Early morning fog on the Ganges, January 1983.
Sitting
in a literal fog out on our deck, reading of Darwin’s investigations into the
propagation of flowers which attract different pollinating insects by using
different colors or scents or shapes, somehow gave me fresh takes on the bits
of the Lord’s Prayer, with which I concluded my morning prayer time.
The
literal fog is still outside my windows, but the words I am writing now are
coming out of a metaphorical fog of uncertainty and unclarity. I feel rather
like Pooh trying to think really hard. Forgive me if you consider this exercise
sophomoric, the blather of “a wise fool.”
“O
God, mother and father of us all” (my modification of the prayer) now flashes
as a primordial, unknowable kindling of life eons ago which we have
colloquialized and anthropomorphized as “father” or “mother and father” to make
our origin familiar and friendly and immediate.
“Who
art in heaven” reinforces this unknowability both spatially and temporally.
Heaven is a kind of heavy fog that neither lifts nor is penetrable, as
inscrutable as a Zen koan.
“Hallowed”—but
it is a sacred space, to be revered and remembered—“be thy name”—even if
unnamable and unknowable.
“Thy
kingdom come” has been a seeming eternity in the making, and will be a seeming
eternity in the becoming, yet is instantly in our hearts as we believe it.
“Thy
will be done” suggests agency and purpose, something (to me) more knowable than
origins as we witness life and love, compassion and consciousness as pinnacles
of experience.
“In
earth / on earth” from the atom to the cosmos, from the cell to civilization, a
driving and unstoppable force unites us. The Big Bang is still banging, like
the reverberations of
“As it is in heaven”—not Plato’s realm of ideals, more like “harmonizing with the ultimately real” or true, the Tao (the way) as understood by Kung Tzu (Confucius), the way of life that gives “visible expression of the ultimate reality hidden in the universe.”
“As it is in heaven”—not Plato’s realm of ideals, more like “harmonizing with the ultimately real” or true, the Tao (the way) as understood by Kung Tzu (Confucius), the way of life that gives “visible expression of the ultimate reality hidden in the universe.”
“Give
us this day our daily bread.” In the midst of this cosmic enterprise, we still
need bread, and art, and wisdom.
“Forgive
us our trespasses” when we overlook the larger picture or step on another’s property,
holdings, or dignity.
“As
we forgive those who trespass against us.” Help us let go of our sense of
personal ownership of what we have been given, and share its grace.
“Lead
us not into temptation.” Never for a second think we are not part of some
cosmic dream that calls us to recognize our worth, the value of our time, and
our call to add worth and act worthily.
“But
deliver us from evil.” Save us from willful ignorance and from the
“unquestioned self” in ourselves and in others, including our institutions.
“For
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.” Not mine,
but ours to share, in memory and in hope of the greater good.
Where
is God? you might ask. Why, in all of this, of course!
An earlier post: The Lord’s Prayer—What It Means to Me
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Copyright © 2018 by Chris R. Glaser.
Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite.
Other rights reserved. Photo from a religious studies tour of India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
The King James Bible (1611)
ReplyDeleteOur father which art in heaven,
Our Creator, Source, and Being, that
represents our perfection.
hallowed be thy name.
Let us recognise that all Cause belongs to you,
Thy kingdome come.
and that your presence is availible to us now,
Thy will be done,
and always has been our inheritence,
our protection, and our knowledge of our own Self,
in earth, as it is in heaven.
even while we feel separated from God.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Let us recognise that spiritual nourishment
is freely availible,
And forgive us our debts,as we forgive our debters.
by releasing in our minds, what others have done to us,
or what we seem to have become ourselves.
And lead vs not into temptation,but deliver vs from evil:
For it is only our perception of ourselves as
lacking and separated, that leads to feelings
of sin, guilt, and fear.
For thine is the kingdom,and the power,and the glory,
Forgetting the peace of God, is our inheritence and
protection, the Source of our being, and the
Love of the Father, for his beloved Son.
for ever, Amen.