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Tomorrow

Scripture: Matthew 6:7-21

Ten years ago, when I began as your Senior Pastor, I did like a lot of good pastors do - I tried to listen for what is important and valuable to your church. We sometimes call them sacred cows. In some churches, they are reserved pews or seats. Or a favorite hymnal. Or the placement of something special in the sanctuary and God help the pastor who moves it.

So it's a good thing for a new minister to ask around and listen closely and try to understand what a congregation values.

Ten years ago, I embarked on a listening tour, and was impressed with your flexibility. In fact, nothing in this sanctuary is bolted down. What a gift.

But I did get one response from none other than Sandy Stark, a longtime member who has since moved to Delaware. She told me quite directly - “Nathan, there are two things you cannot touch in worship - communion and the Lord's Prayer.”

Of course, once Sandy left town, the first thing I did was change up the Lord's Prayer. Adjust it a bit. Offer another prayer. Try it in sign language like we did this morning. Or even in song form.

But you know what, I have come around to Sandy's way of thinking, of how important it is to have this ancient prayer directly from Jesus as a touchstone, a foundation for who we are and what we are about - a regular rhythm in worship just as we do communion.

In our teaching from the Sermon on the Mount this morning, Jesus guides his disciples in three spiritual practices core to our faith - prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - aka giving to the poor. His advice here builds upon the Jewish traditions in which he is raised but also offers critique to how those disciplines were being practiced in his community at the time. Too often, it seems that present day spirituality served the individual and their reputations in public - rather than helping them trust deeply in God and navigate their uncertain world.

In particular, the Lord's Prayer remains a profound way for us to think about what it means to know God and deepen our relationship with God - especially in uncertain times.

Our Father who art in heaven...

Not every Christian has learned to pray the Lord's Prayer or to do it in community. It's important how it begins with "Our" - in the sense that prayer is communal. It is something we do together as we face life - just like when we do church. Too often, we Christians have been encouraged to think of God as MY God and not OUR God which means we can reduce our pursuit of faith to our own things. Such corruption is also what has led to sins like Christian nationalism, where American Christians think God is the only blessing and only working in our nation. Our Father right away reminds us that we don't own God.

Hallowed be thy name...

When we did a session in youth group a few years back and asked the youth to memorize the Lord's Prayer, I asked them what that word "Hallowed" means - and of course, someone quickly said, "Haunted". Because it reminded them of Halloween.

Of course, hallowed means holy - and all names in particular are holy. Ramona was complaining about why her parents picked her name the other day, but even your name, Ramona, is holy.

God's name in particular is holy - so holy that Jews refuse to speak God's sacred name, letting silence hang in the air. Thus this prayer grounds us in reverence for a God who deserves our respect.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

To ask for God's reign to come on earth - for God's way to come - is an appropriate way to respond to true holiness. If God is holy - if God is good, then don't we want God's way to be our way, more of God to fill this earth?

All of our spiritual pursuits should yearn for this reality - yearn with expectation that God’s reign is possible. God’s reign is not the reign like we experience today, where black skateboarders are assaulted and murdered by police. God’s reign is not where those in power pursue their own interests and not what is best for their communities. God’s reign is not where children and women are abused, where LGBTQ+ folx live under discrimination and fear for being who they are.

God’s reign is full of shalom - which is fullness and completeness - not just peace. Wholeness for those who have gone through broken relationships. Wholeness for those who have lost children to gun violence. Wholeness for those who have had to flee their countries. Wholeness for those struggling with weary bodies and minds. Wholeness for those huddled in bombed out apartment buildings. Wholeness for an earth strained to the breaking point. Wholeness for those who believe their identity comes from what they own and not who they are. That is what we pray to come - for everyone and every living thing.

Give us this day our daily bread.

The word "daily" is translated from a Greek word in the original ancient manuscripts that is difficult to translate. It has other meanings - including "continuous bread" or maybe more appropriately "tomorrow's bread". We often take bread for granted, but in Jesus' day and for many of our neighbors, hoping for enough bread tomorrow is a life or death pursuit. The prayer trusts that God is prepared to provide tomorrow.

Again, this way of praying looks with expectation for God meet us in our uncertain future and providing all that we need to survive and flourish.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Jesus reminds us that God is prepared to forgive us for when we screw up, when we sin, when we fall short - but there is expectation that this happens in the context of our own acts of sharing and living out grace and mercy to others. We are in debt to God - God wipes that away. In turn, we must cancel the debt that others owe us. How else can we witness to a God of incredible compassion and mercy? How else can the reign of God begin until we are able to address how we have harmed others and release those who have harmed us?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, “Forgiveness is our future."

We do not have a future until we are able to live into the gift of forgiveness that we first receive from God.

And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Just as early Christians lived in a world that could be hostile or expect them to water down their values of justice and love to go along and get along, Jesus invites us his disciples to know that God is not in the business of testing us for its own sake or sending evil into our lives. God is the ancient warrior of the Bible, ready to hear our cries and deliver us from bondage. 

 

What resonates with me is that the Lord's Prayer points us to the future where God is waiting. The prayer is grounded in a trust that God is in our future as much as God is in our past.

The Reign of God begins here and now, and God is prepared to meet us and fill us in the future.

As we pray this often, we are always inviting that God’s Reign, that new reality, marked not by violence and oppression and division but by forgiveness and love to be on the way. We join by asking for it… now… and tomorrow.

 

UCC, tomorrow is bright for you. I know right now things don’t seem so wonderful. It makes sense that you have anxiety.

Look at our physical campus. The county just took down a bunch of our beautiful trees that border our property. More will be going down in the coming years. All these houses are going up, and some of those neighbors could be real jerks. It's going to feel a bit more crowded around here.

There is about to be a bunch of people digging up parts of the ground to make way for bioswales and channel water this way and that. It’s going to be muddy, and it may not be so pretty. There will be disruption and change, like the very earth is shaking.

We've already lost some amazing leaders and witnesses, most recently Freddie Collins, and we know there are other saints that we find their journey at a close this year. Their memories and legacy remain, but we miss them.

Like all churches, you are wondering when everyone will come back from COVID, how you can deal with the pain that many carry with them, and how you will adjust in the coming months and years when the economy could go upside down and things can get hard.

And now, on top of all of that, you are saying goodbye to your pastor.

Right now, change… and with it the anxiety it brings… is present in your conversations and in our very bodies.

But tomorrow is still bright.

Jesus taught his disciples this prayer to ground them in the good news that God is faithful, God can be trusted, and God will meet them… and us… in our anxiety and in our future.

And even when we are overwhelmed with anxiety, God meets us in the unknown. God invites us to look with expectation and witness with boldness, trusting in a relationship.

As your pastor for these past ten years, over and over again, in the highs and lows of ministry, I can give thanks that as we have gathered for meetings, as we have prayed, as we have taken risks, as we have fired off emails and made phone calls, as we have poured over budgets and donated time and food and elbow grease, as we have gathered for our worship services and community activities, as we have met at the table… and as we have prayed “Our Father” over and over again… the Reign of God has broken through in our midst.

In Worship & Wonder storytelling, in acts of service and care, in hugs and laughter, in tears and stories, in faithfulness and generosity, in stubbornness and in love.

One of the first things I ever got to do as your senior pastor was look with fresh eyes on this space where we gather and pray. I remember I took a broom because there were some cobwebs in one corner above our entrance door, which happens in Maryland and also because its hallowed ground. I remember that I wanted you to see what I saw, not a church that was dying or struggling or shrinking - but a church full of life and energy. And wow, look what God has done.

And be ready for what God is going to do - tomorrow and beyond.

(posted 1/31/23)

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