ROMANS 8:9-17

MATTHEW 13:1-9,18-23

Sermon with Children – 7/10/05, 10:30

“Abba, Father”

(The children gather around me as I sit on the floor in front of the altar.) What do you think God is like? Do you think God wants to be really far from you? (I go and stand on a chair on the farthest row of choir chairs), or near you? (I come back and sit with them.) Do you think God ignores you? (I stand up, fold my arms and turn my back to them), or wants to help you? (I sit down again and put my arm around the nearest kid.) Do you think God is strong? (I stand up and make like I’m flexing my biceps) or weak? (I make like I’m struggling to lift up a pencil.) (I ask for responses after each question.)

I think God is strong, and wants to be near us and help us. One way I know that is from the prayer that Jesus taught us. Can anyone tell me the first two words of The Lord’s Prayer? (“Our Father.”) Now, in the language Jesus used, the word translated “Father” was actually “Abba.” Can you say that with me? (“Abba.”) Now you know some first century Aramaic, just like St. Paul was using in today’s first Bible reading!

“Abba” was not originally a Swedish rock group, it was an Aramaic word meaning – not “Father” in some remote formal way, but “Father” in a warm, close and powerful way. It really means “Daddy.”

I really found this out when I was sitting having a cup of coffee in Ben Gurion airport in Israel. Ever been in an airport? Think of all the thousands of people who go through an airport that you don’t know! Ever been lost? Well, while I was waiting at the airport I suddenly saw a little girl about four years old who was lost. All she could see was thousands of knees, none of which she recognized. She was screaming, crying with fear, and the word she was crying was “ABBA, ABBA.”

And then her Abba found her, picked her up in his powerful arms and hugged her, and all was right with the world.

That’s what that word means. Two words into the Lord’s Prayer we know that God is strong and wants to be near us and help us, especially when we really need it, just like that little girl’s “Abba” was for her. And no matter how grown up we get, we still have days when we need God to be strong, near and help us.

And that’s just what God wants to be for us. Remember that every time you say the Lord’s Prayer!

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church