The dialogue of liberation (Deuteronomy 7,6-13; Matthew 6,5-18 / Monday after fifth Sunday after Easter BCP)

'…The Lord brought you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.’ ‘King of Egypt’ was the most powerful kingdom and person at the time. As symbol for the ruling superpower it never expires. The great news is that God can deliver us from even the greatest powers of today. Cyber-realities? Powers of consumption, or the negative powers of social, cultural, and economic deprivation?
 
This liberation by God takes place through love: ‘because the Lord loved you’. However, this liberation is not a naïve vision of love, an emotional ‘oceanic feeling’. There is commitment and investing ourselves on our part. ‘Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgements, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto they fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee.’
 
The ‘our Lord’s prayer’ shows a close connection with this liberation. It reveals the same two-sided dialogue of the Covenant; the same loving attention - on a personal level. ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’ It ends with the most important sentence in human history. This is the only way to create lasting peace and heal already existing divisions. The ‘Our Father’, as a prayer, is the most peaceful rhythm in the whole universe… The very words of the healing Jesus.