Lord's Prayer

 

Please pray with me...

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

Yesterday in church we explored how words create worlds.  We named that words have weight to them.  Some words can make our souls soar, while other words land with a thud that cause our hearts to break and soul to ache. 

There are sixty-five words in the Lord’s Prayer that fall from our lips every Sunday.  Not all the words can cause the same reaction or response.  For example, when I read the above words, I am fairly neutral on the word, “Thy”. In some ways, that one word transports and takes me back to High School English class reading Shakespeare and helps me feel like I am speaking the Queen’s English.  Suddenly, I feel like I should have a cup of tea and refer to cookies as “biscuits”.

There are other words in the prayer above that can provoke and evoke a deeper response.  My invitation today is for you to pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and openly, prayerfully pondering how each word lands within you.  Hold each word, bring it close, breathe the word in, let it sit for a few seconds as you intentionally ask yourself, “Does this word cause my heart to warm or my mind to say, “Objection” or barely leave a trace?"

Perhaps you could get a piece of paper, write the Lord’s Prayer.  There is something powerful about the act of writing words with a pen and paper.  The action slows us down so you can focus your attention and intention on each word.  Put a circle around words that are heavy and rectangle around the words where you soul sings, “Amen.”  Realize that what might have a circle today could be tomorrow’s rectangle and by Friday have no impact or influence whatsoever.  Or maybe a word has a circle AND a rectangle – I would love to talk to you about that.

As we pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer this week, I hope we will do so intentionally and with our full attention on how these words are working in our lives. 

Prayer: God, You craft and create with a word.  Let the words of the Lord’s Prayer this week awaken something within my soul and turn me toward Your presence in my life.