And if you have a name, you have a good name or a bad name Your name reveals your character and your reputation who you are and what sort of person you are. The name of this country has suffered so much in the past 30 yrs. We can all quote names of political and church leaders once renowned and admired, now in disgrace. When we say God has a name, it means that we can know him and talk to him and that he has a reputation to be cherished. To pray Hallowed be thy name is to ask that God’s character and reputation is kept as it should be and made even more clear that the world may see how holy God is.

What does that word ‘holy’ mean? It makes us embarrassed? God is strong, we would like to be strong God is love, we all want to be loving God is wise, we all want to be wise God is holy. Do we all want to be holy? We should, because to be holy is to belong to God, it is to be separated from all in the world that is against God Leviticus 20.26 You shall be holy, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine Does something in us shrink or cringe from being ‘holy’? We need to forget the unpleasant sanctimonious images we have of ‘holy joes’ who make holiness something dark and dour. The holiness we need is the holiness of Jesus Christ. Think of him, so close to God and inviting us closer too. Jesus, tempted but not touched by sin, so pure so full of compassion Is that kind of holiness a cringe making turn-off? Maybe why we are embarrassed is because we are not like that and yet Jesus calls us to be like him and has prayed that we should be like him, sharing his holiness just as he shares his Father’s holiness Look at the Lord’s Prayer in John 17:11-17 p 1085 a more extended version of what is in the other gospels Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. The world has hated them because they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth

We are to live an attractive holy life for an attractive holy saviour in a world of so much that is unholy and ugly, ruining people’s lives where Jesus the Holy One comes to heals and changes and make whole Don’t we sorely need to see the difference holiness of Jesus makes?

W Barclay: ‘The name of God can only be hallowed when every action of our life is a witness to our faith in him and when we continuously bring credit to the name we bear. The early Christian writers stress this with such intensity because they were living in a pagan environment and the only way that Christianity could spread and conquer the world was by individual Christians living a life of such beauty goodness and truth that others might wish to share the secret of that loveliness. The one thing which was fatal was a life which brought Christian faith into disrepute. The plain fact is that the situation has not changed. ... If the Christian is just as likely to collapse under sorrow, if his life is just as frustrated and unsatisfied as the non Christian, if he is just as worried and anxious, just as nervous and restless, just as guilty of petty dishonesty, of self seeking and of measuring everything by material values as the person who makes no profession of Christianity, then quite clearly no-one will want Christianity because the obvious conclusion is that it makes no difference anyway.

To pray for God’s name to be holy is to pray and to commit yourself that we, God’s people shall be holy. that we make a good difference in the world

Practical examples: Is the name of God and Christ precious to us and holy? I know someone who says to anyone using ‘Christ!’ as a swear word ‘Excuse me, you are speaking of a friend of mine’ How courageous and gracious and right he is! The name of God and his son should surely be used only with joy or even with trembling fear, not to show how unholy we are. And even if our speech is outwardly pure, are our attitudes holy? or like the priests in Malachi have we let the world take over the church so that we are cynical and sniffy and offering second best sacrifices? I know someone in Belfast distributing Xmas parcels for needy children: In one package was a broken toy. Had somebody thought? ‘That’ll do for the needy children.’ Neither needy people nor God should ever be offered the second best, the left overs

Because God has a name, we may know him, be his people And because God is holy, his people with his name are to be holy too That’s something of what it means to pray Hallowed be thy name

Lord may we be in this world, just like Jesus involved, caring, with dirty hands yet not of this world, with hearts made clean protected by your strong holy name that your character shall be in us your people and by your grace may our speech and lives be such that when they see us, they will want to know you.

SOME NOTES MADE AVAILABLE AFTER SERVICE

You shall be holy, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine. Leviticus 20.26

The name is intended to be symbolic of the whole character of the person whose name it is. We ‘hallow’ God’s name when we recognise the character of the Father, as shown us by Jesus. We certainly do not hallow it if we project our own prejudiced views onto God -- whether they are racist, sexist or reflect the way in which we see our earthly fathers. When this happens we only reveal how little we know of God’s true character James Houston

The name of God can only be hallowed when every action of our life is a witness to our faith in him and when we continuously bring credit to the name we bear. The early Christian writers stress this with such intensity because they were living in a pagan environment and the only way that Christianity could spread and conquer the world was by individual Christians living a life of such beauty, goodness and truth that others might wish to share the secret of that loveliness. The one thing which was fatal was a life which brought Christian faith into disrepute. The plain fact is that the situation has not changed. ... If the Christian is just as likely to collapse under sorrow, if his life is just as frustrated and unsatisfied as the non Christian, if he is just as worried and anxious, just as nervous and restless, just as guilty of petty dishonesty, of self seeking and of measuring everything by material values as the person who makes no profession of Christianity, then quite clearly no-one will want Christianity because the obvious conclusion is that it makes no difference anyway. Wm. Barclay

Shorter Catechism (modern version) 98 What is prayer? Prayer is offering up our desires to God in the name of Christ for things that agree with his will, confessing our sins and thankfully recognising his mercies.

Shorter Catechism (modern version) 99 How does God direct us to pray? The whole word of God, but especially the Lord’s prayer, which Christ taught his disciples, directs our prayers

Shorter Catechism (modern version) 101 For what do we pray in the first request (of the Lord’s Prayer)? In the first request (Hallowed be thy name.) we pray that God will enable us and others to glorify him in everything he uses to make himself known. and that he will work out everything to his own glory.