Our Father: The Lord's Prayer I

Jesus taught His disciples to address God as Father in their prayers. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, the first words out of our mouth are "Our Father." Jesus Himself referred to God as Father, and in the Lord's Prayer, He recommended that His followers also call God Father. Father - according to Jesus - is God's name.

These days, some consider the name Father for God as offensive. Maybe it's because they have been hurt by their earthly fathers. Maybe it's because they think that the use of a masculine name for God somehow implies that He is more like a man than a woman, and if that is true, then that must mean that women are in some sense inferior to men. Or, maybe it's just because they relate better to their mother than their father.

Whatever the reason, however, the real issue is not so much, "What do I prefer?" as "What did Jesus prefer?" If we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and if we believe in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures and in how the Church has interpreted them over the centuries, then we must find a way to believe in God as our Father. As human beings, we cannot make God into what we want Him to be; we must accept who He has revealed Himself to be.

What about those of us who have difficulty relating to God as Father? The answer is not to re-write the Bible to make it fit our personal desires and preferences. The answer is to seek healing for the brokenness in us that resists God's revelation that He is our heavenly Father.

Dear Lord, give me the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart that feels the truth that You, God, are my Father. Help me, dear Lord, accept Your fatherly love. Whatever it is in me that resists You as my heavenly Father, please banish it. Soften my heart, dear Lord, to You, my Father in heaven. Fill me with the hope that one day I will reach heaven, and will run into Your outstretched arms, and hear You say, "Welcome home, My beloved daughter." Amen.