I’ve been saying the Lord’s Prayer this week. Twice a day. On my knees. For those of you unfamiliar with Unitarian Universalism in general or me in particular, this is a very strange thing for a UU to do, even for one who believes in the existence of God. I, along with other Unitarian Universalists, do not embrace the Trinity. Let me tell you how it all started, and how it’s all going, because I’ve gotten a lot out of it and maybe it will speak to you, too.
On Tuesday we had our Hebrew Bible midterm, followed by the most amazing celebration! Dr. Fontaine laid out a map of the Levant on the floor, divided us into the various ancient peoples who lived there and “delivered us from Egypt.” The point of deliverance, according to Dr. Fontaine, is to celebrate: “they tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.” After delivering us from Egypt, and before eating the bounteous buffet she assembled, we said the Lord’s Prayer and it moved me like never before.
Chaos theory suggests that if a butterfly flaps its wings in China possibly it will trigger a storm in Texas. Based on that theory, maybe we all have the potential to participate in the healing of ourselves, each other, and the Earth by changing our thoughts, which in turn change our behaviors.
I’ve had to modify the Lord’s Prayer somewhat; sometimes I modify the actual words and more often I modify the meaning. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Our Mother and Father who art in Heaven
It’s dangerous and misleading to imagine that God has a gender. The ancient Israelites included traits of the Near Eastern goddesses in their conception of Yahweh. Throughout history various theologians (i.e. St. Augustine, St. Julian) have glimpsed God’s feminine nature. God is not restricted to categories of race or gender or any other category we try to fit God into because we are too small to imagine an infinite God. Maybe if we can be more intentional in seeing this we can begin to see the divinity in all people and stop using religion to justify oppression based on sex, gender, race, physical ability, sexual orientation….
Hallowed be thy many names
I pause for a moment to think of the many names people use for God, and the many people who have faced and still face religious persecution. I pray that we can come to see the Holy in all of them so that we will stop hurting each other over these differences in perspective.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
I believe the Source of Life is good, and has a much bigger perspective on what wonderful things are possible. How can I think I know better? This is a nice reminder to remember that God is bigger than I am, and opens me to loving the world as it is.
On Earth, because this is Heaven
This reminds me that the Kingdom of Heaven is already among us, as Jesus says in Luke. All time is holy time, all ground is sacred ground.
Thank you for reading with an open heart. Please tune in tomorrow for part 2 J
