"Our Father, who art in heaven..."

Last week, our church focused on the importance of "prayer" for our "Prayers, Presence, Gifts, & Service" 40 day journey. The sermon for that Sunday focused on how the Lord's prayer can serve as a template for our daily prayers.

The sermon talked about how we address God. In the Lord's prayer, we address God as "our Father." When the disciples heard Jesus refer to God as "our Father" they would most likely have thought of Israel's exodus story when God had rescued their forebears from slavery in Egypt and then led them to the Promised Land.

Today, Hosea 11:1-9 was the Old Testament reading from "The Daily Office." This is one of the main Old Testament scriptures in which the exodus story is connected with God as "father" or more generally, as a loving parent. Of course, we need to keep this in context with the reality that for some people today, the image of God as father can be hurtful because of bad experiences with their fathers. Nevertheless, as students of the Bible, it's important for us to get into the minds of Jesus' disciples when he began his prayer with, "Our Father..." The Lord's Prayer reminds us that just as God had rescued the Israelites from slavery and led them through the wilderness, so will the Lord rescue us and teach us how to walk as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Hosea 11:1-9 (NRSV)
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2The more I called them, the more they went from me;they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. 3Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.