Out Our Way: Our Father

Out our way, some pastors find they aren’t masters of theology, regardless of what the degree says. I have studied, and I have earned degrees from two highly-respected seminaries, but some of my best lessons have been learned in the saddle and by opening myself up to God’s universal sermons. Goliath, my cow pony, if a 16 1/2 hand quarter horse can be called a “pony,” has helped me grasp a number of deep and important theological concepts which I had missed along the way. I call him “Doc” these days because he has been my professor here at the Montana Seminary of Horse Sense Theology.

Riding in the quiet at the end of a long day, smelling the incense of the sage, hearing the hymns sung by the meadowlark, and sharing the day with my trail buddy as we head for home, I sometimes go deep in thought. Doc and I, like all riders who spend long hours with the same horse over the years, have a special connection; I wonder if he gets some sense of these thoughts, or perhaps he is the one sending them.

At any rate, over the years I have written this column on cowboy theology, and I often share my thoughts in dialogue form with Doc. It seems to help clarify what insights I have gained.

I was reading a book by a French writer of some 300 years ago who suggested pondering “The Lord’s Prayer” one phrase, or even one word, at a time. So I talked to Doc about the idea and he twitched his ears in that familiar “whatever floats your boat” signal. So I began with the first two words: “our” and “father.” Doc suggested one word at a time as I am still recovering, he says, from the last time he bucked me off, and may not have all my faculties in place yet. “Go slowly,” he suggested; “You can’t handle much more.”

Okay, so I started with the first word; “our.”  Christ didn’t say “my” father, or “your” father, but our father. We all belong to Him and He belongs to us. And if we all belong to Him, then we all belong to each other as well. Check out Genesis where God creates “man,” the generic term in Hebrew for the creature. “God created man; male and female he created them.”  There are different words for male and female humans, but that’s a lesson for another day.

God created the creature man — both male and female — in His image. And what race did God create? All of them. Over the thousands of years of human existence, humans have moved and settled in new areas and adapted to their new environments. This was part of the plan. So we see many different races and cultures, but all are still human and part of the same creation. When I was at seminary I was somehow adopted by the foreign students as one of them. Irish, English, French, Spanish, Black Africans and White Africans, Arabs, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Samoan, East Indian and the cowboy. Well, I expect I was as foreign to folks born and raised on the East Coast as my friends from over the seas were, so I fit in. But I remember that strangely I began to find the differences between us were really rather superficial, but the things we had in common and shared were part of what made us all the same. I had forgotten that what human beings have in common is far greater than the things that divide us. Somehow talking to Doc resurrected that forgotten insight and re-established it.

“Father” is the second word, and of all the Names we give to God, that is the favorite of the Son. And the one He taught us was also God’s favorite. Lord — The Great I Am — Master — King — etc. all words that describe His role as Creator — but “Abba, is Aramaic not just for Father but for “poppa,” “daddy.” It is not a title: it is a relationship. The gods of Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., were kings and rulers = powerful masters, sometimes destroyers. But not daddies. Not mommies. Yet the God of Israel has been introduced as both. The image of the loving father who rejoices in his wayward son’s home coming; the image of the mother hen scooping up her chicks to protect them from the storm. Not the distant, powerful figures of the other religions, which punished. And now in Christ, God is no longer the God of Israel alone, but of all nations, lands and people. Of all individuals. He is not just Our Father, He is also my Father, and yours as well. And Doc’s, too!

The God of Creation is our Father — Abba to all people, and Abba to each one of us individually. And if God, the King of the Universe, is your poppa, what does that make you? And because He is also my poppa, what does that make us to each other?

Well, these are some good thoughts on the trail. Thanks, Doc for the help. “You’re welcome. Now where are my oats?”   

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Brother John Bruington and “Doc” Goliath can be reached at [email protected]. Goliath has to dictate his responses, as at 1,200 pounds he can’t type on the laptop.