The idea of calling God father is one that's received a lot of attention in the modern world. With the changed in family and experiences with fathers some have even suggested that we should stop using the term of father for God completely. While I would certainly not disagree with everyone for every example, I do think that Jesus chose the word 'Abba' or 'father' for some very important reasons that shouldn't be lost to us.
I certainly can't get into every possible argument and reason, and I'm sure I'm ignorant of more than not, but I do have a few important ideas of why 'father' as our address in prayer can be an important one. So here's a few reasons why I think Jesus chose the idea of father to begin with.
1) Because it's complicated.
Something that's interesting to me is the idea that we're just beginning to see that fathers can bring up complicated, and mixed feelings in people. Today people struggle with fathers who have abandoned them, or were simply more absent then they should have been, or were even abusive in different ways. This can create a true struggle for individuals today to look at God as 'father' and see a positive image.
However, do we really think that fathers were a positive image in history for everyone leading up to the modern world where things just switched? Do we really believe that father figures were always positive, loving, caring figures who protected their children at complete loss of themselves? Do we believe that this was true in the first century? No matter how idealistic your assumptions are of the first century, you can't possibly accept the idea that everyone had a positive experience with their fathers in Jesus' day.
And speaking of Jesus, talk about complicated father issues. We have no idea what happened to Joseph after Jesus early childhood. Best case scenario is that Joseph died, or abandoned the family leaving Mary alone. Not to mention that Jesus' idea of himself wouldn't have seen Joseph as his real father anyway. Put that into perspective with Jesus saying things like "I have come to divide a father against his son," and you see a truly complex view of the relationship.
My suggestion is that when Jesus said to address God as 'father' he was a man who had a complicated and complex idea of what a father was. Also, he was addressing people who would have had complicated, complex views of fatherhood as well.
My suggestion is that when Jesus uses the term 'father' as our address in prayer he is encouraging us to see God in this complex way. We can't go our entire lives thinking of God in only one dimensional ways. If we think that God is only close, intimate and caring then how do we relate to a God who sometimes seems distant, or in scripture angry and wrathful. There's no simple answer to make this better and that's the point. God is beyond our single, one-dimensional ideas of him.
Sometimes our one-dimensional teachings of God as the father subtlety teaches that if we haven't had a positive experience with our earthly father then we can't possibly understand God's love. But a complex view of God as the father teaches us that even though God seems distant or angry sometimes does not diminish how much God is intimate and loving in our lives.
2) 'Father' suggests 'Family'
The great reminder of calling God the father is that it reminds us that God is creating a new, global, trans-racial, trans-national family for the world.
There's a reason that the Lord's prayer tells us to say 'our father.' This is because in the first century the most important image of the father was as the figurehead of the family. The father was the ultimate authority in the home and over the wife (wives) and children. Everything was his possession and his to do with as he pleased. Anyone in the family who wanted anything would have to have the permission of the father first. This all sounds authoritarian, but the point is that for the mothers, wives, sisters, brothers and even all the possessions are given identity and belonging through their relationship with the father.
This is true for us today as well. For those of us who are in Christ we are given a new identity, a new family, a new existence. We no longer have the 'fathers' of this world but we are given a new father, who is God. And this new global family has a unity and relationship to each other which transcends the barriers of the world, national and racial. So we are called to pray 'our father' to constantly remind us that our standing with God is not ours alone but something we share with all those around the world who call God 'Abba.'
This should drastically change the kind of language we use around prayer. The temptation, especially in our culture today, is to see prayer as a very individualistic activity. My prayer time, alone with my God that no one else should disturb. This is how we see 'private' prayer time. However I don't think that the idea of individualism entered Jesus' mind even when he told us to go off and pray alone in secret. Even then we were to remember that we pray to 'our father' instead of 'my father.'
The individualistic, or communal language we choose will drastically change our ideas of spirituality and what it means to be a mature disciple. One could, by their own prayer life, push themselves to a spiritual place of constantly ignoring others, coming to a place of further inward based ideas. This is the kind of spirituality that has Christians looking for just the right church that will meet all their needs with the least amount of effort possible. Which usually ends up in a disappointed spirituality.
'Father' pushes us to a place where we pray not just 'for' others, but 'with' the global church. Even when we're alone.
3) 'Father' invites trust.
The image that invokes parenthood inevitable invites the need for a child to trust in that figure. There is of course the natural need for a young child to depend on their parents for the necessities of life, but there is also the almost unnatural way that people seem to lean toward their parents in trust, unless that trust has been dramatically broken. But the point is that we both need to, and want to trust our parents as children, and even into adulthood.
Invoking the title of 'father' should inevitably bring up the concept of trust. It's possible that the idea of father brings up a trustworthy image to your head. It's also possible that when you think of father you think of an image that is completely untrustworthy. The point is that either way trust is an issue that comes to mind when we think of our fathers.
Jesus says for us to address our prayers to 'our father,' and one of the reasons for this is because it stands as an ultimate reminder that our prayers stand on, and speak to the trust we hold to in our lives. We bring prayers to God because we trust that he can do something about it. We bring prayers to God because we trust that he cares about this world. We bring prayers to God because we believe that his will is what's best for the world. This is what faith is, trust in God.
So take some time as you discuss to also pray together and ask God, in trust, to speak to you today.
Discussion:
1) What is your prayer life like right now? Be honest.
2) When you think of a complicated God how do you react? Is it frightening, comforting or somewhere in between?
3) Have you ever thought of your prayer life as being too individual? How can you encompass communal language into your prayer life?
4) If we really believed that prayer makes a difference then we would pray all the time. How do you react to this statement?
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