WEBVTT 00:00.970 --> 00:04.346 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord 00:04.378 --> 00:06.000 and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:06.450 --> 00:07.390 Amen. 00:08.610 --> 00:11.920 Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 00:13.170 --> 00:16.880 Hallowed be thy name. 00:18.050 --> 00:20.000 What in the world does that mean? 00:20.610 --> 00:26.678 In these Fridays here in chapel we are reflecting upon on parts of the 00:26.684 --> 00:30.786 catechism and right now the Lord's Prayer. 00:30.818 --> 00:35.640 And so today the first petition hallowed be Thy name. 00:36.090 --> 00:37.480 But what does it mean? 00:38.270 --> 00:46.726 I in some ways am glad for this King James version of the Lord's 00:46.758 --> 00:51.646 Prayer that we say together because of course it means that we have 00:51.668 --> 00:57.262 all memorized one standard way of saying the Lord's Prayer and we can 00:57.316 --> 00:59.306 say it with Catholicity. 00:59.418 --> 01:03.378 We say it all together and we are all saying the same words and 01:03.384 --> 01:05.459 there's something beautiful about that. 01:07.190 --> 01:18.374 And yet I sometimes wonder if that same way of saying it is at the 01:18.412 --> 01:20.550 cost of faith. 01:21.130 --> 01:26.518 Saying the words in great faith, believing what they mean, 01:26.604 --> 01:31.766 understanding what we are saying, that we would pray the Lord's Prayer 01:31.878 --> 01:37.846 with the faith that it calls forth from us and the faith that it holds 01:37.878 --> 01:39.580 out to us. 01:41.570 --> 01:48.206 The catechism is an opportunity to reflect upon the words of the 01:48.228 --> 01:54.610 Lord's Prayer so that we might say them with great faith. 01:55.910 --> 02:01.934 Even Luther struggled with the wording of this first petition hollowed 02:01.982 --> 02:05.086 be thine name in this book. 02:05.208 --> 02:08.822 Maybe you've heard about it, I don't know, we probably don't talk 02:08.876 --> 02:09.717 about it enough. 02:09.804 --> 02:13.190 But it's this book called The Large Catechism. 02:14.330 --> 02:15.960 Maybe you've heard about it. 02:17.050 --> 02:18.970 In the large catechism 02:20.350 --> 02:25.770 Luther, rephrases the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. 02:26.350 --> 02:33.614 Here's how he rephrases it Father help that your name alone might be 02:33.652 --> 02:34.830 kept holy. 02:35.250 --> 02:44.094 He turns it from just words that we maybe mumble into a very clear 02:44.292 --> 02:45.306 prayer. 02:45.498 --> 02:51.086 In the first petition we are not saying the words Hallowed be thy name 02:51.268 --> 02:56.354 like some say the words after they say the name Mohammed, 02:56.402 --> 02:57.878 peace be upon him. 02:58.044 --> 02:59.780 We're not saying our 03:00.170 --> 03:03.040 Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 03:03.410 --> 03:07.806 As if it's just this little honorific, a nice thing that we say for 03:07.828 --> 03:08.400 God. 03:09.330 --> 03:12.110 It's rather a prayer. 03:13.090 --> 03:17.886 And this morning, what I want to do with you is explore this little 03:17.988 --> 03:25.382 prayer hallowed be thy name and ask what do we mean? So that we can say 03:25.436 --> 03:32.022 with all boldness and confidence this prayer that we may ask God as 03:32.076 --> 03:35.510 dear children ask their dear Father. 03:36.970 --> 03:42.638 So my family and I were at the Playmobile Fun Park in Nuremberg, 03:42.754 --> 03:45.260 Germany, several years ago. 03:45.870 --> 03:51.866 We had gone to this Playmobile Fun Park because, well, I had held out 03:51.888 --> 03:57.022 the hope that maybe we could go to Neuendettelsau, to the home front of 03:57.076 --> 03:58.430 Wilhelm Loehe. 03:59.490 --> 04:02.270 But my family told me that'd be really boring. 04:03.430 --> 04:09.390 So we ended up at the Playmobile Fun Park, the home of the Playmobile 04:09.470 --> 04:10.500 Toy company. 04:11.269 --> 04:14.594 And it was actually a lot of fun. 04:14.792 --> 04:20.326 There was this castle, this life sized castle just like the one that 04:20.348 --> 04:22.998 we had at home, but we could explore it. 04:23.084 --> 04:28.370 There were goblins guarding the gates and my eight year old son Aidan 04:28.450 --> 04:33.290 at the time, and my four year old son, Noah, they love this. 04:33.440 --> 04:38.134 There were these obstacle courses and these low ropes and these jungle 04:38.182 --> 04:42.782 gyms that you could climb on, and they were safe for eight year old 04:42.836 --> 04:44.510 and four year old bodies. 04:45.170 --> 04:51.770 And the best of all were these troughs of water filled with Playmobile 04:51.850 --> 04:52.666 boats. 04:52.858 --> 04:58.385 And you could zoom the boats up and down this flowing river and oh, it 04:58.408 --> 04:59.282 was so great. 04:59.336 --> 05:01.202 And we were having so much fun. 05:01.256 --> 05:03.682 And I don't know what happened 05:03.736 --> 05:08.214 maybe I was reflecting on Wilhelm Loehe and on the one hand, he's this 05:08.252 --> 05:12.645 great missional theologian, and on the other hand, his doctrine of the 05:12.668 --> 05:17.438 Holy Ministry that has caused so much consternation and that we've 05:17.474 --> 05:19.180 been talking about ever since. 05:20.590 --> 05:27.802 And in the middle of my reflections, perhaps I heard, help my little 05:27.856 --> 05:31.398 Noah, my four year old Noah. 05:31.574 --> 05:34.957 He had gotten bored with the trough of water. 05:35.124 --> 05:39.086 He had probably gotten bored because his dad's head was up in the 05:39.108 --> 05:42.750 clouds and he had wandered off to the low ropes. 05:43.409 --> 05:51.274 He had tried to wander across a bungee cord rope bridge and had fallen 05:51.322 --> 05:57.190 through, but he was caught by the bungee cords. 05:57.770 --> 05:58.980 He was hanging there. 06:00.170 --> 06:04.574 And the the rope bridge was just high enough off the ground that he 06:04.612 --> 06:06.350 couldn't touch the ground. 06:06.690 --> 06:11.440 And he hung there by one foot help. 06:12.210 --> 06:19.470 I come running to him, I grab him up in my arms and he says, dad. 06:23.570 --> 06:32.454 One part dread and terror and fear and yet on the other hand he 06:32.492 --> 06:34.200 was going to live. 06:35.210 --> 06:44.370 He was rescued, he was safe. When we got him down and Celina, my wife 06:44.450 --> 06:48.106 and Aiden, his older brother came around him and gave him lots of 06:48.128 --> 06:48.438 hugs. 06:48.454 --> 06:53.120 Celina asked Noah what was it like to be there? 06:54.130 --> 06:59.870 And his eyes got big and he said, I was dangling. 07:01.650 --> 07:03.330 He was dangling. 07:06.659 --> 07:09.920 Have you ever been there dangling? 07:11.780 --> 07:18.836 Maybe it was the amount of demands that had been placed upon you and 07:18.858 --> 07:24.070 you feel like you were caught up with all these demands and you could 07:24.680 --> 07:28.550 barely deliver on the expectations of you. 07:30.360 --> 07:37.683 Maybe it's your own sin that has tangled around you and the guilt and 07:37.722 --> 07:42.635 the shame and the realization that you can't free yourself from your 07:42.658 --> 07:43.980 sinful condition. 07:45.120 --> 07:46.620 And so you dangle. 07:47.920 --> 07:56.492 Maybe it's a situation so out of your control your hopes and dreams 07:56.556 --> 08:02.256 for some better future had been dashed and you had no idea what you 08:02.278 --> 08:03.490 were to do next. 08:04.580 --> 08:07.940 And there you dangle. 08:10.039 --> 08:16.630 It's for people like this that our Lord has given his name. 08:17.960 --> 08:23.800 It's for people like this that our Lord has held forth the first 08:23.870 --> 08:26.707 petition of the Lord's Prayer. 08:26.884 --> 08:29.850 Hallowed be thy name. 08:33.440 --> 08:41.915 In our text today, the entire people of Israel were dangling by the 08:41.938 --> 08:43.740 cords of slavery. 08:45.120 --> 08:50.812 They had been enslaved by the Egyptians and they couldn't free 08:50.866 --> 08:51.470 themselves. 08:54.560 --> 08:58.800 And so the Lord shows up to to Moses in the burning bush. 09:00.250 --> 09:06.474 And he tells them that he the God of Moses fathers, the God of Abraham 09:06.522 --> 09:11.854 and Isaac and Jacob is about to deliver the people of Israel and he 09:11.892 --> 09:15.150 wants to do so by Moses himself. 09:17.010 --> 09:24.030 Listen to these words that our God said to Moses. I have indeed seen 09:24.100 --> 09:27.510 the misery of my people in Egypt. 09:28.170 --> 09:34.434 I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I'm 09:34.482 --> 09:37.590 concerned about their suffering. 09:38.990 --> 09:44.490 So I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians. 09:45.150 --> 09:48.780 You see, that's who this God is. 09:49.150 --> 09:54.094 A God who delighted to walk among his people in the cool of the 09:54.132 --> 09:54.910 garden. 09:55.970 --> 10:02.126 A God who would come down to punish sin and so to turn the hearts of 10:02.148 --> 10:04.130 his people back to himself. 10:05.830 --> 10:13.410 The God who delighted to deliver his people from the evils of sin, 10:13.830 --> 10:20.354 death, the devil and the sinful flesh of themselves and the sinful 10:20.402 --> 10:24.760 flesh of those around them from which they couldn't free themselves. 10:25.690 --> 10:31.530 That is the God who loves to come to his people's rescue. 10:32.590 --> 10:35.420 And how does God rescue his people? 10:38.490 --> 10:41.240 By giving them his name. 10:42.510 --> 10:45.260 By giving them his name. 10:46.430 --> 10:52.138 God shows up to the burning bush in the burning bush to Moses, and God 10:52.304 --> 10:53.980 delivers his name. 10:54.350 --> 11:01.214 Moses says to the Lord, what if I go to this people and I tell them 11:01.252 --> 11:02.926 that I'm here to rescue them 11:03.028 --> 11:08.146 and they ask the name of the God who has sent me, what then am I 11:08.168 --> 11:09.380 supposed to say? 11:12.290 --> 11:20.580 Tell them that Yahweh, the God of your father's, has sent you. 11:21.190 --> 11:24.942 Yahweh, the Hebrew name of the Lord. 11:25.006 --> 11:28.290 Yud hai v hay. 11:28.950 --> 11:32.810 The Lord says, this is my name forever. 11:32.990 --> 11:37.990 The name you shall call me from generation to generation. 11:38.890 --> 11:47.382 God gave his people his name so that they might pray, praise and give 11:47.436 --> 11:48.040 thanks. 11:50.970 --> 11:57.818 The problem is that we don't always make use of God's name when we're 11:57.834 --> 11:58.590 dangling. 11:59.410 --> 11:59.900 That's not 12:00.000 --> 12:05.920 always the first thing that we think of to call out God's name. 12:06.930 --> 12:11.040 Sometimes we forget, distracted by so many other things. 12:11.970 --> 12:18.014 Sometimes we think we can solve this ourselves, and we set forth a 12:18.052 --> 12:18.640 plan. 12:20.610 --> 12:28.082 Sometimes the issue seems so small that we wouldn't bother the Lord 12:28.226 --> 12:29.960 with these problems. 12:30.810 --> 12:38.706 And at other times, the problem is so great, so complex, so 12:38.828 --> 12:45.740 controverted that we think, where would God even start? 12:49.010 --> 12:56.126 Sometimes our sin is so great and so wrapped around us that we can't 12:56.158 --> 13:00.740 even bring ourselves to speak God's name. 13:02.630 --> 13:08.054 And maybe every once in a while, you've said God's name. 13:08.172 --> 13:16.434 You've cried out so many times, and the suffering continues and your 13:16.492 --> 13:24.300 faith dwindles, and you wonder if you can call out God's name again. 13:27.930 --> 13:29.510 And so came Jesus. 13:30.490 --> 13:35.180 So came our Lord Jesus to people like us. 13:35.950 --> 13:41.354 He came speaking God's name to his people. 13:41.552 --> 13:47.230 He introduced a new name to call God, Father. 13:48.130 --> 13:53.278 Tertullian the Church Father, whom I love to read, said that the name 13:53.364 --> 13:57.569 Father had never been published before for this God 13:57.720 --> 14:02.290 but Jesus called him Father. 14:03.510 --> 14:10.117 And Jesus taught the people that that's how they should talk to his 14:10.204 --> 14:16.550 God and their God to call upon Him as Father Abba Daddy. 14:18.090 --> 14:23.530 And so throughout Jesus life, he taught the word of God in all its 14:23.600 --> 14:25.210 truth and purity. 14:25.870 --> 14:34.160 And he led people to lead holy lives according to the name of God. 14:36.290 --> 14:43.242 Right up to the end, where Jesus was dangling over the pit of death 14:43.386 --> 14:44.400 and hell. 14:45.650 --> 14:50.222 And on the cross he cried out, Father, forgive them, for they know not 14:50.276 --> 14:51.360 what they do. 14:52.210 --> 14:57.950 Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. 14:59.530 --> 14:59.810 Right 15:00.170 --> 15:04.890 to the very end, Jesus cried out to the Father. 15:04.970 --> 15:08.110 He kept the Father's name holy. 15:08.690 --> 15:11.120 And he did so for us. 15:14.190 --> 15:22.218 He did so to call us back to that simple faith that we would call out 15:22.304 --> 15:30.610 upon our God and simply say, oh, O God, help dad. 15:34.440 --> 15:43.064 I'm so grateful for the catechism because it helps us, it teaches us, 15:43.182 --> 15:48.964 it holds out this faith for us, that when we say words like Hallowed 15:49.012 --> 15:57.420 be thy name, that we might say them with great faith. That we might 15:57.490 --> 16:02.990 call out to our God who loves and delights to rescue us. 16:04.080 --> 16:09.136 How grateful I am for the people in my life the pastors, the 16:09.158 --> 16:16.876 laypeople, my parents, DCE, deaconess, youth directors who have held 16:16.908 --> 16:23.604 out the name of God to me and encouraged me when I was dangling to 16:23.642 --> 16:29.030 once again call out upon the name of God. 16:31.240 --> 16:37.876 And so may we teach the word of God in all its truth and purity and 16:37.898 --> 16:40.740 lead holy lives according to it. 16:40.890 --> 16:45.896 In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 16:46.088 --> 16:47.128 Amen. 16:47.304 --> 16:48.200 We sing our hymn.