Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
1928 BCP Anglican/Episcopal translation
Do you know it? Did you learn it as a child? Has it been years since you said it? Does it fall off your tongue as effortlessly as water over a waterfall in times of trial? I am not sure it was meant to be a memorized prayer, it might have been meant to teach us "how" to pray, but memorize it we have and it provides a unity among all Christians.
The Lord's Prayer was taught to me as a child and I have taught it to my children. It has always been my "go to" pray along with a Hail Mary, or two, or twenty. :-) It is the prayer that whispers itself from my soul without any thought or provocation. It is my cry to God where I can dispense the words while also lifting outside of reality and letting the unsayable prayer squeeze out from my heart, from my core. It is a timeless prayer, I know it was uttered by Jesus, but I often wonder if it was uttered in some similar translation by Jews in times before. I wonder if it was a conglomeration of Jewish spirituality and prayer to God? I still have so much to learn. I was speaking to someone this week who didn't realize Jesus was Jewish. Yes he was born Jewish, to a Jewish mother and father and he died Jewish. I was watching a documentary about Mary the Mother of Jesus and one of the Old Testament scholars proclaimed "Mary was a good Jewish girl and she died a good Jewish woman." Christians weren't labeled until well after Jesus died and His way was still turbulent and stutteringly being followed. In fact Christians didn't proclaim to be Christians. Followers of Jesus were Jews following Jesus, they called themselves Followers of The Way. Christians were labeled as such because they stood out for their strange ways and needed to be labeled by the "normal" masses.
Don't you find it interesting that now Christians are supposed to be a part of the "normal" masses? What happened to being different? What happened to standing out in pursuit of following the example of Jesus? What happened to "they will know we are Christians by our love"? Do you consider yourself a Christian? If Yes - how would anyone know? If No - how would anyone know? Have we all gotten so caught up in the image of "normal" that we wouldn't know? You know what I love about Islamic Spirituality the most? The call to prayer. A Muslim will stop in their day and pray - wherever they are, whomever they are with to acknowledge God in praise and worship. It is not for show it is a genuine dedication to the discipline of stopping throughout the day to acknowledge the Almighty Creator. I wonder if they pray the Lord's Prayer as taught by Jesus. I wonder what would happen if Christians reclaimed this ancient way of prayer and stopped their day, no matter what they were doing or who they were with at the appointed hours and turned their hearts and minds to the Almighty Creator?
I know the Lord's Prayer. I could shout it, whisper it, mumble it, sing it; the prayer can pour forth from my soul with no effort of discipline. But will that make me forget it? Does this fantastic familiarity and comfort also make rise to inconsequence and take away the import and the power of this sacred prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is timeless; as it was in the beginning, is now and shall forever be. Today, if you are like me and know the Lord's Prayer as intimately as you know your own heartbeat, try this version. Say the old in a new way and feel the Spirit guide you.
The Lord's Prayer
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth!
With the bread we need for today,
feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another,
forgive us.
In times of temptation and test,
strengthen us.
From trial too great to endure,
spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil,
free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.
From A New Zealand Prayer Book (Harper Collins, 1997), 181.
