In HOPE

  In HOPE 6.31                                  back to home                        David Timms

Ministry Resource

Leadership involves the implementation of various styles. In leadership, one size does not fit all. Those who lead effectively, modify their style according to the setting, the person, and the need. Daniel Goleman's Primal Leadership (Harvard Business School, 2002) offers great insight on this topic. 

Current Series

This is part two in our series on the Lord's Prayer. The model that Jesus gave His disciples touches every substantial thread of Christian spirituality. The prayer becomes a doorway into the profound journey of deeper faith.

Hope Happenings

This past Tuesday, Hope International University was pleased to host a special Minister's Conference at which Dr. LeRoy Lawson was the guest speaker.

Hope International University
Fullerton  CA  92831

"Pray then in this way: 'Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.'" (Matthew 6.9-13)


Hallowed Be Your Name

In a profane world, holiness seems archaic or quaint at best; a Puritan ideal; a relic from medieval monasticism; a certain sign of naivete. If it's not irreverent, it must be irrelevant. Holiness smacks of exclusivity and judgmentalism in a culture where nothing is sacred.

However, if Christian spirituality neglects the pursuit of holiness, it fails entirely.

Unless our desire for the Divine recognizes and responds to His holiness, we simply create a god in our own image with which we superficially console our deepest yearnings. Such a god deceives and betrays us, leaving us self-absorbed, self-justified, and increasingly self-deluded.

The holiness of "our Father" delivers us from misguided mysticism.

In hallowing His name we acknowledge that His holiness enables our fulfillment. "Our Father", when isolated from holiness degenerates into fair-weather and frothy friendship. Without holiness, we assess His fatherliness in purely human terms and the outcome invariably reduces Him to an acceptable version of ourselves.

His holiness lifts us beyond the mire of our human experience, if we dare pursue such genuine liberation. His holiness highlights the short-sightedness of secularism, the poverty of profanity, and the futility of immorality. When we hallow His name, He confronts everything destructive and poisonous within us.

His holiness refuses to ignore our un holiness. Perhaps therein lies the explanation for our reluctance to pray this phrase with our hearts. While our lips mouth the words, our hearts hesitate at the implications and potential costs.

We cannot yearn for His holiness to pervade the world -- and our inner world -- and simultaneously be complacent about our current condition. Indeed, what we declare of Him He desires for us, precisely.

"Hallowed be Your name."

The phrase expresses our commitment to make the Holy One central in our lives. It slips from our lips as a statement of intent, not wishful thinking. May it be so.

In HOPE -

David

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For back issues of "In HOPE" (2005, 2006) go to http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/.

David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board of the institution. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.