The prayer that we call "The Lord's Prayer" is found in two places in the gospels: Matthew 6:9-13, and Luke 11: 2-4. In Matthew, the prayer is part of Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount," his core teachings to the people who would follow him. Jesus cautions his people not to pray empty words, but to pray trusting that God already knows our needs.In Luke's gospel, his disciples have watched him pray, noticing how Jesus centers himself in God's will. One of them asks, "Teach us how to pray."
We pray a version of the Lord's Prayer every week in our worship service. See if you can recite the prayer from memory.
Even when we know the words, it is the substance of prayer that Jesus calls us to. We are urged to put ourselves into our prayer.
Let's take a look at some of what Jesus teaches us:
(1) "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus is teaching us to pray for God's will rather than just our own will, in the expectation that God's will be done in the midst of our lives here and now. Jesus expects the community of God's people to be answers to our own prayers and the prayers of others. We will take part in what God is doing in the world. The prayer s hope-full. How will God's will shape our lives?
(2) "Give us this day our daily bread." The prayer focuses us on God's daily provision, rather than long-term security. We trust that God will provide, and we take time to give thanks for God's gifts daily. This is a less defensive and more grateful way of living.
(3) The words "our," "we," and "us" throughout the prayer remind us that we pray to God as a community, and that we are praying for God's blessing and encouragement for everyone. So when we pray for, and participate in, God's love for all people, we practice that love in intentional, specific ways with all the people in our lives! It is a constant process of learning and growing. One of the ways that we grow is in our willingness to share our "daily bread" generously with others!
What else do you notice about the prayer? Take some time. Does this become a model for all of our prayers? How will you make it your own?
I must say, yesterday's version (2 December) was the most "meaningful" (for me) version of The Lord's Prayer. What translation is it from?
ReplyDeleteThe King James' version brings me comfort, as I was taught to recite it by heart. It brings my early years of church and Sunday school forward into today.
Thanks, Wendy. That translation is from the late Monica Furlong of the St. Hilda Community in England. That community of faithful women and men worked and witnessed with great intention so that women might be ordained as priests in the Church of England.
ReplyDeleteHere is the content (for anyone reading these posts):
"God who cares for us,
The wonder of whose presence fills us with awe.
Let kindness, justice, and love shine in our world.
Let your secrets be known here as they are in heaven.
Give us the food and hope we need for today.
Forgive us our wrongdoing
as we forgive the wrongs done to us.
Protect us from pride and from despair
and from the fear and hate which can swallow us up.
In you is truth, meaning, glory, and power,
while worlds come and go.
Amen."
A wonderful, life-giving translation of how Jesus "teach(es) us to pray!"
I agree that recitations of the Lord's Prayer can be deeply comforting, and believe that thoughtful translations can be evocative agents of transformation.