The Lord’s Prayer: Holiness
Second Sunday after Pentecost – NL Summer
June 2, 2024
Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN
Luke 11.2-4; Psalm 8
Last week Pr. Maria Markman had a terrific sermon to kick off this four-week series on the Lord’s Prayer. In preaching on the introduction, “Our Father,” she reminded us that this prayer is both a comfort and a challenge. It’s a comfort because of the intimate, relational nature as God invites us to come and pray, even if our relationships with our earthly fathers have been less than ideal. It’s also a challenge because we do not “My Father.” Rather, we say, “Our Father,” and when we do so we are reminded that we pray with people we may not like or usually associate with. “Our Father” is the hallmark of inclusivity.
Pr. Maria also reflected on her personal experience of the Lord’s Prayer in this aspect, which prompted reflections of mine. When I was an pastoral intern at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in York, PA I visited a young woman in a care facility. Linda had severe cerebral palsy, was confined to a wheelchair, and largely non-communicative, though she could make some sounds. It was awkward because she couldn’t talk. I think I got a smile from her when I told her that I was a registered Girl Scout. I don’t remember if I was able to give her Holy Communion, but I do remember praying with her. When we got to the Lord’s Prayer I could clearly hear her “saying” it right along with me. That’s how deep the Lord’s Prayer is. I’ve been in memory care units with residents who are non-communicative, but when I pray the Lord’s Prayer they join right in. Those are holy moments.
“Father, hallowed be your name,” is the phrase we contemplate today realizing as Pr. Maria reminded us last week, how often we breeze over the words without thinking about them. In this petition, we recognize God as both Holy Other and Wholly Other, who we worship as One who stands outside us. This is the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush reminded to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground. Then, as Moses encountered God on Mt. Sinai in the wilderness to receive the Ten Commandments, came down changed in appearance because of this encounter. This is the God who Isaiah fell down before when God called him to be a prophet saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.” And we hear as the Psalmist declares, “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”
As Martin Luther adds in the Small Catechism, we assert that “God’s name is holy in itself, but we ask in this prayer that it may also be holy in and among us.” Furthermore Luther reminds us lest we forget, we don’t always honor God’s holiness. We dishonor God’s name by using it inappropriately or by putting other gods first, gods of consumerism, materialism, and busyness. Finally, we acknowledge that we don’t always live holy lives according to God’s holy name.
How do we live holy lives? There’s an aspect to holiness that helps us understand more what it is we pray for. This aspect is found in the root meaning of holy as something that is set apart for a specific purpose. God is holy because of who God is, not because what God does, and we are holy because God has set us apart. Hear the Psalmist again: God has made us “a little lower than God and crowned us with glory and honor.” God has given us responsibility for all of creation, has set us apart, and has gifted us for this work accordingly.
Today we are honoring our High School graduates and I want to direct these last comments to you. When you were baptized, God made you holy by setting you apart to serve God and neighbor. You are called to this holy work through whatever vocation you pursue, whether that is furthering your education, taking a gap year, serving in the military, or entering the workforce. If I were to give you some advice it would be this. I’d ask you to be open to the Holy Spirit and its leading, the One who God set aside to guide you in your life ahead, to consider ways that God is calling you to live your holy life. Find strength in a community of faith, a holy people set apart to help you. Partake in Holy Communion where God sets apart bread and wine to give God’s very self as strength for your journey.
One last thing, to you and all gathered here: remember there’s no expiration date on your baptismal certificates. (I know, because there is no space for that.) All of us are called to be God’s holy people until God calls us home, to continue to live out God’s calling on us. So, I encourage you to hallow God’s name by embracing the gift of the Holy Spirit in your lives. God’s blessing to you as you pray with your lives, “Father, hallowed be your name.” Amen.
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