February 2020 Faith Is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 Quarterly publication of Trinity Ecumenical Parish 40 Lakemount Drive 540-721-4330 - [email protected] Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia www.trinityecumenical.org 2 June 2019 Together in Christ Contents ............................................. .................. ............................................. .......................................... ................................. ...................................... .............................................. .................... ...................................................... .......................................... .................................................... Trinity Ecumenical Parish We are Loving, Serving, Learning, and What’s in a name? Growing Together in Christ! Trinity Loving There is one God; three persons - Father, Son and Holy I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just Spirit. as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this We are one church; three expressions, Episcopal, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love Lutheran, and Presbyterian. for one another." John 13:34-35 One God + One church = One joyous life together! Serving Ecumenical Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one Promoting or relating to unity among the world's Christian another with whatever gift each of you has received. churches. 1 Peter 4:10 We are what our name implies; a church that seeks Learning unity among various traditions – not division. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy Parish burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and Denotes a church that serves a large area. learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you People drive to Trinity from all over the region; some will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 from over an hour away, all who desire to worship Growing and serve together in this unique Christian setting. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 2 Thessalonians 1: 2-3 3 Pray Daily By Pastor Philip Bouknight In 2020 we are committing to the following disciplines Section One of faith: Our Father in heaven, 1. Pray Daily Hallowed be your Name. Your kingdom come, 2. Worship Weekly Your will be done, 3. Read the Bible and engage in study on earth as in heaven. 4. Develop faith filled relationships Section Two Give us today our daily bread, 5. Serve within and outside the church Forgive us our sins as we forgive 6. Support the mission of the church through those who sin against us. spiritual and financial gifts Save us from the time of trial, And deliver us from evil. Michael Foss, Senior Pastor, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, Minnesota Our Father in Heaven If we study the Lord’s Prayer as a model for our prayer Pray Daily life, then its introduction becomes incredibly important. the First Discipline Not only is the Lord’s Prayer a guide for developing our own private prayers, it was intended to be spoken The first discipline in our 2020 focus on faith is to pray communally. Jesus does not begin by saying my Father. daily. We hope that this article on the Lord’s Prayer helps you as you develop this discipline. The Our Father (commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer”) has its roots in two separate gospel accounts. The fullest account of the prayer is presented in Matthew 6:9-13. The larger context of the prayer for Matthew is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer appears in chapter eleven and is the direct response to a disciple’s request. The disciples had observed Jesus praying. It was the custom for great teachers to summarize their entire ministry in a pedagogical way through prayer. The prayer served as a primer and provided an easy way for followers to remember the teacher’s entire message. The disciples wanted such a prayer from Jesus. The Lord’s Prayer contains two sections. The first is dedicated solely to God. The second deals with God’s provision for us and by extension, all that he has made. (Continued on page 4) 4 He says our Father. Though a personal relationship is its roots in Old English and means to set aside as holy. important, one may never separate oneself from the Within the context of the Lord’s Prayer, it means “May community that gathers to worship. We share a common your Name be kept holy.” To hallow God’s name is to heritage and our inheritance is shared as well. We stand recognize God’s sovereignty. His is the name which is together with one voice irregardless of human above every name and before Him every knee shall bow. distinctions made for personal identity. This is our Father, (Philippians 2:9, Romans 14:11) There are many names whether we be man, woman or child. This is our Father of God within the scriptures. Jesus now gives us a new irrespective of the color of our skin. This is our Father, one, Father. Therefore, hallowing the Name is uniquely irrespective of the language we speak, the money we tied to celebrating our relationship with God as Father. make, or the position we hold. He is ours and we are It is a term of respect and honor and when we hallow His. God’s name, we are cherishing our relationship with The word father can carry with it a number of God through Christ. connotations. Every person has had their own unique experience with a father. Some of those experiences are Your kingdom come wonderful and loving, filled with mutual respect. Some The disciples lived in a time and a place where king and are harmful and abusive, fraught with power and kingdom imagery made sense. They were familiar with domination. Some are nonexistent. Often, a negative these power structures and the struggles that were often experience with our earthly father hinders us in seen between kingdoms. As we study Jesus’ prayer, it is approaching God as Father. At best, our earthly helpful to remember that God did not desire the relationships as parent and child should resemble the presence of kings, His people did. When we remember love, mercy, and compassion shown to us by our Father Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we in heaven. Since we are all sinful creatures, we fall short, celebrate as Palm Sunday, we see a crowd looking for for only our Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) another earthly king. The disciples themselves looked Nevertheless, our relationship with our heavenly Father for a similar form of rule. Jesus finds himself before is one of grace, mercy, and love. Positive earthly Pilate answering questions of authority and rule. Read examples only illumine God’s love, enabling us to John 18:33-38. Only on the other side of the cross, does glimpse the reality that is ours in Christ. the establishment of a new kind of kingdom make Addressing God as the Father in heaven can conjure up sense. Now we must not assume that the kingdom of ideas of distance and complacency. In this prayer we God rests on our request. God’s kingdom will come struggle with one of the many scandalous ideas of whether we ask for it or not. What we are asking when salvation. God is simultaneously near and far. The God we say “Your kingdom come” is that God’s kingdom who is written upon our hearts and whose Spirit dwells would come into our lives. We are asking for assistance within us, the God who is with us always, even until the so that we might desire His rule and authority over our end of the age is the same God who sits enthroned in own need for power. We are very busy building our own heaven. To address God as the God in heaven is to kingdoms. We fence in our yards, mark our territory, and recognize His sovereignty. It immediately calls us to claim land and property as our own. In reality, we own remember that the circumstances of life on earth are nothing. No property is ours. Neither is the money used vastly different than that of heaven. It carries us through to purchase it. Everything belongs to God. We are the circumstances of this life, pointing us to that which merely stewards of His creation. Praying for God’s is yet to come. Each person has their own “picture” of kingdom invites us to relinquish our selfish pursuits so heaven. Whatever heaven is, it is where God sits that we might see the in-breaking of the Kingdom of enthroned. It is the place where His rule and His God here and now. authority govern every aspect of life and all is in concord with Him. At best, we may point to the life and Your will be done ministry of Christ and describe what heaven is like. By Praying for God’s will is the same as praying for His contrast, we can look at a world of suffering and death kingdom. God’s will will be done whether we pray for it and state what heaven is not. or not. We may not glimpse the intricacies of His will in everyday events, but ultimately there will be an end to Hallowed be Your name disease, death, poverty, and selfishness. If we want to Often the Church uses language that is foreign to our glimpse God’s will, we need look no further than the culture. Such is the case with the verb to hallow.