Hallowing

“Erk-wooofsch” goes the paper cutter. Given a task to cut out multiple cards with the paper cutter, I turn on a sermon to listen to. Although the volume was low so as to not disturb the office environment or the phones, the message still was “loud” enough to make me think. Tim Keller in his sermon “Adoration: Hallowed be Thy Name” focused on the second line of the well-known, dangerously rote Lord’s Prayer: “… hallowed be your name…”

The second line uses an ancient, out-of-use word: “Hallowed.” Perhaps it is out of use because we don’t hallow (hold extremely holy or sacred; venerate) many things today. As the musicians the Duhks sing in their song “Fast Paced World,” “We’ve forgotten what is sacred in this fast-paced world, not love, not culture, not family or nature…even God has lost his name with time.”

Keller asks pointedly, “What do you think about in your spare time? What does your mind linger on in moments of rest?” This is what you hallow—what you unconsciously meditate on and dwell on. Oooh, that makes the questions of modern-day idols real.

He goes on to make the point that the Lord’s Prayer is in a certain order. Line 1: know who you are addressing, Father. Line 2: Hallowing. Hallowing must come before confession. I have taken lay counseling classes and read a number of Christian lay counseling classes—almost every single one touches on the topic of forgiveness, and forgiving oneself. Why can that be so hard? Keller gave a reason I have never heard before—it is because they hallow something other than God. It is what they hallow that will not forgive them. They have failed what they most held to be true and dear. I confess, I have struggled with forgiving myself. Seeing it in the light of Keller’s point, I couldn’t forgive myself because I fell short of my standard of perfection. I broke that “idea,” that “idol.” It is this idol that will not “forgive” me. I was not perfect, I failed, and there is no grace in that impersonal idea—there is no relaxing of standards, there is no washing it away, there is no forgiveness. The standard always holds true; the error always holds true. However, when God is hallowed in my heart, he has declared he has forgiven me in Christ. I receive forgiveness from him, and it is that forgiveness that defines me, that I most value and treasure, and it is mine. I could be awash in that forgiveness. This, says Keller, is why hallowing comes before confession. Otherwise, confession is distorted.

“Give us today our daily bread,” the petitions, must also come after hallowing God’s name. Some people petition God, desperately, time in and time out, and yet still don’t have peace. One could point to a lack of trust in God, a lack of faith. However, Keller points to a different reason—idols again (idols happen to be one of his most frequently used words, in the sense of anything that takes place in your heart before God). Those without peace in their petitions are desperate for their idol—for success, for perfectionism, that car, financial security, etc. This is what they long for, that is the desire of their heart, the thing that drives them. Until they have it, they cannot have peace. If God is hallowed, then there is a trust that He is what you most want, He is sufficient, He is above all, and He is trustworthy.

Hallowing, in short, puts everything in focus. God is first, and forgiveness and peace, confession and petition, flow out of that.

Looking at my heart and prayers, I’m challenged. I still find my plans, my reputation, my self clamoring for first place. May he always be first.