Prayer Part 1: The Lord’s Prayer
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One of the shows I’ve been watching recently is “The Young Pope” on HBO. Now, they have done a follow up (second season) to this show called “The New Pope.” But, if you are not familiar with the show, I won’t give away any real spoilers, but it basically tells the story of this young man named Lenny Belardo, who is played by Jude Law. And Lenny is miraculously elected as the Pope Pius the Thirteenth. He becomes the Head of the Catholic Church. Again, this is on HBO, so the show can sometimes be very graphic – there is some nudity and language in this show. So, if you are sensitive to that, I do not recommend the show. That being said, if you are a fan of Game of Thrones – this show looks like Sesame Street in comparison.
There is one scene is particular that I found very moving. The Pope, who is played by Jude Law, is walking in the Gardens at the Vatican with a young woman named Esther. And they have this wonderful conversation. Esther is really struggling, because she is unable to bear a child.
So, as they are walking in the Gardens, you can hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the background. And Esther asks the Pope: “Holy Father, would you teach me to pray?”
And I love the Pope’s response. He says, “Start praying aloud. Let me see how you do it. “ Isn’t that great! He’s kind of saying, let me see what we are working with here.
So, together they kneel down, they bow their heads, and they look upon the statue of the the Virgin Mary. And then, Esther begins to pray. She says, “Blessed Virgin Mary, give me the grace of becoming pregnant.” And the Pope immediately cuts her off. And he says, “MM… Prayer shouldn't be a list of requests, Esther. It should be an occasion for understanding. While we pray, we reflect in the most elevated way we can, so that someone can whisper thoughts into our ears. We call that someone God. Or, in the present case, the Madonna of Lourdes.” Side Note, The Madonna of Lourdes (just in case you were wondering) is another name for the Virgin Mary.
So then, (as the birds continue to chirp and the leaves continue to rustle) Esther says, “All right. Then let me try again.” And places her hands back together and she begins to pray. And this is what she says, “Blessed Virgin Mary, God does not punish beauty, as a person who is very dear to You (The Pope) once told me. That phrase opened my eyes. And it made me understand that perhaps, by making a gift of beauty, I might perhaps receive some in return. And what if making a gift of my beauty meant receiving the beauty that I so desire? The beauty of a new life, of a little child? - The Pope whispers, “Yes, now you're praying.”
I love this image of prayer in this show, and it reminds me of a similar story that happens in the Gospels.
Jesus’ disciples go to him and ask the same question that Esther asks the Pope. They ask, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” They say, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John has taught his disciples.” This is a big moment, because this is one of the few times that we see the disciples take initiative in the Gospels. I don’t think we ever see the disciples go to Jesus and say, “Teach us how to heal blind people like you.” Or, “Teach us how to preach like you.” Or, “Teach us how to think like you.” But something about prayer sticks out to them. They see Jesus praying, they see how he is able to go out by himself and find this deep connection with God; They see this, and they want to learn how to pray like that… They want to learn how to pray like Jesus.
So, Jesus teaches his disciples, The Lord’s Prayer, which is essentially this model of how to pray. Now, there are two versions of this story in the Gospels. One shorter version that we see in the Gospel of Luke, and then a longer version we see in Matthew’s Gospel. I’m going to read the New Revised Standard Version from the Gospel of Matthew, today.
Jesus says…
“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.”
My first appointment as a United Methodist Minister was a three-point charge in the Holston Conference. And each Sunday, I would travel to these three churches and lead worship there. I had a service at 9:00, then one at 10:05, and then one at 11:15. And in each of those services we would have Old and New Testament readings. I would preach a sermon. We would say the Apostle’s Creed. I would lead a pastoral prayer. And we would also say the Lord’s Prayer together. And I remember just having this feeling of saying the words out of habit. It would be the third time I had said it that day. I had been saying it every week for the past several years. And I realized that I had reached a point where I was praying this prayer without actually thinking about what I was saying.
And I wonder how many other people have fallen into this habit of saying these ancient words without actually thinking about them – saying these words without really meaning them or even understanding them. So, I think today, it might be good for us to take a good long look at this prayer – but also I think we can look at how we view and understand prayer just in general. And we will go even deeper next week when we talk about the contemplative mind.
But, in this passage in Matthew, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Beatitudes, delivering his Sermon on the Mount. And this is where he gives the disciples this template – this model – of prayer. Jesus offers this very beautiful and very direct prayer as a response to the disciples request for Jesus to teach them how to pray.
The first thing I want to look at in this prayer is the original language itself. It is very interesting to note that Jesus speaks these words in Aramaic which is the language of the people. This was the more informal language. This was the language that people would use in conversation in their daily lives.
Jesus doesn’t use Greek, which is a formal language that is often used in writing. In fact, most of the New Testament was written in Greek. In addition, Jesus also doesn’t use Hebrew here either. Hebrew was the language of the synagogue. It was kind of the language of worship. Most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. Instead, Jesus uses this informal and personal language to share this prayer with his followers.
I think that in itself says something about the intimacy of prayer and our relationship with God. God is so accessible that Jesus is using the common language of the people. It is not about being formal. It is not about using this flowery or perfect language. Instead, it is about being real. It is about being honest. It is about being intimate with the God who created us, and formed us, and breathed life into us. I think this changes the way we can understand prayer and the way we live it out.
Jesus provides this prayer as a model for us to follow. And this is a very bold prayer. In fact, in the Episcopal Order of Worship, the priest sometimes introduces the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “Now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say…” You know, it takes guts to pray this prayer. We don’t pray this prayer lightly. Honestly, it requires us to say some pretty difficult things.
And ultimately, I believe that this prayer primarily teaches us about the God that exists among us and through us. And Jesus gives us a way to enter into that conversation and grow in our relationships with God.
It is worth pointing out that this prayer is split up into two sections. The first half of this prayer has to do with the power and glory of God. And the second portion of this prayer has to do with our own needs and desires.
In this first section, Jesus invites us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This first section is designed as a way to remind us of the power of God and who God is in relation to the rest of the universe.
This prayer tells us that God is Our Father, and God is Our Mother. God is Our Parent who is in heaven. In other words, God is the Creator, the One who gave birth to the universe; the One who gave birth to us; the One who formed us out of the dust and breathed life into us; the One whose image and likeness we all bear. In the beginning, God formed this creation – the plants, the animals, the waters, the atmosphere, and even our noisy neighbors. God created all of these things, and God called it good. And that is how we begin this prayer, acknowledging who God is and the power that God holds.
Notice that we use this term “Our” in relation to God. The literal translation says, “The Father of Us.” This reminds us that God is not just my “Father” or my “Mother” or my “Parent.” NO, God is “Our” Parent. We are all a part of this family as the children of God.
In fact, in the United Methodist communion liturgy, we often times say something like, “And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray…” And then we go on to pray the Lord’s prayer together. It is, in a way, a call to renounce our individualism and our selfishness. It is a reminder that God loves and cares about other people, not just me. God is Our Parent, and we are called into this Greater Family.
In this second movement, we go on to address the power and holiness that is connected to God’s name. We say, “Hallowed by your name.” Or “Holy is your name.” There is a certain weight and power in the name of God.
I’m reminded of the story of Moses. Moses is out working as a shepherd, and he notices a burning bush – this bush that is on fire, but it is not burning up. And out of this burning bush, Moses hears the voice of God call out…
“Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
And God calls Moses to be the one to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt and to the Promised Land. But when Moses hears this, he says to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.”
This is where God’s name is revealed to us. And it is not really a name, is it… Because God is beyond a name. God transcends a name. God just is. “I Am.” In fact, the Hebrew people never intended for us to actually pronounce God’s name, because God’s name in the Hebrew Scriptures is actually the sound of breathing. So, the first word we breathe as a baby is actually the name of God. The last word we breathe is the name of God. God is so close to us, that God is in fact, closer than our next breath. God is an uncreated spirit – who always was, who always is, and who will always be; and we are connected to God even through our breath.
This third movement invites us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This is an acknowledgement that God is God. In this statement, we are asking God to be God. We are asking God to do what God wants, not what we want. Or as, the United Methodist Bishop, Will Willimon puts it “God will get God’s way in the end – both in heaven and on earth.
And now, this prayer takes on new meaning. This is a pray that calls us to give up our own way, in order to follow God’s way. It is a prayer that forces us to get our own wants and desires out of the way so that we can focus on a God who can do all things. We still have free will. We still have a choice. We still have a role to play. But this prayer invites us to submit our own desires in order to embrace how God’s is working our lives.
And that is easier said than done, because we don’t always pray in a way that reflects a God who is actually powerful. We don’t always pray (maybe) as boldly as we should. Sometimes we fall into the trap of offering up empty and flowery words without asking God to really work in our lives and in our world.
And as we think about the ways that God works in our hearts and minds (and in our world) we can see how important this second portion of the Lord’s Prayer. This section really addresses the way we speak to our own needs and desires.
In this second portion, Jesus invites us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”
Jesus teaches us that God is the one who provides our basic needs – our daily bread. This simple and straightforward prayer really invites us to remember who God is and pray for our basic needs in life. It is short and to the point.
And a part of me wishes that there was more said here. I wish that maybe Jesus had included a petition for happiness and wealth and an easy life. But instead, Jesus only sticks to the basics here. And I had to ask the question, do my daily prayers really reflect this model of prayer from Jesus? And if I’m being honest, I am often guilty of spending my prayer time going through a list of demands – describing the things that I want and desire rather than the asking for my daily bread.
Then, Jesus allows us to ask for something that we all need – even more than our need for daily bread. We are invited to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”
This is an invitation to accept the free and life-giving grace that only God can offer to us. It is an invitation to be forgiven for the ways in which we have failed to love God and failed to love our neighbors. It is an invitation to accept the grace that allows us to have a closer relationship with the God who made us. But notice that as we pray for forgiveness in this prayer, we are asking God to forgive us – in the way that we forgive others… And that changes things.
This puts some responsibility on us. It requires us to reflect and think about the ways in which we forgive the people who have harmed and hurt us. And that can be difficult. And God knows that. And I think God works on us over time. I think it is something that sometimes we have to work on. But, at the end of the day, this is the prayer that Jesus is teaching us to pray. Jesus teaches us forgive others, but Jesus also teaches us to avoid committing those sins that keep us from having a closer relationship with God.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus continues this lesson on prayer, and he goes on to teach about the importance of praying for others. Jesus tells this parable, and he invites us to be a part of the story. He says to his disciples, and to us, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to that friend’s house at midnight. And you knock on the door and say, “Hey, friend. Lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine has arrived, and I have no food to give him.”
Now, remember, this is at midnight. So, your friend was probably asleep in their pajamas at this point. Jesus even says in this parable, “Your friend answers you from within the house.” So, your friend doesn’t even crack open the door. Instead, your friend simply replies from within the house – like any normal person would – “Don’t bother me; Leave me alone; The door has already been locked, and my children are already asleep in bed; I cannot just get up and give you food.”
And as I’m thinking about this parable, I just have so many issues with it. This parable has always bothered me. First of all, if I have a friend show up at my house unexpectedly for dinner, then that is a problem. Second of all, if I do not have any food in my pantry to give them, then that is another problem. Third of all, if I don’t have any food in my house, then it is not okay for me to go knock on my neighbor’s door and demand food at midnight because I am unprepared.
In the parable, we don’t even ask for the bread; we just say, ‘Lend me three loaves of bread.’ I mean, my mom taught me to have better manners than that. I mean, that is just not okay. And yet, in the end, Jesus tells us that our friend will give us what we want, if we are just persistent. If we just keep knocking on the door, and slowly wear down our friend until he or she eventually gives in.
But I think it is important to remember that we are not asking for the bread so that we can keep it for ourselves, but we are asking for the bread so that we can give it to someone else. We get the sense that the friend who originally came to our house was in need. Only people who are desperate show up at midnight asking for food. Perhaps we were the only ones who could help them. When Jesus originally told this story, there was no such thing as WalMart that was open 24/7. So, in this story, we go and bug our neighbor in the middle of the night, because there was a need.
This is what we are invited to do in our prayer lives. A friend goes to you because they have no food to eat, and you go ask for your neighbor’s daily bread. A friend goes to you, because they have been diagnosed with cancer, and they don’t have the kind of health insurance that they need. So they say, “Pray for me.” A friend goes to you, because they are going through a divorce, and they don’t know how to navigate what to do next. So they say, “Pray for me.” A friend goes to you, because they have lost their job, and they don’t know when their next paycheck will come. So they say, “Pray for me.”
We are invited into the important practice of intercessory prayer. We are invited into this process where we ask God for something on behalf of a friend. We can ask the question, “Are our prayers more focused on our own wants, needs, and desires? Or are we looking out at the needs of those around us?”
Jesus invites us to go to God and be persistent in our prayers. And we are invited to ask for what is needed rather than what is desired. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus encourages us to be persistent by saying, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
The Greek word used to describe this persistence in prayer means “shamelessness.” In other words, when we go to God in prayer, we do so shamelessly and boldly. We don’t hold anything back. We can go to God in the middle of the night, and knock on the door. We can go to God, and not worry about annoying or offending God.
When we ask God for what we need, we can be assured that God gives good things in life. This can sometimes be a difficult thing to remember. There is a lot of bad theology going around these days when it comes to our understanding of God.
Some people believe that God is out to get them. They believe that God is angry at them, and they have to try to somehow earn God’s favor. They believe that he gives people cancer or punishes people for the mistakes that they have made in the past by sending natural disasters. Some people believe that God plays favorites and cares more about some people and less about others. Some people believe that God is off in some far-off distance and doesn’t care about humanity.
A lot of people do not believe in God for all of those reasons and more. And I’m going to be honest, I don’t believe in that God either. That is not the God I worship. And that is not the God who is depicted throughout the Old and New Testament. That is not the God that we see portrayed through the person of Jesus Christ. And Jesus even tells us that God doesn’t work that way. God does not give us bad things in this life. Instead, God’s gifts are good, and God’s answers to prayer are good.
Jesus illustrates this idea when he asks the question, “If your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion?” The Gospel of Matthew adds the question, “If your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?”
And Jesus is actually pretty quick to offer an answer to this question. He says, “Of course not! No good parent would give a harmful gift like that to their child. And he tells us that is how God works too. And he ends with a very candid statement, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, he puts it even more candidly. He writes, “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?” (Luke 11:10-13 MSG).
Eugene Peterson uses the phrase, “Don’t bargain with God.” In other words, prayer is not a transaction. You can’t offer a prayer and expect to get the answer that you want. It’s not a vending machine where you put a dollar in, press a button, and get what you asked for.
Instead, prayer is a mutual conversation with God. It is an invitation into a relationship with God. And ultimately, prayer has much more to do with God than it does with us. So, our persistence in prayer does not guarantee that we will always get what we ask for, but it does guarantee that the God who created us – hears us, embraces us, and ultimately responds to us with grace and love.
In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamont offers two of the best prayers she knows. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And “Help me, help me, help me.” These two prayers pretty much sum up the Lord’s Prayer. When words fail, as they often do, the Lord’s Prayer invites us into a robust and powerful way to speak to God. We give thanks for who God is and we ask God to help us as we walk through this life.
The thing I like about the Lord’s Prayer is that it is always the same. It doesn’t change. It is not reactive. It is proactive. We don’t form this prayer based on certain political or cultural shifts in our society. We don’t change it based on what we want it to say. Instead, it is a prayer that transcends circumstances and situations. It is a prayer that speaks for itself.
Now…… as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say:
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
