Image by Lori Rivera via FlickrJennifer Fulwiler is reflecting on "The Our Father" during Lent.  I just started reading some of her reflections today, having had it in my "Read It Later" file for some time. 

I loved this.

Our.

It’s plural. When Jesus’ disciples asked him how to pray, he put the words of a collective prayer on their tongues. He instructed his followers to address their Father as a family.

Once I understood this, it answered so many of my questions. Yes, it would be more efficient if God simply revealed himself to each one of us and told us whatever we needed to know. But if he did that, what would happen? We would withdraw from one another. Our natural human tendencies toward selfishness and self-centeredness would creep in until we each lived on our own little islands. And so he came up with the perfect plan:

The entirety of God’s revelation to man occurs through other people. In other words: we have to draw near to one another to get to him.