Luke 11:1-4
We started this week pondering the Lord’s Prayer. The above music video is a modern musical version based on the Lord’s Prayer done by Hillsong. Perhaps one of the most remarkable parts of the prayer for me is the we invitation to call the God of the universe, ”Father.” That does not roll easily off my tongue. We can run to him in the middle of the night or anytime an unexpected need arrives at our doorstep. God does not fight against himself, casting out good for another good. He’s not like a double minded lover who switches devotion if something better comes along. God desires a real family relationship with us, not master servant but father to child with all the growth and independence and self expression that implies. When that relationship is marred by lack of transparency, cheating, and deception both parties experience woe. We can’t say one thing and then act another. Many of us have been hurt by phony promises of devotion and commitment only to discover it was a lie. God doesn’t double deal like that. As amazing as it sounds, a being so very different than us, incarnated to understand us better and open the way for us to choose relationship with him. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
Listen to the song and reflect quietly on the gift of relationship.
Lenten challenge for March 12: “In Laos, children learn to garden and raise animals so that they can provide their own food Give 5 cents for each kind of fresh vegetable and fruit in your kitchen.” Put it in your Lenten jar for charity!
On the Way to Wonder 