Printer Friendly VersionMy brother said he liked the sermon. He tried doing what the
preacher said to do and he felt it had been a big help. What the preacher
suggested was we should pray the “The Lord's Prayer” often with
sincerity and careful attention to what we were saying. This observation coming
from my brother was a pleasant surprise. We never had been around each other
for very long; we grew up in different households. The thing was I had long
ago discovered the efficacy of “The Lord's Prayer” and my brother’s
discovery was somehow a new bond between us. We had become prayers (pray-ers)
of the same prayer.
Of course this was not the first time this prayer would serve
to better relationships. It could be conceived even in the context presented
by Luke, bonding is what the prayer is about. One of Jesus’ disciples
approaches the Teacher with a request to teach them to pray like John the
Baptist had taught his disciples. It is as if the disciple is saying we would
like something to set us apart as followers of Jesus, a distinct identifying
trait.
We share the disciple's desire to find something to distinguish
us from the world around us. We are in many ways untethered from the Teacher
and yearn for a lifeline of communication to connect us to Him and each other.
The circumstances that caused my brother and I to grow-up in different households
is an all too common a variation on a theme. People want to be identified
with a family or a community. They want and perhaps need to find something
to distinguish them from the lonely existence of broken homes and the cowering
fear produced in the emotional neglect some of us have experienced. The truth
of the MC Hammer lyric rings so true: “you‘ve got to pray just
to make it today.”
The answer to the disciple's request does provide something
that sets apart but not in the sense of providing a slogan or a creed or a
logo. The prayer gives us distinguishing characteristics by calling those
who would use this prayer to live within the relationship it proclaims and
to operate by the standards it endorses.
“Our Father” immediately establishes kinship not
only between the prayer (pray-ers) and the Father but between the prayer (pray-ers)
and all others using this prayer. This includes the incomprehensible sibling
relationship with Jesus. Think of it, we may share a common Father with the
Son of God, and in so doing share a common inheritance. It is fitting this
lofty privilege be met with gratitude and worship of the one who grants it
with the words “hallowed be your name.”
Adoption is the solution offered by God. Adoption deals with
the problem of abandonment. If we have been cut loose from family, friends,
and community; if we no longer really have a home or a neighborhood; God offers
a new kinship and proximity with himself as parent. Jesus is our sibling and
everyone we come into contact is a potential recipient of our neighborliness.
The bond of kinship is supplemented by the bond of citizenship
and submission to the rule of the Father with “your kingdom come”
and “your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew
6:10). God will exercise His dominion over everything in the coming of the
Kingdom. His dominion is already begun in the hearts of those who truly learn
to live the words of this prayer. These phrases introduce the bond of hope
characterized by the Christian world view. The hope of the future is manifest
in the reality of the present as we assent to the rule of the Father in the
here and now. The Kingdom at hand may be grasped even as we wait and yearn
for the return of the King.
At the same time the talk of letting the will of God be done
implies something counter to our own desires may happen. This sentiment will
be echoed in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus agonizes over the ultimate
submission whereby the Kingdom is ushered in. Though some would point to the
“once for all” nature of the Crucifixion, we need to remember
Jesus’ instruction to the disciples included ‘take up your cross
and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Perhaps Christians are bound by a willingness
to accept the suffering inherent in submission to the Father’s will.
Certainly the focus on having things done our own way must contribute to the
lack of connectivity to God and others. It is difficult to care for others
without putting aside some desire of our own.
The intimacy with and allegiance to God established by the prayer
thus far flows naturally into our reliance on him as expressed by “give
us each our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). Christians depend on God for their
sustenance. There is no life save that given by “Our Father”.
It should not be forgotten the Scripture makes clear the bread of life is
Jesus. In the words of the Annie Hawks hymn “I need Thee every hour,
most Holy One; O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.” The idea of
Jesus as sustaining soul nutrition informs what is called the ministry of
the “Word and Table” in some traditions. Whatever one’s
belief about the nature of the Scriptures or sacraments it seems clear we
are to consume Jesus if we are to be consumed by Him.
This daily bread phrase also brings to mind the contact of this
prayer is to be a continuing one. So much of the Christian life is dependent
on ongoing action. Paul says we are to pray without ceasing. If we ask for
daily bread then it follows we should ask for it every day. This regular exercise
of supplication is another bond between Christians.
Then we come to the crux of Christian identity with the next
phrases. “And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin
against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from
the evil one” (Matthew 6:12-13, NLT). The prayers (pray-ers) of this
prayer recognize our sinful condition and the need of forgiveness and deliverance.
We acknowledge the agency for satisfying these needs lies with the One to
whom we address this prayer. Certainly these phrases meet the requirements
of repentance and calling on the Lord which frequently occur in descriptions
of the salvation process. Moreover, the appeal for deliverance from the evil
one seems to invoke a plea for what many call sanctification.
Salvation and sanctification both may be seen as a function
of forgiveness by God but the prayer makes a clear connection between the
forgiveness we receive and the forgiveness we grant. The bonds of Christianity
are forged by God through us to each other. It amounts to insincerity and
ingratitude to receive God’s forgiveness without granting it to others.
Often we withdraw in our pain and contribute to our own isolation by closing
ourselves off from contact with those around us. All around us are people
who are huddled in fear. They are so close but so often we do not reach out
touch them for fear of more pain. The prayer suggests reaching out to them
is the means by which God reaches us.
So the disciple asks the Lord for a prayer and perhaps an identity. The Lord delivers the prayer and in the process points to the deliverance of the prayers (pray-ers).
Participation in the realities named in this prayer brings about
a bond of community that includes Jesus’ disciples and sincere prayers
(pray-ers) throughout almost two millennia of Christian doctrine and liturgy.
Jesus goes on to advise that propriety is not to interfere with
the pursuit of this identity. The persistence or impudence of the midnight
borrower might be rendered as rudeness or shamelessness. One is reminded of
other instances where Jesus made allowances for those who approached Him,
especially in the case of the children. Some may have viewed the disciple’s
request as presumptuous. In Luke just before this request, we see Jesus commending
Mary for actions Martha may have appraised as rude and shameless. Yet Jesus
continues to portray efforts to seek His presence as the better part by His
gracious response to the disciple’s request. It is as if the disciple
has asked and has been given, sought and found, knocked and had the door opened.
He has, to paraphrase Dickens, been “given the lightest license of a
child” to approach the giver of the identity He seeks. The child will
receive good gifts. Despite our evil identity before the requested prayer,
the gift the Father bestows is the Holy Spirit which is the seal of our new
identity.
It has been alleged “The Lord's Prayer” is an inaccurate
title for what Jesus taught the disciples on that day long ago. The idea being
the prayer was not for Him but for His followers. Even if the title of the
prayer was changed to “The Disciple's Prayer,” the question of
whose disciples were saying it would need to be answered. So perhaps a change
in title is not in order since those who have made use of “The Lord’s
Prayer” have been identified with a community that bears the name of
“Christian” in honor of the very Lord who gave the prayer. The
Christian community is open to anyone who sincerely prays that prayer. Whether
it is the bonding of reconciliation or the bonding of shared devotion to Jesus
it is possible, like my brother, me, and so many others, to become “The
Lord’s Prayers (Pray-ers)”.
There is a kind of open elevator interestingly called a “paternoster.” This comes from the Latin for “our father” because of an association with the mechanism of the paternoster which consists of compartments linked to a drive chain with beads of a rosary used by some people when saying “The Lord’s Prayer.” This connection also accounts for a fishing line with multiple hooks along its length being called a “paternoster.” It seems to me the Lord’s Prayer can provide Christians with a lift and serve as an aid in angling for souls. Jesus invites you to make use of the prayer. He invites you to join the community, receive His touch, and touch others in turn. Jesus invites you to be prayers (pray-ers) of His prayer.
