When you pray, say this
The Lord’s Prayer which is so commonly used by Christians in worship and in private prayer occurs twice in the Scriptures. In Matthew it appears in a longer form and is the more formal of the two renderings. It is considered to be offered as a model for prayer in a liturgical setting while the one in Luke is a shorter version and is offered more as a personal guide to prayer.
It appears that the prayer in its basic form was in use as early as the late first century. Christians were instructed to pray three times a day and to recite the Lord’s Prayer at each time. While the prayer has undergone a number of interpretations, the basic form in which we have the prayer today can be traced to the King James Version of the Bible first translated in the early 1600s. The doxology that is at the end of the prayer was added early on in its history and is from a blessing used by King David in his prayer as recorded in 1 Chronicles 29:11-13.
Candidates for baptism were expected to know this prayer before receiving the sacrament. Later, when children were more routinely received in baptism, parents and godparents were instructed to teach their children the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed. The reformers of the 16th century went even further by adding the Ten Commandments. It is no wonder that use of the Lord’s Prayer in weekly worship and the Apostles’ Creed at the time of the Lord’s Supper have become expected parts of our worship as a community.
And while the prayer has been a part of the worship experience of the church from earliest times, its place as an integral part of our worship experience is rather late. It was seen primarily as a personal form of prayer until the 4th century when it was introduced as part of the liturgy for the Lord’s Supper. In the Eastern Church, it was used with the doxology that we use but in the Roman church the doxology was omitted – a practice which has continued to this day. But its use on a regular basis in worship was not as common as it is today. Many of the reformers were averse to rote prayers and so many discouraged the use of the Lord’s Prayer on a regular basis. But over time attitudes changed and the prayer has come to be used by all branches of the church with most congregations using it as a concluding prayer after the prayers of the people.
This simple offering of a prayer guide by Jesus to those first disciples has stood the test of time and continues to guide us when we can think of no other prayer. So let’s take a brief look at this prayer we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer.
You will note that I indicated that the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer guide. It is believed that the intention of Jesus was not that the disciples would simply repeat this prayer without pause. It was intended to give them a pattern for their prayers. The request of the disciples to be instructed by Jesus in prayer was not an unusual request. It was a characteristic of the Jewish people to be a praying people. The Jewish leaders believed that prayer was to be constant, not just for when a person was in need. Prayer is to be our continuing and unbroken conversation and relationship with God. As a matter of fact, the Jewish people were encouraged to pray three times a day and to face Jerusalem. The inclusion of specific prayer times in their lives was important because it encouraged them to keep God ever present to them as they moved through their daily tasks.
The pattern that Jesus shared with the disciples was a pattern that not only gave their prayers focus but also fashioned the state of mind with which they were to approach prayer. When we come to God in prayer we are to come with our love for God; we are to come with gratitude and thanksgiving; we are to come with a desire to obey and please God; we are to come aware of our weaknesses but ever aware of the mercy and forgiveness of God; we are to come with an awareness of our responsibility to pray for one another. When we remember our connectedness in God, we will be saved from letting our prayers become self-centred. Our needs will ever be balanced by the needs of others in our community. Finally we are to be patient and persevere in prayer but come with a humble spirit seeking for the will of God.
When they pray, they are to be focused on God as their father. There is no need to say our father for the very act of speaking the word tells anyone who hears that God is father to each of us individually and communally. We then are encouraged to pray that the name of God be kept holy – in other words that the name of God be honoured. But to honour the name of God is more than just using it correctly in a sentence; it is about revealing through our words and actions that we are representatives on earth of the God of love, peace, mercy and forgiveness. It is for us to seek to obey and please God and in so doing encourage others to come and seek God for themselves.
As a people who seek for the name of God to be honoured, we are also to seek for the kingdom of God to come. Implicit in this petition is the desire that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven; if the kingdom of God is to come, it will reflect the will of the one who is king. So if we seek for the kingdom of God to come, we are seeking for the will of that King to be revealed and enacted through our lives and in the life of the world.
In order to be focused seekers of the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God, we need to be strong in body, mind and spirit. To ask for the food we need brings before God our desire to be nourished by God in every way. This petition has ever been seen as about more than daily bread in the very tactile form of a loaf of bread. It is seen as asking of God whatever we need in body, mind or spirit to be the people who can show that we honour God and that the kingdom of God is what we ultimately want to see come.
The next petition concerns our sins, our mistakes, our weaknesses. It is worth noting that the forgiveness of our sins is effective when we are prepared to forgive the people who have wronged us. When we hold on to past hurts or deny those who have wronged us forgiveness, we are not in a position to receive the forgiveness of God for our sins. This is probably the hardest of the petitions to deal with for it causes us to pause and consider where we have failed to be forgiving of others. When we are truly thankful for the forgiveness we have received from others and from God, then we can feel encouraged to be forgiving of others.
The final petition in the prayer is a desire to not be led or brought to hard testing. The word temptation is often used for this petition. In this petition it is recognized that the life of the believer will not be an easy one. Faith in God will bring challenges and obstacles but we are encouraged by Jesus to not seek for challenges or obstacles. And we look for the guidance of God to direct our path. Challenges and obstacles will no doubt be part of our path and we will find the strength to deal with them when they come but we are to remember that we are not to put the Lord to the test and we ask that we not be brought to hard testing.
As we say the Lord’s Prayer together today, let us remember that this is a pattern for prayer. I would encourage you to take its elements and let them guide you in your personal prayer as you reflect your life and the lives of those with whom you are in community to God in prayer.
AMEN.