It is its very familiarity that is part of the problem, according to Martin Luther. He said that the Lord's Prayer is the greatest martyr, "for everybody tortures and abuses it." We say it so often, and because its words flow like poetry, we can easily speak it without investment of either mind or heart.

Matthew includes it in the Sermon on the Mount; Luke has it as Jesus' answer to a disciple who asked to be taught how to pray. In either case, Jesus gave us this prayer as part of a time of teaching. Jesus also tells us that we are to love God with all our heart, all our strength, and all our mind. My prayer is that spending this time of Lent with the Lord's Prayer might make us both more trusting of God, and more mindful in our praying this beloved prayer ...

When do you pray? I don't mean time of day or day of the week, but when in terms of, what prompts you to pray? One 5th grader some years ago answered that question by saying, "Pray? You mean what grandma does before we're allowed to eat on Thanksgiving?" Others have answered, "Whenever I need something."

But the Lord's Prayer doesn't begin with our need. Neither does it begin with praise or adoration: Almighty God, or Good and gracious God, or Eternal God, or Holy God. It begins with a relationship: "Our Father ..."

It would seem that Jesus wants us to know, first and foremost, that you and I are God's sons and daughters. Whatever else we may be in relationship to the almighty, eternal, and holy God -- mere mortals, sinners -- Jesus wants us to know, above all else, that we are beloved children; not someone else's children, but God's own sons, God's own daughters.

We do have to acknowledge that for many people, "father" is not a positive image. One priest wrote, "When I try to tell a small boy in the slums that God is his Father, I often wonder what he makes of it when his idea about fathers may be that they beat mothers and are generally drunk." Others speak of their fathers as always absent (a horrible image of God), or whose lifestyle says that any- and everything else was more important than their children (another horrible image of God).

So we have to be clear to draw from Scripture to see just what kind of "father" God is - Jesus' parable of the prodigal son is a great for this, show-ing us a father who gives generously, loves unconditionally, forgives extra-vagantly, and shows an astonishing capacity for patience and mercy. With this parable, Jesus himself answers the question, "What kind of father IS God?"

What I was little and we'd go to my aunt's for Christmas, my great-aunt and great-uncle were always there. We would walk through the front door, and my great-uncle would squat down on his haunches, open his arms wide, and we would go running into those big, loving arms for a huge hug and smooch, and then his words, "I've been waiting for you! I just couldn't wait to see you!"

God is that kind of father. It is out of that relationship that the rest of the prayer flows ...

But there's more to this relationship with which the prayer begins. Jesus didn't teach us to pray, "My father," but "Our father." Whether we pray this alone at bedtime, or in the midst of the congregation, Jesus tells us in one simple word that we are not alone.

First, "our" is made up of you who are praying, and Jesus who gave us the words. When you pray, Jesus, who taught us to pray in the plural, prays with you. He includes himself, unites himself with you in that little word, "our."

Second, that plural continues throughout the Lord's Prayer: give us our daily bread, forgive us, lead us not into temptation ... and so on. There is a warm and embracing feel in this prayer-in-the-plural, which reminds us that we are not alone, as well as keeping us from praying selfishly. We stand in the com-pany of all humanity when we pray, because God so loved the world. The Lord's Prayer doesn't allow us to keep our human circle small, but places us in sisterhood and brotherhood - in kinship, in one family -- with the human race. We are never truly alone. We belong to the whole human family.

So much for how we begin. Now to the First Petition: "Hallowed/holy be your Name."

In his Large Catechism, Luther asks, "But what is it to pray that [God's] name may be holy? Isn't it holy already?" Then he answers: Yes, it is always holy in its nature, but in our use it is not holy ...Now the name of God is profaned by us either in words or in works ...."

1. "words"

Perhaps we have prayed this petition intending that other people would honor and respect God. But Luther suggests that Jesus is being far more literal here. Jesus teaches us to ask God's help that God's name be holy among US. Lu-ther writes:

"[God's name] is profaned when [we] preach, teach, and [any time we] speak in the name of God what is false and misleading ... also when [we], by swearing, cursing, conjuring, etc., grossly abuse the holy name."

Ouch! With a variety of versions of "Oh my GOD!!!" or "GOD (opposite of bless) IT!" being socially accepted expletives not only among non-Christians but among us Christians as well, are we sure we really want to pray this? It will mean a rather cumbersome change of habit, of reflex. Not easy.

Further, anyone can sprinkle the name of God throughout a conversation to try to make his or her opinion or action sound more respectable or authorita-tive, even if the content of that conversation, or the action being debated, is squarely contrary to the loving and gracious heart and spirit of God. People have been doing it since before the time of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, not only was God's being, but even the name of God was considered to be so purely sacred, that it was rendered unpronounceable when it was finally written down: YHWH. What better way to protect us against thoughtlessly breaking the 2nd commandment and taking "the name of the Lord our God in vain" than to never speak God's name at all?

But in his prayer, Jesus puts a positive spin on the 2nd Commandment. Rather than not speaking God's name at all, Jesus suggests that our Creator loves to hear us use God's name in certain ways. Luther: "for [God] will not hear anything more dear than that [God's] honor and praise is exalted above everything else." To hallow means to praise and honor, both in word and deed.

How do your words in general, and the way you speak God's name in particular, praise and honor your Creator and Savior, and bear witness to God's love and grace? To pray these four simple words, "Hallowed/holy by your name" (among us) literally has the power to change your life!

2. We profane God's name by words and "works".

As part of a scolding from your parents, were you ever told that what you DID reflected on THEM as your parents? Did you want to "bring shame on the family name?"

When I served a rural parish in Ohio, I learned that a primary way people came to an opinion about someone was by whether or not they knew that person's parents, and what they thought of them. If the parents were honor-able, the "child" (whether school age or adult) was assumed to be honorable as well unless/until he or she proved otherwise. Unfortunately, it worked negatively as well - if the parent was dishonorable, it could be assumed the child was dishonorable as well, and that child might be hard-pressed to prove otherwise. Who hasn't heard the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

This simply reflects human experience with family relationships. As parents and children, we are interwoven, of-a-piece with one another. I don't live in a vacuum. Neither do you. What we do affects and reflects upon those closest to us - our family, and our family name.

This makes Luther's comments on honoring God's name among us the easy to understand. Luther writes: "For God's name was given us when we became Christians and were baptized, so that we are called children of God ... It brings dishonor upon God if we, who are called by God's name and have all manner of goods from God, teach, speak, and live in any other manner except as godly and heavenly children, so that people [would] say of us that we must be not God's, but the devil's children."

In our baptism, God has graciously made us "family" - daughters and sons of the Holy One, sisters and brothers of one another and of Jesus Christ. That was BEFORE we had done a single thing to bring honor to God or to earn that place of honor in God's heart. As if that wasn't enough, God has also prom-ised us the fullness of God's just and perfect reign, and an eternal place just for us in the Kingdom, when Jesus comes to takes us to Himself.

Of course we don't want to bring shame on the name of God, on the name of Jesus, on our family name, Christian!

Of course we want what we DO to reflect, albeit imperfectly, the honor and glory of God!

And of course, we want people to see Christ in us - "I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me." (Jesus, John 15:5, TEV) - pretty close to a biblical way of saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Our father in heaven, holy be your name ...

From "me" to "we." Pray with me that the common business of our daily lives brings honor and praise to the God who claims us as beloved children, and to the sacred name we have been given. Amen.