Hallowed be Thy Name

Dear Members and Friends of St. John,

 

This Sunday in late worship Henry David Thomas will be baptized.  As this young infant is baptized I will place my hand on his head and, as a congregation, we will pray the Lord’s Prayer.  You know that the first petition, or request of God, in the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed be Thy name.” (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2)  Jesus taught His church to keep God’s name holy.  On Sunday we not only pray that prayer for all of God’s people, and for ourselves, but we also bring this prayer to our Lord for Henry.  We pray that God’s name may be holy, set apart, and honored in Henry’s life.

 

But, what a prayer in today’s world!  We are praying that Henry not only knows his heavenly Father, but that Henry loves God and honors God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind.  Yet, perhaps more than at any time in our life’s memory, Christians are being assaulted with temptations to indulge ourselves, and to put our own desires ahead of God.  Perhaps more than any time in the memory of our lives, people in our world are offended when Christians speak the name of Jesus.  With growing resistance and even opposition to the Christian faith, praying those words of the Lord’s Prayer, and meaning them in our hearts, can be troublesome, even dangerous.  So, consider now that we pray this prayer not just for ourselves, but for young Henry!

 

The last 3 evenings, as the day wore down, I sat in my office at home with my computer in my lap trying to catch up after being gone.  While catching up I watched the movie triology, “The Lord of the Rings.”  Some have asked JRR Tolkien if this story is a Christian parable.  (Tolkien was one of the translators mentioned in the Jerusalem Bible I have on my shelf.)  Tolkien replied that, “No, this saga is not intended as a Christian parable.”  Yet, all who read or watch this unfolding drama have to be impressed with the ongoing battle in the story between the forces of good and evil.  Time and again in The Lord of the Rings it seems that the forces of evil are so great that it is futile for those on the side of good to fight, or even to stand.  Yet, time and again in this story, when all hope seems lost, those on the side of good continue to stand for what is right and true.  They continue to fight.  Finally, in the end the forces of good are victorious, in part, because they continued to fight when all seemed hopeless.

 

In some ways this story teaches me about our Christian lives.  The forces of evil are indeed stronger than we are.  In the famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” Martin Luther wrote of our eternal spiritual battle:

“The old satanic foe has sworn to work us woe.
  With craft and dreadful might, He arms himself to fight.
  On earth he has no equal.”

So, if our enemy is so strong, how can we stand up to hallow the name of God in our lives?  How can Henry live in a way that shows that God and His name are holy to him?

 

Christians have a good answer to that question.  The enemy may be stronger than we are, but our Savior is stronger than our enemy.  We are not strong enough to win the battle, but Jesus has won the battle for us.  The struggle may be difficult, but our enemy is already defeated.  Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience and love.  As a sinless man, Jesus died, not for His sin, but for ours.  Jesus rose and won victory over our powerful enemy.  Today we can stand to hallow the name of God in this world opposed to him because Jesus has risen and defeated our enemies.

 

In Romans 6 God tells us through Paul how we are joined to this victory of Jesus in our baptism.  “3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  (Romans 6:3-4)  In other words, the battle to hallow the name of God may be difficult and dangerous.  But, Jesus has won that fight.  And in our baptisms we are raised with Jesus in His victory.  In baptism God raises us to “live a new life,” to honor the name of God.

 

Congratulations, Henry, on your baptism!  May the love, the forgiveness, and the victory of Jesus strengthen you so that your life declares the holy name of God, in your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind.

 

A Child of God, Praying for God’s Name to be Holy in My Life,

Pastor Rockey

 

P.S.    I have been catching up and have no fishing pictures to share this week.  However, here is a link from Mothers’ Day.  https://goo.gl/photos/ddLxEYzo8ymPi18T6

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am regularly adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.

 

 

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