After the crucifixion, the disciples scattered and hid, crushed and disillusioned. Big, strong Peter disowned Jesus afraid of a little servant girl. But after Mary Magdalene and a few female followers saw the empty tomb, and encountered an angel, and the resurrected Jesus, everything he had foretold added up differently.
One of the things Jesus had taught them was the Lord’s Prayer, a pattern for how to talk to God. As a little girl, I learned the same prayer by rote. It was just a string of words I said in unison with the congregation during the boring parts of church which honestly, as a child, were all boring. But after the reality of the resurrection struck me as an adult, I see that prayer in a different light.
Our father, creator, and spiritual daddy who birthed us body and soul out of nothingness in his own eternal image,
Who art in heaven, in another dimension where we can’t see you, but somehow we know you exist,
Hallowed by thy name, for you are holy, meaning complete and good in every way,
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, because you are the perfect ruler of the universe, we want what you want,
On earth as it is in heaven, because this world is a disaster already happened, and we need relief from its hideous chaos,
Give us this day our daily bread, as we don’t even know what we actually need. Make us dependent on you day by day and free us from our foolish self-sufficiency,
And forgive us our trespasses, the selfish, hurtful stuff we do, even when we don’t want to, that crosses the boundaries of other’s lives and damages us all,
As we forgive those who trespass against us, help us trust you with what others owe us, especially when we carry the heavy baggage of revenge. Help us remember you are the God who sees and your sovereign justice goes above and beyond any resolution we can ask or imagine,
Lead us not into temptation, trusting that your ways are better than our ways,
But deliver us from evil, by breaking the chains of all our destructive behaviors and empowering us with your bottomless love to live free, exhilarating lives.
For thine is the kingdom, you are in charge of everything seen and unseen,
And the power, you alone are imbued with energy supreme,
And the glory, all the earth reflects your magnanimous, unmatched reputation,
Forever and ever, our souls mirror your eternity and will be resurrected like Jesus to a world sublime with beauty where death has lost its sting, and we will see you face to face,
In Jesus name, the name of your Messiah, who ransomed us with the payment of his blood.
This is the aftermath of Easter, sisters, how our human zero meets God’s infinity, and alters everything. The laws of higher mathematics never change. When infinity is defined, zero plus infinity always adds up to infinity.
Amen, let it be done.
Thanks to Thanti Nguyen for the cover photo on Unsplash
