Lord's Prayer worship ideas
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer from the Bible that Christ taught his disciples, and in turn, taught us, to pray. This prayer models well for us how to pray.
Where does the Lord's Prayer appear in the Bible?
The Lord's Prayer appears twice in the Bible:
What is the Lord's Prayer?
The Lord's Prayer is the prayer that Christ taught his disciples to pray. As we pray the words from Matthew 6 or Luke 11, we can think about each phrase.
Prounouns
Pay attention to the pronouns. What holds understated importance in The Lord's Prayer is the pronouns, beginning with "Our Father." God belongs to the Christian community together. God is the One who draws us toward one another as children of the same Heavenly Parent.
God's will
Similarly, when we pray "Your kingdom come" and "Your will be done," we are distinctly not praying for our own kingdoms of power or our own desires to be the most important things. The prayer continues in the communal language of "our" rather than "my," and that matters immensely because this prayer does not simply help us to become more Christian. It teaches us how to be Christian together, in community.
The will of God. This is a topic of endless fascination, especially for people in transition. We often hear people say things like "What job does God want me to take?" or "Who does God want me to marry?" Without denying that God is immanent and benevolently invested in our lives, perhaps the request in this prayer is to align our lives to clear biblical, moral injunctions and to align our desires and imagination to the overarching narrative of God's presence in the world. Thus, "Your will be done" is followed up with "on earth as it is heaven." In heaven, God's will isn't stymied by human rebellion, ignorance, or carelessness. On earth, well, we tend to get in the way. So to pray "Your will be done" is to follow John's summation of God's will, "God must increase; I must decrease."
Our daily bread
With a rising awareness of gluten allergies and intolerance, has the petition "Give us this day our daily bread" become obsolete? How does it translate into the Asian countries of my growing-up years, "Give us this day our daily rice?" John Calvin broadens the parameters of this petition so that this request covers everything we need to sustain us through a given 24-hour day. The insomniac might pray, "Give us this day our daily sleep." The lonely soul might pray, "Give us this day our daily human connection and affection." Give to each person what we stand in need of this day. Amen.
Although the parameters of "Give us this day our daily bread" can be expanded to include each of our daily needs, perhaps the greater challenge is for those of us with easily filled bellies to expand our compassion and imagination to embrace those who are haunted by hunger. So when we pray "give us this day our daily bread" we are also asking how we can help to make "daily bread" available to those who are hungry, homeless, or hopeless.
Forgiveness
Nowhere else does the Lord's Prayer falter on our lips as it does when we get to this petition: "Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us." It is a dangerous prayer for those of us aware of pockets of resentment, unresolved conflict, or the fact that we've abandoned hope that "that person" will ever change. The Heidelberg Catechism tells us that this petition means "Because of Christ's blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we door the evil that constantly clings to us." (Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 126) Though we might recite this line, by rote or on auto-pilot, it is not the intention of God that this petition is easy in practice. "Rather, in commanding us to forgive, Jesus is inviting us to take charge, to turn the world around, to throw a monkey wrench in the eternal wheel of retribution and vengeance." (William Willimon, {{Lord Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life}}.Abingdon Press, 1996, 84) As it has been done for us, may we be "fully determined" to demonstrate our gratitude to God in ways that will surprise and benefit those in need of our forgiveness.
For thine is the kingdom
The last line, "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." does not appear in scripture but has been added by some protestant traditions over time. This line was not added to the prayer until the early church tried using the prayer in liturgy and found that "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" didn't have quite the gusto that a proclamation of a risen Savior and reigning Lord requires. The last word isn't temptation or sin. It isn't suffering or evil. The prayer required a truthful last word, God's great last word of triumph, of resurrection, of life and hope and victory and celebration and peace. The prayer needs to end the way we believe the story will end, with saints gathered around a throne proclaiming the glory of God.