Pray then like this:
Our Father in heaven, hollowed be your name ~ Matthew 6:9
As Jesus took the disciples to the schoolhouse of prayer, He positions every word with meticulous care. At the outset, Jesus defines, not only how to pray, but how to interpret the most basic of our human needs.
Just hours after 451 Youth for Christ campers pulled out of Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado, a group of several hundred fathers and sons filled the void. The juxtaposition of that week of camping with the week that I experienced is profound. To illustrate, I spent one evening meeting with a group of high school students from downtown Denver. These nine young men openly shared the questions they face and the environment that defines them. None of them have a father in the home. Some dads have died, several have escaped the demands of fatherhood and others are simply absent.
It is no accident that Jesus started His lesson on prayer by addressing God as “Our Father,” for in those poignant words we find both community and connection. We discover identity and partnership.
It was as though Jesus Himself was looking into the faces of hundreds of students last week with the declaration that they can have what their hearts long for. They are orphans no longer.
Jesus stamps our birth certificate, and as He does, He introduces us to other members of the family. We are connected to the King and we are embraced by His community. “Our Father” unlocks a treasure house of promise, to a relationally bankrupt generation.
Into the tears of brokenness, pain, loneliness, injustice and sin, Jesus enters in. Not as a spectator, but as a rescuer. This is why He is our Savior.
“Our Father,” to God be the glory.
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