The Lord's Prayer, Pt. 1

NOTE: This is a meditation in two parts sharing Sally's interpretation and breakdown of The Lord's Prayer. Part 2 will be published in GraceNotes next Monday.

Our Father

Abba, Daddy, my Shelter, my Rock and my Refuge, my Sanctuary, my All in All. You who are my Maker and my Friend. Wrapped in splendor and light, Awesome Majesty, Entirely holy! You bend down to touch me—from Your glory to my clay—and I am bowed before You. That You, Who are without spot or blemish, should take delight in me is beyond my understanding. You, who birthed me in water and blood, and hear the sighs and screams of my soul in the dark of night. You have claimed me out of the muck and mire of my existence and called me "Daughter." I belong to You. You planned for me before I ever drew breath, and all Your plans for me are good. Though the world forsake me You have claimed me as Your own and will never leave me. O Daddy please hear me!

In heaven

Place of God’s ever-expanding glory, ever-increasing light extending outward from the Person of God in perfect union with Himself—and with others. Holy! Radiant! Glorious! Life eternal, consuming mortality, burning up the unholy. The Holy Place where sin and death cannot enter—ever—and Joy unspeakable reigns without end. Where the air itself is laden with continuous songs of adoration and praise. And Life unhindered, unbound, streams from The Holy One to all who worship Him. Those who dwell therein are awash in the sea of His unending presence and love.

Hallowed be Your Name

You who taught the wind to whisper, the stars to sing, the sun to shine. Exalted, adored, blessed, praised, lauded be You, who are above all. You who spoke light from darkness and created worlds with a word, only You are worthy of praise, Great and Mighty One, The Only True and Living God. Far beyond the reach of the words and wisdom of men, You speak and nations crumble. Who of us can stand before You and not be smitten in body and soul? You are the All-Consuming Fire, yet more tender than a mother's love for her infant babe. In Your whisper there is healing and restoration. You to whom the angels bow, all creation will one day bend its knee in awe and wonder.

Your kingdom come

Let peace pour like a river through Jerusalem to all nations, that walls between brothers will come down, all in a tumble. Let Love overtake hatred, and the sweet power of Your kindness turn the hearts of many from stone to flesh. Let Your goodness be declared to all nations! Let the whole earth rejoice for You have reconciled us to Yourself through Your Son! You have broken down the barriers between our sinful clay and Your pure and holy glory through the blood of the Lamb. You bent down from heaven to draw the heart of man back to Yourself. Let this great good news go out into all the world, that those who are broken in heart and spirit can be made whole, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed! No chain can keep captive those already ransomed. Darkness cannot hold us prisoner anymore. You have raised us from the grave, from the ashes of despair and seated us alongside Your Son in glory and gladness. We are free! Free!

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

All that is truly good—the only good that actually exists in and of itself—is in You, and is pure and absolute. So let it be done in this darkness and earth as it is already declared and done in the Light. Let Your mercy triumph over justice and fall upon this dry, parched planet like a warm rain, soaking our souls so, that it squeezes through our skin and wets everyone we meet. Let the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the mute speak. Let the naked be covered and the poor fed. Let the oppressed go free! Etch Your compassion in our still cold and indifferent hearts, and let each of us have compassion for one another. Let us love each other as You love us!

-Sally Klein O'Connor

1/8/24