Sometimes a fresh rendering of an old prayer can spark unexpected insights.

Send me an email (click the new link on the right) to let me know how this rewrite of the Lord's prayer strikes you.

Dearest Papa, You who are also King of all,

(how can You be both?)

Please let Your name be honored in my heart.

I stand on tiptoes waiting and watching

for your Kingdom to come in all your fullness.

I long for your will to be done everywhere.

Today, let me find all I need in You

so I can let go all my resentment

at the sin against me.

You have forgiven me so much.

I cannot survive without your forgiveness.

Lead me on, dear One, into your heart,

away from every evil.

Your power and Your love will endure together forever.

Glory. Hallelujah. So be it.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" The man replied, "I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." And the Lord God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Genesis 3:9-11

Adam and Eve, in eating Eden’s apple against God’s clear prohibition, plunged all their progeny into the darkness of disobedience and fear. Adam’s nakedness did not concern him before he ate, why does it concern him now? Because now he feels exposed and ashamed–he knows something is wrong, he is unacceptable, and he fears judgment.

We all know the feeling–we punish ourselves when we overeat or we covet our doctor’s 2006 Mercedes sports car or we hate our neighbor’s loud children. We know the admonitions to treat our bodies as a temple, to refrain from envy, to love our neighbor. But, even as Christians, we may fear judgment when we knock on Jesus’ door to discuss our disobedience.

The great good news of Easter is that Jesus has swallowed up for all time, the disfellowship that resulted from Adam’s sin. We are returned to the Garden, where, even though something is wrong with us, Jesus welcomes us.

Jesus has finished what Adam began. What Adam began in disobedience, Jesus finishes in obedience. Jesus completely absorbed our sin and shame. John, who knew Jesus best, said, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment." 1 John 4:18

 

Jesus, we want so much to be perfected in love. Please let your love drive out our fear today.

At the very end of the session last week, "Teresa" had told me, "When I was eighteen, I had an abortion. My parents never knew. I didn’t even tell the father."

She had just now entered my therapy office and took her seat without looking at me,.

"Teresa, how are you feeling about telling me about the abortion last time?"

Teresa looked down at her lap, where she clenched her hands, as if to hold herself together.

"Scared … you know, not even my husband knows. "

"What scares you?"

"You must think I’m awful.’"

"Why would you think that?"

"How can I be a good person and kill my own baby? Don’t you think I’m terrible?"

"I think you are a sinner like the rest of us, Theresa. Abortion is forgivable."

"I’ve told God over and over again how sorry I am, but I still feel awful."

"It’s time to receive His forgiveness, Teresa. It’s been twenty years. Yes, abortion is awful, but you are not your sin. You are forgivable. And He forgives you.

"Oh!" Covering her face with her hands, she began to sob, her stomach shaking as if she was jogging.

That day marked a turning point for Theresa—she could finally let his forgiveness penetrate her heart. Many of us need to drink deeply of his forgiveness—for promiscuity, for stealing, for self-rejection, for gossip, for our cold hearts. Let’s pray for grace to accept his acceptance.

Jesus, help us acknowledge our self-destructiveness and receive your forgiveness.

Read 1 John 1:9