C 03 - Hallowed Be Thy Name

3. Hallowed Be Thy Name When we speak of God’s `name’, we mean that which represents the glory of God in the created world. Not simply and directly to be identified with God himself, the name is the representation of God. Because the created world is the theatre where the glory of God is displayed (Calvin), the world is a creature merely; in certain conditions (which do not depend on itself), it can become the bearer of God’s name (though not in any strict philosophical sense). There may be in the world signs, as it were, of God’s name, indications of the presence of God himself, and if so, it might be said that these signs are not invisible but are illuminated like the advertisements in our cities, illuminated by Revelation. Our eyes are opened for us to see them; the world is God’s world, and therefore his name can be written on it; the universe can sing his praise; everything that God has created can bear the name of its Creator. And now let us ask ourselves; Is that name visible? Is it revealed? Are these signs illuminated? Are our eyes and ears opened? Is his name hallowed? We realize that such a consummation is not within the power of any created thing; creation cannot, of itself, become the bearer of the Divine name. The world as such has no power to reveal God; neither is man, as such, capable of receiving a revelation whether through sight, hearing or understanding. It is God who speaks aright of God (Pascal). God by his own action-at once objective and subjective-causes himself to be seen, and is seen, known, and truly recognized, and he enables us to live in this world in his presence, knowing and recognizing him. This Divine action becomes real for us in prayer. The prayer `Hallowed be thy name’ implies that the name of God is known to him who prays, for no one prays for something which he does not know. This presupposes that the name of God is already hallowed (as Luther said). Thus, in this special situation of those who pray the ’Our Father’ with Jesus Christ, we also attempt in prayer, to obey his command to follow him. And as we pray with Jesus Christ we are not unaware of the hallowing of God’s name in the past as well as in the present. This prayer is, then, a response before we formulate it. We would not be Christians praying with Jesus Christ if our prayer meant that we knew nothing of that hallowing. In fact we are praying that what is happening already through God’s action may continue and reach its fulfilment. The words Hallowed be thy name should therefore be written in this way : ’this name is already hallowed’, for this presupposition is the basis of prayer. Our Father in heaven, thou hast spoken to us. In thy Son, who is thy Word, thou hast made thyself palpable and accessible to us in the flesh, in this world. The signs of thy name are luminous; we are not alone in this world, for thou dost show thyself to us in a human form so that we can understand what thou sayest to us. We do not live in a world without God. Thy prophets and apostles speak to us on the level of our own life and we hear them. Thy Church, the assembly of those whom thou hast called and still dost gather together, lives on earth and has survived through many centuries, in the midst of countless upheavals, in fear and weakness; and, in spite of all that can be said about its faults, we have heard thy voice through thy Church and its work.

We are baptized, we have our being in that Church, among thy children, being ourselves thy children, and among thy missionaries whom thou hast charged to proclaim thy word, and one cannot be a child of God without being a missionary. We are free to believe, to will, to obey. This means that the world-this world in which we live and our own lives with their limitations, their burdens, their difficulties, their problems and those of our neighbours - all this can no longer be for us an insoluble mystery. There are mysteries in plenty but we do not live in a mystery of utter darkness, we are not surrounded by nothingness. The doctrine of Sartre and Heidegger, which would plunge us again into paganism, is not true. We know that in this world and in human history one thing is certain : the signs of thy presence are shining lights : Jesus Christ died and rose again for us, and not for us only but for the whole world. Thus man’s hope lies in this fact that God loved the world. Such is the reality made manifest in the death and resurrection of the Lord. And we live in the recollection of that fact and in the expectation of the general resurrection. This is the sense in which we say that God’s name is already hallowed; this is the Christian position. The key to the mystery is in our hands. To continue : because this key is given to us, because the name of God is already hallowed, we have all the more reason to pray : ’Hallowed be thy name.’ That is to say, that it may be granted to us and to the world-this world which is neither better nor worse than we are, and in which we thy creatures have the privilege of knowing thee and being called to thy service-that it may be granted to us to profit by thine incomparable gift; that the word thou hast spoken through thy Son may not have been spoken in vain; that thy Church may know how to make the most of its life, that it may be delivered from all Romanizing reaction and all impatient Americanism, from fear and cowardice, from pride and cant; that we may give up dipping into the Bible instead of reading it; that there may be less quoting from the Bible and more living with it and letting it speak to us. We pray that the Bible will not cease to be important to us, that it may never bore us, that no part of thy word shall become, in our minds or on our lips, a tedious matter, a poor sermon, bad teaching or bad theology. This is all very simple but also very necessary.

Luther has explained at some length that this hallowing must manifest itself in preaching; a bad sermon has just the opposite effect. May the Word of God become for us each day anew the Word of God; may it be not a truth, a principle, something laid upon a table, but a living person, something of the greatest mystery and the greatest simplicity ! And may the signs of God’s name and God’s word be made visible through us and among us by the austerity and the serenity of our lives, our behaviour, and our habits. We pray that it may be granted to us to display in our lives that great joy and peace which we so often talk about, so that others may notice them. We pray that the pride and ignorance and unbelief by which Christians continually dishonour God may be checked and suppressed, if only a little. May this key which has been placed in our hands be turned even a little, so that one day the door can be opened! This is the hallowing of God’s name. We can see that there is reason to pray for these good things and this consummation, so that what still remains to be done and what we ourselves cannot do, shall come to pass. But in order that all this may be brought about, God himself must intervene, for his cause is at stake. We who are responsible are so ill-qualified to uphold this cause. How overwhelming is our responsibility in this undertaking; and how absolutely necessary it is for God himself to intervene lest we should be found among those foolish virgins who had no oil !