This is the moment in the Sermon on the Mount that Matthew has Jesus say, “Pray then like this,” and then the words of the Lord’s Prayer follow (Matt. 6:9). This prayer, which is above all else a prayer for the kingdom of God to come in human history, begins by addressing itself to the one who is beyond all limits. That is what it means to say, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” Heaven, in its primary meaning, was never a place located somewhere above the sky, but an expression of the limitlessness of God. God’s kingdom is, therefore, not a physical realm, but an experience of God’s presence.
...more
