At Peace in the Father's Hand

Meet Allison, the second child of some friends of mine. They used to belong to our church but life did what it usually does - by moving on without my permission - and now they have relocated out of Houston. Allison’s aunt is a professional photographer who caught this shot and there are lots of things to love about it. She is adorable. The lighting is perfect. The lines make it a work of art.

But there’s one more thing, and to me it’s the most important thing to know about this image – the hands holding her are her father’s. If I were titling the photo I’d call it At Peace in the Father’s Hand.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he began by addressing God as “Our Father.” To a first century Jew it would have sounded strange because the rabbis referred to God mostly with names describing God’s holiness and power and might. Jesus’ model prayer teaches us that when we pray to God as Father we are invited into a relationship of love and intimacy, something more akin to nuzzling up to our holy parent than formally addressing the deity of the cosmos.

Praying “our Father” with awareness of my words changes the way I pray. James Mulholland writes in Praying Like Jesus that when he prays to God as Father, “I can approach God with confidence in his desire and ability to meet my needs. I can trust him to do what is best for me.” Trusting God to do what is best for us is to be “at peace in the Father’s hand.” Ultimately, the phrase “our Father” makes the Lord’s Prayer one of intimacy, responsibility, self-denial, and community.

I’ll be taking that up in this weekend’s sermon, part one in the series entitled When You Pray. I hope you can join us for worship at Willow Meadows Baptist Church. Jubilate!, a traditional worship gathering, is at 9:15 on Sunday and Overflow, a non-traditional gathering, is at 11:45.

Peace out,
Pastor Gary