Our Divine Parent

Imaginative Prayers from the Original Language of Jesus, Part II

A Lenten Series

The first line of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples (Matthew 6:9-13) is generally translated, “Our Father who art in heaven.” Yet, interestingly, in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his followers, the word that denotes God doesn’t specify gender. *“While abwoon is a derivative of this word for personal father, its original roots do not specify a gender and could be translated ‘divine parent.’”

“Our Divine Parent of the cosmos,” the first line reads. Those listening to Jesus when he spoke these words would have heard and understood this title as an encompassing designation for the Source of all life (cosmos). He was instructing them in how to pray and began by expanding their perception of God to include both maternal and paternal qualities. Even Jesus, himself, expressed both.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me” (Luke 13:34).

What a dramatic display of motherly affection from a man! And, I might add, a far cry from the damaged masculinity so often exhibited today—one which flatters itself by claiming the absence of empathy and tenderness as evidence of strength!

Here, in the first line of this prayer, we are invited to turn toward a Divine Parent who is both maternal and paternal, a good father and a good mother. And don’t we all need both? Aren’t there days in your life when you just need a good mother? You just need a caring father? I know I do.

Both of my parents have been gone a long time. Dad died in 1997 and Mom in 2007. And I still miss them. My relationship with my dad was more complicated, yet there is a lot that I loved and admired about him. He was an “I CAN DO” kind of person. He had beautiful hands. He was the life of the party! And then there was mom. She was the sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever known! If she ever said one ill thing about anyone we would have been shocked! And she loved me. She was “for” me. And she adored my kids.  

Understanding this salutation as Divine Parent offers real comfort to me on those days when I miss Mom and Dad, even as an almost 69-year-old who is both a parent and grandparent! What consolation to cry out to the God of the universe and envision the One responding to me is both Mother and Father.

A Body and Breath Prayer:

Today as we experience the chaotic machinations of the current administration and mourn the complicity of the Church, and as we face daunting challenges within our own personal lives, we need a prayer that can ground us. A prayer that can keep us tethered to the Source of Perfect Love. Here is one to try!

Begin by wrapping your arms across your chest as if you are being embraced by the arms of your Divine Parent. (Please give it try!) Then *“breathe in, feeling the sound Ah; breathe out feeling the sound bwoon. As you inhale, feel all the newness and nourishment coming into the heart-lungs area. As you exhale, feel everything old, everything that wants to be released, leaving with the breath.”

*From Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus’ Words, by Neil Douglas-Klotz