In this episode of Year on the Mountaintop, we move to the second word of the Lord’s Prayer: “Father.” If “Our” establishes the communal dimension of prayer, “Father” establishes our relationship with God. Jesus invites us to approach God not as a distant or inaccessible ruler, but as the loving source who creates, sustains, and welcomes us into relationship.

This teaching explores what it means to call God “Father,” while also considering why that language should not be understood as assigning God a literal human gender or reinforcing earthly gender hierarchies. Through the Sermon on the Mount, the Gospel of John, and Paul’s teaching about adoption and access to God, we’ll explore how Jesus reveals the Father and invites us into the intimate relationship between Father and Son. In the Lord’s Prayer, salvation becomes more than a transaction—it becomes an invitation into the family of God.