Into the Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed be Your Name

by    22nd October 2008    1 response

lords-prayer

Image: jessamyn @ Flickr

Hallowed?  What on earth does that mean?  Even the majority of Christians will probably struggle to answer that question without resorting to a dictionary.  Myself included.  So, for everyone’s benefit, here is a dictionary definition of that word, just for reference:

hallow: to honour as holy, to make holy, consecrate; as adjective (hallowed), greatly revered or respected.

Any clearer?  Maybe a little.  In essence, we are saying that God’s name is holy and that we respect him.  But what exactly does that mean?

As an instruction, it may be taken that we should not swear by taking the Lord’s name in vain.  That’s a fairly well recognised instruction, as seen in the Ten Commandments, but (and I’m aware that I’m pointing the finger here) I know many people who call themselves Christians who say “oh my god” in normal conversation.  Most, if challenged, would probably say it was a slip of the tongue, but in some ways that makes it worse.  For them, the name of the Lord has become so meaningless that when used out of context they hardly even notice whose name it is.

However, this is perhaps a side issue, because this is a prayer, not a command someone is giving to us.  We are telling God that his name is honoured and respected.  We are confirming that we appreciate God’s greatness, his awesome splendour, and the importance of his identity.  As we come before God in prayer we recognise how great he is, especially in light of our own failings.  It is an affirmation, a declaration, an admission.

But – does God need to be reminded of his greatness?  Do we really need to tell God that we respect him?  Won’t he already know?

In the first line of the Lord’s Prayer we remembered that God was our Father, having adopted us as his sons.  Yes, God knows everything about us, and knows whether or not we actually respect his name.  But a parent still loves to hear it from their child.  There is something special about putting it in words and telling God, even if we know he already knows.  It’s not that we’re telling God something new, or even us reminding ourselves of what we know.  It’s simply that by verbally expressing it in the form of a prayer it somehow becomes more real, more tangible.  It’s like a poet describing how the grass is green – he could just say “the grass was green”, but by describing the hues and textures and smells of it and comparing it to the bit of carpet in the hall the poet can make the greenness of the grass more definite, and we feel more able to reach out and touch it.  In the same way, when we pray “hallowed be your name”, we verbalise the truth, making our commitment to God more solid.

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Matthew has long had a strong involvement with Christian websites. He was a keen contributor to the original Crossring site, and subsequently launched his own website, Focus On Faith. Focus On Faith was incorporated into Crossring in September 2009, and Matthew took on the role of lead writer for the site. Matthew works as a web designer, and lives in the West Country with his wife, Ellie.

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