The Evangelical Universalist Forum

How Big is Your "Our"?

Theology Biblical Theology
#1

Today I’ve been pondering the “Our” in the Lord’s prayer, from “Our Father”. And I ask, “How big is your ‘our’?”

I was raised in a church, a non-denomination denomination that believed we were the only true followers of Christ. My “our” was very small. My “our” included the current few who worshiped the way we did, and the early Christians of course - infintesimally small “our”.

And then when I was 24 I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and came to recognize others of other denominations as “children of God”, brothers and sisters in Christ by their spirit of love and devotion to Jesus. And my “our” grew significantly.

And then a few years ago, meditating upon the concept of people, Adam and Eve, being “created in the image” of God, God started dealing with me concerning the concept of all humanity being “children of God”, not just some of humanity, but All of humanity. And thus All are my brothers and sisters in the family of God, All, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So not only are the pope and the homeless man my brothers, but so is Adolph Hitler. And this is a life-changing perspective - to see everyone as “family”, and to treat everyone as “family”. There is no more “us vs. them”; it’s “us”!

“OUR Father in heaven…” How big is your “our”?

#2

I don’t see all as family…yet. However, I think we should look at everyone AS THEY SHALL BE, and not as they are right now.
Right now, the family of God is limited to disciples of Christ.

So I guess you’ll have to keep “Brother Adoph Hitler” to yourself, until he is corrected in the fires of Gehenna. :laughing:

#3

Wow – this is good Sherman…

But my initial reaction was not how big is my “our” but how big it was to the one who first uttered it! For His “our” includes ME!!
Great Christmas season theme of course – God WITH us – but it’s even more stunning than just being with us… He came as ONE of us!

So perhaps the point is that, sinners though we be, He has identified with us.
(We, it seems, yet shudder at identifying with the worst of sinners…)

Through Christ then, our identity doesn’t so much change as does our awareness of it; God claims us, through His Son, before the entire Universe! and He claims us even while we are yet sinners
— Perhaps then we are to model this very thing as we identify with our “worse sinner” neighbor…

Bobx3

#4

Calling those things that are not as though they were . . . because in HIM they ARE.

#5

Nice thoughts … Probably see it working on multiple levels, church, humanity, cosmos …

How far does the fatherhood of God stretch - He is father of all things! :slight_smile:

#6

A couple of years ago, after I had come to believe in UR, I found myself regularly mulling over the concept of all humanity being family as revealed, I believe, in Genesis with Adam and Eve being created in the image of God, and I was particularly thinking of how that revelation moves me to see others. At the time, my son and I carpooled to work together. It was a precious 1 1/2 years that I am greatful for.

One day on the way to work, we were leaving our little town, passing under the interstate, about to get on the interstate to drive to work, about 30 minutes away. As we passed under the overpass we saw a vagabond who had obviously spent the night under the overpass and had soiled himself. It was as if the Holy Spirit decended upon us. She said to me, “What would you do if that was Ronnie, your brother?” I was overwhelmed with compassion for the man. As we passed the man and were about to get on the onramp to the highway, my son turns to me and said, “Dad, what are we going to do?” Me - “I don’t know.” We discussed it briefly and decided I’d take him to work and go back and help the guy.

Long-short, I ended up helping the guy, couldn’t help but do so. The cool thing about it was, his name was, you guessed it, “Ronnie”. That was on a Monday. And then Tuesday evening I was helping serve a meal to the homeless at The Bridge ministry in downtown Nashville. I connected with one man in particular, and it turns out his name was Ronnie too.

“What would you do if that was your brother, Ronnie?” It was a very ineresting series of events that led me to the conviction that I am to view all humanity as family.

#7

The Fatherhood of God could be strecthed even further, so long as one remembers that there are real divisions as well as real unities. Was it St Francis who preached to the birds, and referred to brother moon? :slight_smile:

All good things come from the Father of Lights :slight_smile: All nasty stuff comes fro the father of lies :frowning: Weirdly, though, even the Liar has a daddy … and will return home (IMHO).