The Lords Prayer
I have had a Love/Hate relationship with it for most of my spiritual life.
I have been to seminars about it. It’s rehearsed every Sunday in Church. Even in my Catholic dalliances it was featured.
My concern is it’s rote-ness and familiarity that breeds contempt.
Yet, conceptually it’s a valid prayer form with much to teach us. Jesus never intended people to pray it as a form prayer. The format is the issue. Exemplar ducat.
According to the Gospel of Gene (a 67th book I hope makes the canon) here is what Jesus was trying to teach:
Our Father
Abba (Daddy)
He is our daddy (Hebrew Abba). Ultimate Daddy, since he is creator of all things. So, how do you address the one who is progenitor of all including you?
Intimately, perfectly Daddy.
Who Art in Heaven
You are present everywhere and you reign in heaven
Omnipresence of God is a fact but his perfect reign is in eternity in the heavens (Still a mystery). Satan is ruler of this world and we are strangers in a strange land. In the world, not of it.
Hallowed be thy Name
Your name is unlike any other name. Your name is perfect, Holy, set apart, untouchable.
Even the Children of Abraham were afraid to speak or write his name. It is so unknown yet so perfect. When Moses asked, “who shall I say to Pharaoh sent me, God said, “You shall say I AM sent you”. God’s name is so unknowable it can only be understood as the God who really IS. That’s what put the Pharisees off so much, Jesus said, “before Abraham was, I AM”. HE had the audacity to proclaim himself GOD. He was either insane or he is true God. I’ll take letter B.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Let your perfect plan of goodness happen on earth as it does in Eternity. We long for the day when you will be our earthly King and every knee will bow.
God’s will is NOT done on earth today. If it were we wouldn’t have pain, death, suffering, war, and sin. His will is to give us a hope and a future. In heaven there is no such conflict. God is King. His will is done perfectly there. Someday he will be King on the earth. There will be lions lying down with the lamb and swords shaped into plowshares. Let’s hope for sooner not later.
Give us this day our daily bread
We need your provision every day, bodily in what you place in our hands, and the word you feed into our spirit.
Jesus told the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. So, when we ask God for Bread we mean both. I love to eat and drink well (sometimes too much), but I need to hear from God in my spirit. Both are essential for life. And I need it every day, I can’t store it up, it’s daily manna.
And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.
I need forgiveness, I will forgive; I have hurt you, I will forgive others who have hurt me.
Sometimes this is made pretty conditional. I’m not convinced. Jesus even taught about the unforgiving servant who was forgiven much. But we are mortal. We forgive not because we are forgiven. We forgive much when we understand the power of forgiveness. We never really get perfection this side of the veil. It’s a process. Hence the words, “AS we forgive”.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Don’t let me be found in a place where temptation might overwhelm me, deliver me from the evil which traps me. I’m weak, you are strong.
Does God lead us into being tempted? I don’t think so but I think as we walk in our life we CAN find ourselves in places of temptation. It’s only thru being delivered can we escape from it. I have never succumbed to a temptation (I’m an expert at succumbing I’m afraid) that I didn’t have a path out of it in retrospect. I just didn’t take it. I’m asking God to be strong in my life and put up large yellow DANGER signs when I’m on the road to stupidity.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Only you daddy are King in the kingdom of my life, only you daddy are the one with ultimate power in my life, only you daddy deserve any credit, honor or glory given, none to me, for as long as eternity lasts. Only YOU Abba, only you.
God is King over all things. I’m not. But the Kingdom I am most concerned about is the realm under my control. My life, my family, my work, my friendships, my health. I am thankful for the next breath I breath. It’s only by my King I am allowed to take it.
AMEN
Let it be so in my life.
Amen is a word that just means let it be. We never knew the Beatles were so prophetic.
I don’t think a prayer in the key of Gene will sell. I don’t expect it to be part of the Rosary any time soon. But it’s meaningful to me:
Abba (Daddy)
You are present everywhere and you reign in heaven
Your name is unlike any other name.
Your name is perfect, Holy, set apart, untouchable.
Let your perfect plan of goodness happen on earth as it does in Eternity.
We long for the day when you will be our earthy King and every knee will bow.
We need your provision every day, bodily in what you place in our hands, and the word you feed into our spirit.
I need forgiveness, I will forgive; I have hurt you, I will forgive others who have hurt me.
Don’t let me be found in a place where temptation might overwhelm me, deliver me from the evil which traps me. I’m weak, you are strong.
Only you daddy are King in the kingdom of my life, only you daddy are the one with ultimate power in my life, only you daddy deserve any credit, honor or glory given, none to me, for as long as eternity lasts. Only YOU Abba, only you.
Let it be so in my life.
Jesus was always so much better at economy of words than me. I like his version better.
No comments:
Post a Comment