A guy was walking along the beach when he ran across a lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it and, naturally, a genie popped out. the genie told his new master he would grant the man three wishes. "First," the guy began, "I'd like a million dollars." POOF! A million dollars was suddenly showing on his checkbook balance. "Second," he continued, "I'd like a new Mercedes." POOF! A Mercedes appeared right in front of him. "Third," the guy smirked, "I'd like to be irresistible to women." and POOF! He turned into a box of chocolates. (parables, etc. 20.1.4)

He didn't know what he was asking for, did he? It strikes me that a similar thing happens when we pray--even when we pray the Lord's Prayer. It started when we were kids, struggling to get the words right, like the boy who asked God to "Lead us not into Penn Station." or the girl who said, Give us this day our jelly bread. Or the one appropriate for today, "Our father in heaven, Harold be thy name."

As adults we may not call God Harold, but do we really understand what we are saying when we say to God, Hallowed be your name? Do we understand how that petition will impact our lives, if we say it and mean it?

We won't turn into a box of chocolates, but it will change us.

Remember that the Lord's Prayer is not for everyone. It is the prayer of the disciple. It's the prayer of someone who has intentionally decided to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And the petitions in the prayer reflect the relationship that the disciple has with his/her Lord and God.

Last week we talked about God as our loving and nurturing parent. The one who welcomes us into an intimate and life- giving relationship. Now, lest we be tempted to take this relationship lightly, or take God for granted, we are challenged to pray "Hallowed be your name."

To understand this phrase we need to begin by understanding that in the ancient world, a person's name is more than just sound bytes. The name is not separate from the person. The name is the person. The name carries with it the person's character and personality. So if we think about the name God, this word carries with it all the power and majesty and glory of God. When we hallow God's name, we hallow God. Think about who God is: powerful, wise, all-knowing, all seeing, God is love, truth, justice, mercy, grace. So holy and good that if you look God in the eye, you'll die from exposure to light. All of this is contained in the name God. For the ancient Hebrews, the name of God was so powerful, that people wouldn't even speak it, instead they would substitute another word, one of God's titles. As a result, some scholars still debate whether we now have the right pronunciation of the Hebrew word Yahweh.

Hallowed be your name.

The word hallow comes from the word holy. And at its heart, holy means separate, different, unique in quality. God is not like anyone else. God is far and away more powerful, more wise, more loving, more gracious, more just, more merciful than anyone you could imagine. So, when we pray and say, hallowed be your name, at one level, we are simply stating a fact. God's name is holy, because God is holy. We don't make God holy by what we do. God's name is holy because of who God is. And we are acknowledging that fact when we say hallowed be your name.

More importantly, and remembering that this is the prayer of the disciple, we are making a statement of belief and intent when we say hallowed be your name. In other words we are buying into this statement, and saying I want to hallow God's name. I intend to hallow God's name.

The verb "to hallow" means to reverence, respect, or honor. The question is How do I do that? How do I show honor to God's name? It doesn't sound very specific,

very concrete. Should we give God a plaque, throw a party?

The most obvious to do, I suppose, is to take the "thou shalt not" approach: Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Don't misuse God's name. Don't cheapen the name of God by using it for the wrong purposes. (skit) That's a good start, but it doesn't tell the whole story. And we could be left with the idea that all it takes to be a Christian is to not do certain things. A more positive perspective would be to say that if we want to hallow God's name, we need to praise God. Worship God. Use God's name in positive ways. To call upon the name of the Lord. Using God's name the right way, is certainly a step ahead of not cursing. But it's still somewhat narrow. It's still about words and we need to go farther than that.

Another definition of the verb "to hallow" is to set apart as holy. This is an easy concept to misunderstand. We are used to setting apart things in our life that we honor or consider special. Like the good china that we only bring out when we have guests, or the special jewelry that we only wear on certain occasions. We set aside money for special use, as in retirement or for vacation or college. If we think about God this way we are saying that God is so special that we only bring God out of the cupboard on Sundays and special holidays. But that is not what it means to honor God, or to respect and revere God. When we set God apart in our heart as holy, it means that we give God the position God deserves in our life: that is first place. First priority. First in authority in our lives.

It takes more than just words to honor the name of God. We need show that we respect and honor God's name by the way we live. The German philosopher Nietsche once said: "show me that you are redeemed and then I will believe in your redeemer."

Talk is important. But our actions carry far more weight. Here's an example of how that works: Major Osipovich, an air force pilot for the former Soviet Union, planned to give a talk about peace at his children's school. since he needed time off during the day to give the talk, he volunteered for night duty. And that's how Major Osipovich found himself patrolling the skies over the eastern regions of the Soviet Union on September 1, 1993--the night Korean Air Lines Flight KE007 strayed into Soviet air space.

The Soviet pilot was caught in a series of blunders and misinformation. In the end, Major Osipovich followed orders and shot down the unidentified aircraft. The actions of an air force major preparing to talk about peace plunged 240 passengers to their deaths and sparked an international incident that pushed world powers to a stand-off. (Fresh illustrations, 159)

If we think that hallowing God's name is just about words, then we might tend to think that we could leave our hallowing behind when we leave this place. That phrase, hallowed be your name does have the ring of stained glass windows and organ music. It sounds somewhat detached from life, but that is far from true. Honoring God belongs in the markeplace, the mall, the boardroom, the classroom, the office, the internet, and certainly, in the home.

When we sincerely pray, hallowed be your name, things will be different. No, we won’t turn into a box of chocolates. But people will notice the difference. And we will be different from many of the people around us, too. That's because when give God the position in our life that God deserves, then we start to absorb God's character traits. And what people will see in us are things like integrity, justice, grace, mercy, peace, love.