The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-02-13

OF Trinity Episcopal Church.

'H' liih NuI0 OF tnt LOIu
Prayer opens up the window OF the
Noul To- The sunshine Of human fell
lowship whether praying alone or
in the company OF others. We are
told not to say merely My Father
but our Father. our prayers are
not to be selfish but social. In otr
religious life We are not TO stand
alone but are Knit to others uy
londs Of brotherhood. The good
that is In us comes largely as the re-
suit Of our contact with our fellow
mcn--the Influence thai the GOOD IN
others has had upon ~ aid when
We pray We are TO think t only OF
ourselves but OF them also.
SometimesN forget this. some
times we feel 50 alone in the world.
II may be we are far away from
any living soul. IL may be we are
in the midst Of the whiriinc rush
OF big city--cverybOdy intent on
his own affairs their attention con-
sumed by their business, their in
tcrcst in their own loved ones not
mindful OF our problems or our per-
pleNitics or even OF our presence.
We lift UP our hands toward heaven
and with all agonized sob we cry
"Our Father" 1t brings us back at
once from our state of self centred
ness and self pity to broadening
outlook on life. We turn our
thoughts outward from ourselves To
others and we are ashamed OF our
self-centeredness ana self-pity.
These indifferent strangers who
brush by us on the street are not
Indifferent strangers any longer.
They are brothers They have prob.
lens as we do, they have perple kites
like ours. They have griefs which
eat into their souls quite as much as
we do. We are not alone. The vis-
ion of brotherhood opens before
Us We need to think of others II.
order not to think too much about
ourselves.
This is not only then the duty ~
intercession but the great privilege
OF intcrCcssion in behalf OF our fell
lowmcn. Ii Ia the comfort of human
fellowship. In times of grief when
the soul sits dumb it is.a conscla
tion to have another lay his hand
on our shoulder and however halting
his toeue speak words of sympathy
and love. IF God belongs to all Of
us as Charles Slattcry puts IL,
there can be no limit to the asso-
citation one with another to the fell
lowship, TO the community of good.
The duty OF unselfishncss is fused in
the divine consolation"
IL II somctimes said that our Lord
himself never prayed "Our Father" "
but that when He prayed He used
the words MY Father" II is true
that in the accounts given us in the
New Testament lie always uses the
words MY Father and that IN
teaching His disciples He told them
to pray "Our Father" There is no
doubt but that our Lord bore Il
unique and special relationship to
God but | cannot help but feel that
when he prayed with his disciples
He said "Our Father" He was not
one of the kind who held himself
aloof from others. When he came
to the river Jordan to be baptized,
John the baptist would not at frs;
haptize him because there was no
unrightcou,hcss in him. 1t was n
baptism of repentance and He had
no sins to repent. But our Lord re-
fused to be thus separated from the
humanity became to save. He took
upon himself the sins of others. Ho
became part of that rcpentant hui
manity who came to be baptized.
And so all through his life our Lord
refused advantages he might have
seized. He was poor he lived In a
humble village, he was often foot
sore and weary, he died upon a
cross.
lie knew hte seamy side OF life.
That one who deliberately chose
such q life in order to have union
with his fcllowmen should never
have prayed with His disciples "Ou"
Father As our Elder Brother he
must have prayed with his little
brothers.
When therefore we say the first
words Of the Lords Prayer, we are
uniting ourselves with all those who
living or departed consciously or IN
consciously have prayed to the ALI
Father With all the saints and he
rocs of the past with all those who
are struggling upward toward Tie
light, yes with all those who are yet
for to come, with these too we cry
our Father And with Christ the
Ideal and Pattern OF our lives who
came in humility and lowliness to
reveal Gods love for us--Nith II m
we pray our Father"
What IA implied in the thuu,;iIt Of
~ fatherhood of God. 1t w. rot
entirely new In Christ's day for Him
to refer to God as Father, six or sew
en- times We find il in the act, but he
filled the word with IA new meaning.
He who hath seen me he said hath
seen the Father" He lived a life
of love, for his fellOwmen. Gods
heart must therefore be full Of love
for mankind, Whatever Christ was.
God is Love and Love Is the chief
c characteristic Of God.
There are many differert kinds
OF earthly fathers. When you teach
CHILDREN about God as Father that
impression varies according to the
kind Of human father theY have.
There are fathers who are ineXora-
bic tyrants, children fear them, there
are fathers who are irritable and
tcsty, their children avoid them, and
then there are fathers who are low