The Third Sunday in Lent-The Lord's Prayer- Introduction

What is your image of "father?"  In my case I did have a loving father and provider.  He died on Dec. 14th, 2005, and I still miss him.  So, for me, to pray to God as Father has never been a problem.  But all human fathers are imperfect.  Some are better, more loving, and available than others.  In praying to God as "Our Father" we are not praying to God as human father, but to the perfect, loving Father who has made all that exists.  Father, and certainly mother as well, are human words that describe a personal relationship.  No human words can ever adequately describe this.  God is like a loving father.  God is like a nurturing mother.  We find examples of both images in scripture.  What's most important is that God, our creator, is also our father, a loving parent who knows us personally and intimately.  For that reason, says Luther, when we pray "we may ask him boldly and with complete confidence, just as loving children ask their loving father."