Lord, teach us how to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cFather, hallowed be your name.<\/em>
Your kingdom come.<\/em>
Give us each day our daily\u00a0<\/em>bread.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd forgive us our sins,<\/em>
for we ourselves forgive\u00a0<\/em>everyone indebted to us.<\/em>
And do not bring us to the time\u00a0<\/em>of trial.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThis is the Lord\u2019s Prayer as found in the gospel of Luke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What can one find to say about prayer in an environment where it can be used as a cover for hypocrisy, an easy mantra to fool the vulnerable? \u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with you,\u201d politicians say to bereaved parents whose children were gunned down because these same politicians failed to do what is just and good. Even the ancients understood that empty prayers meant nothing. There was a saying in ancient Greece: \u201cTogether with Athena, move your own hands also.\u201d Do something, don\u2019t just pray!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disciples had witnessed that whenever their teacher, the one they called \u201cMaster,\u201d had exhausted himself doing good, he would withdraw from the crowd in order to pray. And they had seen the results of those prayers in his life-transforming deeds and in his unfathomable peace. \u201cLord, teach us how to pray!\u201d They too wanted that peace and strength, the utter assurance that Jesus had in doing the will of his Father. \u201cLord, teach us how to pray.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The simple and profound words that were the response to that request have become known as \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Prayer.\u201d Throughout the centuries countless faithful have uttered them together, are uttering them still. They are words that rise up and blend into an endless prayer of praise, of supplication, of doxology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus showed them that first they must know whom they are addressing. The Greek word for prayer used in the gospels means \u201ca wish, a request toward\u201d someone. Luke\u2019s version is pared down, simpler than the prayer found in Matthew\u2019s gospel. The familiar one has been developed from Matthew\u2019s version, and the modern version has some points that were made by ancient authorities. Yet, the core is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur Father\u2026\u201d There are people in our world who have mixed emotions about this word because they had the terrible misfortune of living with a bad father. And many of us were blessed with loving and caring fathers and we have no difficulty in identifying the Creator with the word Father. God, who is father and mother, understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHallowed be your name.\u201d We are addressing the Holy of Holies, the all-sacred one. We are reminded immediately by Jesus that when we address God we are in the presence of holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour kingdom come.\u201d Jesus\u2019 favorite image: the kingdom of God where justice prevails, where love conquers. The kingdom of God where everyone is of equal value in God\u2019s sight. May it come to us also, he teaches us to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour will be done.\u201d We long for the kingdom where God\u2019s will is done. Putting it on a marble pedestal, in the public arena, will not save us. All that is for show. God is not mocked. Jesus warned us severely about praying in order to show others how pious we are. True prayer is the private communion between us and God. Even when we pray in unison, in church, we are connecting to God and to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This then is the first portion of prayer: the acknowledgment of God as Father\/Mother, as Holy, where God\u2019s rule of love and justice are natural and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second part is a simple request for what sustains life. Bread was the essence of nourishment in the ancient world. Having bread meant one was not hungry. Not having bread meant starvation. \u201cGive us the necessities for living; all else is superfluous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd forgive us our sins.\u201d The second request that concerns us is the need to forgive. In all the gospels there is an expansion of this need for forgiveness and it helps to seek, find, and read all the references. The plea to be forgiven is followed by the most surprising element of this prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c. . . for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.\u201d That God\u2019s forgiveness is dependent on our<\/em> ability and willingness to forgive is unexpected. Without the grace to forgive our fellow human beings, we would not recognize, or even accept, God\u2019s forgiveness of our own sins. \u201cThose who are indebted to us,\u201d may also be taken literally. In the ancient world, as in our own mean times, being indebted financially was very serious. Many times it meant life or death. Jesus knew that Mammon was a powerful idol, that those who cannot forgive debts because they worship money cannot possibly be forgiven by God first. Think of the people who have lost their jobs because the CEO wanted more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo not bring us to the time of trial.\u201d Trials are frequent and no one is spared. We pray to be shielded from trials, but when they do come, they must be faced. So in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, \u201cLet this cup pass from me,\u201d but he was not spared and he faced his death, convinced of the will of his Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This then is the profound and simple prayer that binds us together as we worship. This is the prayer that forms the basis for all our prayers. We are assured by Jesus that we are being heard. Jesus adds more urgency through stories of people known to his hearers, like the persistent child to a father. A father responds to the child\u2019s plea, he tells us. He encourages us to be persistent. God\u2019s will for us is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the midst of despair over the conditions of terror and harm and killing in our world, it is good to remember that millions of the faithful are praying every minute of the day: \u201cYour kingdom come, your will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by Katerina Katsarka Whitley<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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