Avinu Shebashamayim

"Avinu shebashamayim."  (For those of you new to my world, that's a transliteration of the first phrase of the Lord's Prayer, in Hebrew, which is my latest lifelong-learning project.  It's pronounced uh-VEE-noo shuh-bosh-uh-my-EEM and you can listen to it and other prayers at www.Hebrew4Christians.com.)  The translation is "our Father in heaven."

Here's what I love about praying in Hebrew: it forces me to slow down and really think about what I am saying.  Of course, the temptation is always there to simply memorize the words by their sound and rattle them off like a parrot, but so far I have managed to avoid that temptation a lot better in Hebrew than in English.  (How ironic, that Yeshua's example of a heartfelt, conversational prayer has been turned into one of the most frequently parroted "prayers" in the church!)


When the disciples asked Yeshua how to pray, he answered with these words, "Avinu shebashamayim..."  To really get the full impact of this, you have to realize that virtually every Hebrew blessing begins with the words "Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha olam," which translates to "Blessed are You, Lord our God, king of the universe."  For Yeshua to change the introduction at all was surprising; for him to go the extra step of demoting God from Lord, God, and King to "our Father" was RADICAL.

REALITY CHECK: Imagine for just a minute that you are planning to write a letter to President Obama.  You ask your friendly neighborhood English teacher how to properly draft such a letter, and she replies, "Of course every formal letter should start with a salutation.  'Yo, Barack!' would be most appropriate, don't you agree?"

"Avinu shebashamayim."  Who do we think we are?  We should fall flat on our faces and stammer those words while waiting for the lightning to strike...at any rate, I should.  I am all too aware of how unworthy I am to lay claim to such a relationship.  The only thing more audacious would be to reject God's offer, however, and so in obedience to Yeshua I say, "Avinu shebashamayim."

Note that the first word is "Avinu" rather than "Avi."  This is important.  I was listening to my pastor this morning as he explained that the Church is a community, literally a "gathering"...and Yeshua affirms that here with the word "Avinu."  Our Father.  Not my Father, not our Father in the yours-and-mine sense, but Our Father in the Yeshua's-and-yours-and-mine sense.  Wow.  Let that one soak in for a few minutes, and then come back and read the rest of the blog.

...

...

...

Oh, hi there, glad you're back.  I'm still soaking, so just hang on a minute longer.

...

...

...


Actually, this one is going to have to soak in for a few days.  See you then.