Notes from the Sermon

This is the last Sunday if this series. 

Matthew 6:8-9 - The Lord's Prayer

Familiarity breeds contempt - or rather here it produces numbness. 

But it's an important prayer. 

Prayer reveals what we yearn for - what we hold as hallowed. 

Unless what we strive for is what we are created for, we strive in vain and will end in darkness and failure. 

First petition - sets God apart as Holy and asks that we align ourselves with God's will as God's children. 

We give nothing to God that isn't already God's. Comforting thought - it confirms nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:38-39) because we are already God's. 

We live in a culture of choice and giving up the right to choose goes against everything our culture teaches. It's far more in line with Islam - the very name of the religion means submission. 

The crux of giving up the right to choose is knowing the Goodness of the One to Whom we surrender our will. 

"There are ultimately no loose ends in God's will." We can trust God to have the big things and the little things. 

Prayer is not about bending God's will to ours; but surrendering our will to God's. 

This is the essence of the first part of the Lord's Prayer - it's the essence of participative grace.