“Our Father, who is in heaven,”
        so our Brother taught us to pray;
and so, Lord, we begin each week, [*]
        daring to label the Divine
with a name so utterly human,
        stained by we who are fathers.

Our Father, who is in heaven:

A faithful presence,
        who never walks out on us.
A giver of unconditional love,
        from the moment we were born.
A wise counselor,
        who listens to our every word.
A safe place to hide,
        no matter what we have done.
An imaginative creator,
        filling our world with beauty.

A proud father,
        our Father, who is in heaven.

One who enjoys laughing with us,
        and taking us on adventures.
One who understands us;
        our sighs, the look in our eyes.
One who will hold his calls,
        as long as we need his attention.
One who is willing to take the heat,
        when we do something wrong.
One who is always, always, looking out
        for our best interests.

The Father of the fatherless;
        and we all are orphans,
lost in a world disappointments,
        pain, and substitute love.

The world’s #1 dad:
        Our Father, who is in heaven:
hallowed be thy name.

Amen

—

[*] Note: My home congregation recites the Lord’s prayer together every Sunday.

Limited permission is granted for reuse of this prayer in worship or other venues. If printed in any form attribution must be given as "Glenn Pemberton, mosaicsite.org/glennpemberton." Special permission is required to print three or more of these prayers at one time in any form, print, electronic, etc., and must be secured by request at gdp05b@acu.edu.