Okay, I know that it is not exactly customary to have a Forward to a blog, but this next series of posts represents something of an opus for me (hence the change in avatars . With the exception of the birth of my son; I may have learned more about myself and about God in the last few weeks than I have all year, all through reflecting on a prayer that most people have in their minds (memorized) but seldom have on their minds. I don't pretend to be an author, a theologian, or a scholar... just a journeyman trying to make sense out of the life that has been chosen for me and the God that I have given that life to. So read on if you will, and may God bless you.
What satisfaction must it be to learn from God himself, with what words, and in what manner, he would have us pray to him, so as not to pray in vain!
—Adam Clarke
According to Luke’s gospel, Jesus is seen praying by the Disciples and they ask, “Lord, can you teach us how to pray?” This question was expected. Many great teachers (rabbis) had encapsulated their core beliefs in a prayer. Jesus accommodates them, almost as if He has been anticipating the moment (most surely He had been) and the result we have is referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Yes, of course I know that “technically” the Lord’s Prayer is found in Jn 17, and that this is more properly called the “Disciple’s Prayer”. But that is not at all as important as people like to make it out to be. If anything, it makes us feel important that we can point out a technicality, and that makes us into Pharisees if we are not careful. But that is another sermon…
I will rely heavily over the next few weeks on the writing of NT Wright in his book The Lord and His Prayer. Wright’s book is insightful, helpful, and informative without being academic or resorting to the approach of spiritual junk food. If you have a chance to pick it up, I would recommend doing so.
Another note: these posts will be slim on the “how to” and will concentrate mostly on the spiritual posture we are to have before God and the implications of words that I myself said over and over again thoughtlessly and heartlessly but have recently acquired such a profound meaning to me that I am ashamed I have ever uttered them otherwise. It is my hope that as I try to convey what God is teaching me though this journey that you will be blessed as well. I do not offer what I consider to be the ultimate truth on the Lord’s Prayer, only what God has revealed to me through men more learned than myself, prayer warriors more fervent than I ever hope to be, and ultimately by the Spirit of God as I humble myself before the Almighty and ask Him to teach me how to pray.
An Audacious Claim“We don’t have the right to say this prayer” because we do not fully believe it, and we are not likely to want to see its assertions realized. It is recited almost mindlessly without much consideration of the powerful connotations behind it. I can remember that for years growing up I would say the prayer with my mind on anything else but God. Maybe I was thinking about warp points on Mario Bros, how good looking the girl next to me in church was (who is now my wife!), what I would be having for lunch, or even asking myself questions like, “What the heck does ‘hallowed’ mean!?”
NT Wright notes that the declaration “Our Father” “represents the goal towards which we are working, rather than a starting point from which we are to set out.” (Wright, p.12). For me, that meant, and means, getting a clue that “Our Father” is a huge declaration. These two words are truly pregnant with significance. Within them, I now see these three things: a declaration, an anticipation, and a confession.
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