Hallowed be Your Name?

This Sunday I spoke on the Lord's Prayer as found in Matthew 6 -- specifically "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done On Earth as it is in Heaven."

I also reviewed the passage "Hallowed Be Your Name", and was struck by this post on Steve Camp's blog. (I have not been to Steve's blog in ages)

How can a person who claims to be a Christian, much less a pastor, be comfortable using this type of language to describe Christ and His story? Have we truly lost all sense of reverence for who He is? Now, I know that many think Mr. Driscoll is A-OK, because his doctrine 'matches' theirs, but let me ask you -- does it really? Can a man who believes that God is Holy and Other, and that Jesus Christ is the very incarnation of God, truly speak as this man does? I do not know Mr. Driscoll, and I have read or heard only a bit of his stuff, but for the life of me, I cannot figure why he thinks that this type of thing is 'relevant'.

As we progress through the first portions of the Lord's Prayer, I am struck by how little the words in the prayer seem to mean to the modern church -- and I am not simply targeting Mr. Driscoll here, I believe that we are all guilty of not glorifying God in our lives, speech, and actions.

Rather than simply target a prominent, and somewhat controversial pastor (frankly, that is an easy task!), what if each and every one of the pastors in this land asked these questions -- Does my life glorify God; can I honestly say that I am hallowing God's name in my life? Does my congregation KNOW the holiness of God, and could they tell I know it from my actions? Does my speech betray a desire to elevate myself above the sacred text, making me hip, relevant, or any number of other things that subordinate the Word of God?

I fear that pastoring in today's world is more about being 'cool', (maybe a dated term, but you know what I mean), structuring the church service around the lost and their desires, and less about shepherding and discipling the flock that has been entrusted to our care. When numbers and relevance are our idols, then God's Word and God Himself will be relegated to the cheap seats -- may He have mercy on us all!