Prayer

"Have you noticed how some people talk in normal voices until the moment they begin to pray? Then they'll suddenly lower their voices to a whisper. This is, I suppose, a way to show reverence and respect, the way you might talk to a king or a president whom you fear. Although this may be an appropriate way to approach God at times, it seems like this is the way you approach a father who's waiting to give you a smack with a wooden spoon, not a father who's going to hug you, wrap you in the finest cloak, and throw you a banquet." - Tony Jones, Praying the Bible - The Wrestling of Lectio Divina.

As I mentioned previously on another blog, I have been thinking about prayer lately. I've been reading Shane Claiborne's book Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, it basically covers three prayers within scripture: Kingdom Prayer (the Lord's Prayer-Matthew 6:9-13), Jesus' Prayer 'that they may be one' in John 17, and Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. In each of these prayers Shane and his coauthor Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove write about the significance of these prayers and how each calls us to intimate relationship with our heavenly Father and seeks to move us out as part of God's answer to the prayers we pray.

So what have I been thinking and how does it relate to Tony Jones' quote? Well, one of the significant ideas within Kingdom Prayer is addressing God as our heavenly Father. Of course, heavenly points to the mystery of God, that God is different from us, but the word Father, which in Aramaic is more accurately translated to 'daddy' or 'pappa' speaks of our relationship with this God. Father is a very relational term. Tony Jones brings this to light as he says, "...it seems like this is the way you approach a father who's waiting to give you a smack with a wooden spoon, not a father who's going to hug you, wrap you in the finest cloak, and throw you a banquet."

What if when we pray we begin by seeing God with the biblical images of father that Jesus presented to us? What if when we pray we begin by recognizing that this father is the father who is going to hug you, wrap you in the finest cloak even after you squandered your inheritance and this father throws you a banquet in your honor?

This vision of God our father that Jesus speaks of is truly revolutionary.