Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
You have three ways to hear his weekly message:
- Read Pastor Jack's GODblog.
- Listen now to an audio of the scripture reading and Pastor Jack's sermon.
- Listen anytime. You choose the time and place. Download Pastor Jack's GODcast to your MP3 player.
Monday, June 22, 2009
All You Need To Say About God
Exodus 3:13-15; Luke 11:1-4
My father's name was Albert Edson Buckley. One of my brothers is named William Edson Buckley. A nephew is Richard Edson Buckley. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of my 40 or so grand-nephews and grand-nieces owns that middle name as well.
You may well ask, "Who the heck was this Edson guy?" All of us Buckleys have wondered the same thing. So far nobody knows, or much cares. Maybe the name lives on because it's just so melodious. Not!
I hope that your family's method for naming babies has more rhyme or reason to it.
But in our culture a name is often chosen because of some favorite celebrity, a character in a popular book or movie, or perhaps to honor a special friend or family member. And sometimes just because it sounds so nice.
In most cases, the name has little meaning in and of itself, but takes on significance as we get to know the person who wears it. Eventually, then, just hearing or reading the words Jack Buckley conjures up all sorts of impressions in the mind of someone who's spent much time in my company.
How different this is from the way names are used in the Bible. And what a difference that makes in the way we use God's name, and in the meaning of our prayer, "Hallowed be thy name."
In the Book of Genesis, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all received their famous names as markers of their character, virtual prophecies of the way their lives would work out.
So Abraham means "Father of a Multitude" -- and at long last the old man and his barren old wife had a miracle baby whose descendants became the nation of Israel.
That baby was named Isaac, which means "Laughter" -- to remind him and all who met him that his mom-to-be laughed out loud at the prophecy she would have a baby at her ripe old age. God had the last laugh after all.
Then there's Jacob, aka "Supplanter" -- named halfway out of the womb when his seconds-older twin brother was born with Jacob's fist locked tight around his ankle. Talk about your sibling rivalry... This little guy grew up nudging and tricking poor Esau, jockeying for first place every way he could.
So it goes, biblically speaking. Your name is such a powerful descriptor that it makes you who you are, and who you're going to become.
When Moses asked ever so politely at the burning bush (Exodus 3) for God's name -- as in, "How do I know I'm dealing with the Real God here?" -- the answer pretty well floored him.
"I Am Who I Am," God said. And then, "I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. That's who I am."
For a nice Jewish boy like Moses, those few words had a world of meaning.
Through all their ups and downs on the journey of faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never walked a single step without God by their side. What God promised, God performed.
And now God says to Moses, "Well, of course! I mean, that's my name, isn't it? You can count on me... I'll always be the same... True to my self, true to my word... That's my name!"
(By the way, the Jewish people historically respect God's name so highly that they forbid themselves to say it out loud. Modern Christians have tried, with varying results like "Jehovah" or "Yahweh." My friend the rabbi reminds me those are nonsense noises compared to the Hebrew name. He says we might as well pronounce it "Yoo-hoo." Which probably would make a congregation laugh out loud when they really shouldn't.)
About this "hallowed be thy name" prayer, we have to remember that God's name is holy regardless of what we humans do or don't do to honor it!
God does not need us, in order to be filled up full with power and glory, goodness and truth, and all the rest of what it means to be God!
But we need God -- in our hearts and our minds and our daily life as God's people in God's world! And we need to remember that fact, every single day of our existence.
So Jesus teaches us to pray, "Hallowed be thy name."
And praying that prayer commits you and me to two critically important intentions...
1. Reverence for God's holiness: Anything or anyone that's holy is distinctly different from life's ordinary stuff, so temples and priests and altars are not your usual buildings or workers or tables. Even so, God is pre-eminently everything but ordinary. Even as "Our Father," God is anything but a sentimental Daddy. So, above all else, remember the reverence. Especially in what you say about God.
2. Respect for God's reputation: What the world thinks of God largely depends on the ways God's people behave, so calling yourself by God's name means you represent God for better or worse. Long ago the prophets worked long and hard to get God's people to change their rowdy ways, so other nations would have no excuse to laugh off God's claim on the whole wide world. You and I today are called the same way to let God's glory be our spiritual heartbeat 24/7, 365 days a year. Especially in what you do in God's name.
Jesus and his disciples were the Founding Fathers of a revolutionary new way to be and do the Kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven. The Christian church had to succeed! And this prayer he taught them meant it would succeed only by honoring God in all its members said and did!
In the next few centuries, the Church Fathers led and taught Christians how to live in the midst of a Pagan world. The Church would survive and spread only by proving in everyday life that faith in Christ transforms all of one's life into Christlike living!
Christians today live in a culture that assumes Christian values -- mutual respect, honesty, loyalty, tolerance of differences, etc. -- without accepting Christianity itself! If not indifferent to our Christian faith and fellowship in the church, our neighbors are sometimes simply oblivious. And occasionally hostile!
What will persuade our neighbors and friends that what we believe about Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life? Carefully phrased theology... diligent Bible study... well orchestrated worship experiences... are all good and useful in their own right.
But the most persuasive evidence for the claims of Christ is a daily life lived in the name and power of the Risen Christ.
Jesus introduces the Lord's Prayer with an invitation. "Pray to God in secret," he says. (The King James Bible says "your closet.") Then God (who knows and loves you through and through, even with your deepest darkest secrets!) will give to you openly, abundantly, everything that you need.
Loving and honoring all that God is, in your heart's most private place, is the one sure route to loving and honoring all that God is in every part of your life!
That may sound a bit preachy. And not a little bit demanding. But if you think in terms of family resemblance it makes just plain good sense.
In recent years I've been to family events where a couple of Edsons and a lot of other Buckley types mingle. And I'd swear that, for all the variety of facial features, an outsider would see in a snap that these people are all related to each other. The names just confirm the obvious.
I'm convinced that if we go by the name of God, then something of God's own character will be obvious to any observer, whether a family insider or a watcher from the outside in. If that's so, then our responsibilities for reverence and respect are actually opportunities to become all the more who we really are already -- the holy children of our holy God.
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
10:22 AM
<< Home
|
|
 |
|
|
