowded into a seat with two of her friends, because in first grade it doesn’t get much better than three-friends-in-a-seat-on-the-bus. Like any other day. I lingered until the bus left. Like any other day.

But then I realized it wasn’t like any other day. I didn’t just linger. I was transfixed. I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough. I couldn’t take enough of that moment in. I’ve been there before. “A girl!” the doctor said, and then they wrapped her and put her in my arms. Mother, father, daughter all together for the first time in the delivery room. I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough. I couldn’t take enough of that moment in. Now I’m flooded with the same hunger, the same grasping, but the context is all skewed. That was pure joy; this is infected with fear. 

On the outside, standing at the bus stop with hugs and kisses and words and waves, this is a day like any other day. On the inside I am transfixed because I am afraid that today might be different. 

When my father died, I grieved. What I found was that grief came in waves. Whether it was week or a month or a year later – or more – an event or word or sound or smell might remind me. Without warning grief wells up again. Not debilitating sadness, necessarily, but a longing for what isn’t.

Transfixed at the bus stop, that is what happens. Is this part of grieving for families that I don’t even know? How does grief blend with joy and longing and fear? Like this, I guess.

Will she be safe today? 

I received another email from the school reiterating the old and new security measures, and I’m grateful. Prudence and forethought are good values for administrators. But I don’t have to go deep down to know they can’t prevent evil. 

“Is it safe?” That was the top question parents asked when we used to take students to Guatemala for mission work. How do you answer a question like that? “We exercise prudence and forethought.” What else can we do? I remember one year hearing that question right after a stranger shot a woman point blank in her car in the parking lot of the local mall and then drove off with her car. “Is it safe?” What do you mean? Is Guatemala safer than the local mall? We only had two answers then, and I still have only two answers. Prudence and forethought for one, but more importantly I believe with all my heart that there is no better place to be than in God’s hands. 

Transfixed at the bus stop, my unexpected welling fear is that today will not be like any other day. I have only one recourse. “God, I commit my daughter into your hands.” Of course God never waits for my permission. God’s hands hold my daughter when I’m thinking of it and when I’m not. He claimed her before I even dreamt of her.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

-Psalm 121, NIV

Lord, you know what I want for my daughter today. And for her classmates. And for every child today. I want today to be like every other day where she comes home from school. I pray that without shame or second thought. More importantly, I put her in your hands. Not that you need or ever wait for my permission. Open my heart to trust you in all things and with all things. Give me the peace that no amount of prudence or forethought can ever provide. Give me peace that passes understanding. And hold her tightly. In the name of Jesus Christ, who suffered, was brutally crucified, then rose again so that though we suffer we too will rise again, Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.