I am 36 and am finally going through confirmation! Having grown up in a Baptist/non-denomination church, I had never gone through the confirmation program. Who would have thought I would be going through confirmation with my oldest son! It is a joy and privilege to see the basic doctrines of the church being taught to our young teens within the church. This past week, I had the opportunity to teach the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer which states “hallowed be thy name”.
The word “hallow” isn’t commonly used within our vocabulary, but it simply means “holy”. October is the primary time in the year we see the term hallow. Halloween is derived from two words, hallow and eve. It is the eve of All Hallow’s Day, more commonly referred to as All Saint’s Day. A day where the saints of all Church history, known or unknown to us, are celebrated.
Luther states in the Small Catechism that as we pray “hallowed be thy name”, we agree that God’s name is indeed holy in itself, but we pray that it may also be hallowed among us. There are two great truths to ponder as we think about the first petition. The first truth is that our God is hallowed and, therefore, His name is hallowed. The second is that we are able to keep His name holy among us.
Concerning the first truth, our God is holy in His essence. Nothing can alter that since our God is unchanging and unchangeable. He reveals His holiness through His Word. God reveals Himself to us as the Creator God, the Savior God, the God of life, the omnipotent, omnipresent, good and just God (and more). God is truly set apart. There is no other name by which we are saved. In summary, there is no one like our God.
God is our Savior God as best seen through Christ, the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). It is through Christ that we become a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). Christ saves us and makes us hallowed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is through His shed blood that we are purified/cleansed (1 John 1:7). He is the holy God that came as a holy human and becomes a holy sacrifice and in doing so, makes us holy. Our sins are white as snow. God’s work is set apart. It is only through His work that we can become holy. This God-given holiness enables us to live holy lives.
Concerning the second truth, Luther states that we can keep God’s name holy among us “when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and as we as God’s children lead holy lives in accordance with it.”
Teaching God’s Word is certainly a part of congregation life as it gathers on Sundays and throughout the week, but it’s also a part of the family structure. When we teach our children God’s truth we are keeping God’s name hallowed at home. When we obey the commandments and live according to God’s Word, we hallow God’s name – whether at our jobs, our home, or in our neighborhood.
Christ’s work of salvation has freed us from trying to use the law for our salvation (praise the Lord) and allows us to simply worship Him by doing what He has commanded. This is our spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1). We fulfill the “Greatest Commandment” by loving God and loving our neighbors because God first loved us.
What a wonderful miracle that we are able to hallow God’s name by teaching His Word and living our lives in accordance with His Word! As we come to October and think of the darkness that Halloween can represent, let us not forget the reminder that awaits the next day, All Hallow’s Day. Let us rejoice that our name is written in the Book of life because Christ died for us, that we await the same glorious fate as the saints because we are indeed saints ourselves. We, through Christ’s work, are called holy before God.
In Him,
Patrick VandenBos
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