Our Father in Heaven

The Lord's Prayer doesn't just teach us to pray. It summarizes the entire Christian life, starting with the terms of our relationship with God. Only Jesus has earned the right to call God Father. By inviting us to call him our Father, too, Jesus preaches the Good News: That all who trust in his death and resurrection can be adopted into God's family. This means he is not only willing to hear our prayers, but eager to hear them! At the same time, he is no mere human father, but our Father in heaven, ruling over the universe with all power and glory at his disposal. Holding both qualities together – his nearness and his otherness – ensures that we are praying to the real God, not performing for others or trying to manipulate him into blessing us.