| The Lord's Prayer, Part Two |
| Friday, 30 March 2007 | |
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Having told us that we are one with God and our brothers, created in His likeness and forever sustained by Him, Jesus now gives us the Golden Rule for salvation: we must forgive in order to know we are forgiven.
Part two of a two-part series by Sara
To read part one click here AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US... Having told us that we are one with God and our brothers, created in His likeness and forever sustained by Him, Jesus now gives us the Golden Rule for salvation: we must forgive in order to know we are forgiven. The Aramaic word shbakn, translated as to forgive, also means to free, to release, or to untie. Do you want to be free? Then you must free your brother. Forgiveness is Jesus' central teaching, and he is totally uncompromising about it. As he explains in chapter six of the text of A Course in Miracles, he was crucified and resurrected to demonstrate that anything can be forgiven, for no matter what happens in this world of illusions, you remain as God created you.  In truth there is nothing to forgive but illusions. A good pass through the 12 Steps always reveals this to me. In Step Four, my inventory shows me that I am the problem: my own trespasses of fear, selfishness, self-seeking, and dishonesty were the cause of all my heartache. In Aramaic trespasses is khoben, also meaning faults, mistakes, offenses, or debts – essentially, our defects of character. I admit my khoben in Step Five and ask God to remove them in Steps Six and Seven. These Steps, if done with willingness to expose myself in all my corruption, paradoxically show me who I am in truth: I am God's innocent Son, His forever in light and love. It is this miracle that carries me to Steps Eight and Nine, where I ask my brother for forgiveness. In the recognition of the healing that has occurred, I can come to my brother knowing that we are one in God, make amends, and watch in amazement as our relationship is born again. Jesus explains the healing power of forgiveness so beautifully in workbook lesson 46, "God is the Love in which I forgive:" "God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.  Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness. Fear condemns and love forgives. Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God. For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation. It is the means by which illusions disappear."Having trouble forgiving? As Bill W. suggests, try prayer. This one is a favorite of mine, from chapter 15, section 9 of the text of A Course in Miracles: I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself. I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. In the name of my freedom I choose your release because I recognize that we will be released together.  AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION... This was the one line of the Lord's Prayer that I decided, when I was a child, not to say. I thought, "Why would a loving God lead me into temptation, and why should I have to beg Him not to?" I wanted nothing to do with such a God. Working the Steps transformed my relationship with God. In Step One I admitted I needed help, and in Step Two I came to believe in a God that I understood. My God is all-loving, all-powerful, and ever-present and does not want me to suffer. It is only me that makes life difficult -- God has nothing to do with the mess that I made -- and I need help to see it differently.I loved the Aramaic translation I found of this line -- And do not let us enter into temptation -- because it firmly establishes that we are the ones who are responsible for our actions, and guides us to ask for help in choosing rightly. And what is temptation but to trust our own will instead of relying on God? Jesus says all temptation is a wish to make illusions real ( T 30.8), a wish to stay in hell and misery ( T 31.7), a wish to be a self that you are not ( T 31.7). Do we need help to not be tempted? You bet! Emmet Fox’s view of the line lead us not into temptation also rang true for me. Fox says that here we are asking to not let our prayers – our spiritual practice – lead us into self-righteousness, self-glorification, or spiritual arrogance. When things are going well for me, when my prayers are answered, it is tempting to take the credit. However, as the last line of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us, all power and glory are of God. Our prayers need to stay focused on doing His Will, and we need help to avoid self-seeking, even in our spiritual practice.  BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL... The Aramaic word pasan means not only deliver us, but set us free from. I like that because we want to be more than temporarily relieved – we want total freedom! Bisha, evil, also means mistakes. In its essence, then, this line is the 7th Step, where we humbly ask God to remove our defects of character. There is so much transformational power in Steps 6 and 7. Sometimes I come to God in fear because I think my mistakes are really unforgivable sins. I think my bisha is evil instead of just a mistake. But every time I go to Him, God reassures me that I am still as He created me, and as the weight of my errors is lifted, I can laugh at the fear I had of my Father.For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. We end with this declaration of God’s ever-present, all-encompassing, all-powerful presence. Essentially, we are saying, “Father, I want nothing for myself alone. The Kingdom (also counsel or advice in Aramaic), the Power, and the Glory (also translated as song) belong to you, unchanged and unchangeable throughout the ages.” There is no will but God’s (W 74). As Errico points out, the Lord’s Prayer begins with a tender “Our Father” and ends with this beautiful declaration of the majesty of our Creator. Amen.  The word amen is a commitment. The Aramaic amena means, “sealed in faith.” It is what Aramaic speakers used to say to seal an oral bargain. By saying amen, you are affirming a contract to carry through in action what you have said in prayer. As Bill W. says, faith without acts is worthless. Can I get an amen? At the end of chapter 16 of the text of A Course in Miracles, Jesus gives us this version of the Lord's Prayer, which beautifully sums up his teaching: Forgive us our illusions, Father, and help us to accept our true relationship with You, in which there are no illusions, and where none can ever enter. Our holiness is Yours. What can there be in us that needs forgiveness when Yours is perfect? The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember Your forgiveness and Your Love. Let us not wander into temptation, for the temptation of the Son of God is not Your Will. And let us receive only what You have given, and accept but this into the minds which You created and which You love. Amen. Thank you, to every hand that reached for my own in the circle of fellowship in AA. Thank you for saying this prayer with me in joy and in surrender. Thank you for being the manifestation of this prayer, for showing me that it really does work if you work it. Thank you, Jesus, for your patience and love and example. Thank you, Father, for belongs to you our will and our power and the ever-present song of praise we sing to you. |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 26 May 2007 ) |