FriarTucker
  • Home
  • Book
  • Sermons
  • Blog
  • Consulting
  • Teaching & Speaking
    • Capital University
  • Articles
Social Networks:

Friar's Reflections

Come here for weekly reflections on life in the church through various lenses. This is where you'll find me in some of my most immediate reactions to things we face. It's not all beautiful, but it's authentic.

Email me your thoughts!

who is your daddy and what does he do

8/5/2014

1 Comment

 
"Who is your daddy, and what does he do?"

You might remember this oft quoted statement from Arnold's Kindergarten Cop (which shockingly missed out on the Academy Award nominations). Long story short, Detective Arnold goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher in order to catch a drug dealer, whose son is in the class. 

Growing up, my friends and I loved to quote this tidbit in our best-worst Schwarzenegger voices, placing him in a myriad of situations. My favorite? Just imagine Arnold strolling up to Jesus and asking, "Who is your daddy and what does he do?"

Now, forgive me the male dominated language here, but what if this is actually the most important question we have to ask and to answer? Who is the one who gave us life? 

In the Lutheran tradition, we weekly pray the Lord's Prayer. It begins with "Our Father," and then goes on to explain the myriad of things that we ought to pray for, precisely because they are the ways God has promised to care for creation. 

God is our parent, the one who gives us life, and we know God through God's actions. What does God do? God brings the kingdom to earth and accomplishes a divine will that makes this world like the heavenly realm. God gives us daily bread, forgives our sins, and empowers us to forgive with the same incomprehensible grace. God keeps us from temptations and delivers us from evil.  

Now, despite all the hilarity around Arnold's question, Jesus answers precisely: This is my God the one who bore humanity in the womb of the earth, who reigns with compassion and justice, who feeds the hungry and forgives the sinful all in order to bring heaven's righteousness to humanity.  

This question is so important because it is a reminder of identity, first of God's identity, and then our own. We know who God is by God's revelations, God's actions made visible to us. This question is vital not because we need a perfect answer, but because we must constantly be searching for who God is and where God is active in the world, and then mimicking those actions. As those created with the image of God, just as we are born with the likeness of our parents, we must live in a way that reflects that identity. 

So the next time you watch Kindergarten Cop, or more importantly, pray the Lord's Prayer, remember that God is our father and mother, the parent that brings us life. Remember that, through the innumerable ways that God meets us in the world and the ways that God still works to redeem creation, we come to know who God is, and who God calls us to be. 
1 Comment
Yo-John
8/5/2014 06:45:00 pm

I heard the most insightful bit of interpretation about the Lucan version of the Our Father in Taize the other week:
The whole thing is about God's kingdom and how it is brought about. It asks exactly what is needed from God and for us to do it. No more and no less do we ask but that God be the father for all the world (notice that the "Our" is missing!).

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Simultaneously a sinner and a saint. 

    Archives

    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly