Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*
What Christianity is about above all is revealed in the simple phrase: Our Father in heaven.
You see, there are many ways Jesus could have spoken about God – Shepherd, King, Master. In the old testament, they often would say, God of our father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus says, “Our Father.” Not “A Father” or “The Father.” He says, “Our Father” and if you were saying this prayer by yourself what would it be? My father.
It’s very intimate, very personal.
It could be even more intimate than we can imagine because Jesus spoke Aramaic and the evidence is he used the word Abba which we now understand to be a term of endearment, like our English word, “Daddy.”
Would you consider letting God be your dad in heaven?
cultural atheist 