For so many of us, "The Lord’s Prayer" is the prayer of our childhood. We learn it in Sunday School, we say it with our parents, it’s one of the few parts of the church life that some of us know by heart. It's also the most readily recognized "public" prayer. In some places it's even said at football games.
If someone asks us to pray, most of us could muster up "The Lord’s Prayer" to say. But here’s the weird truth:It’s not a prayer. It’s teaching about prayer. If you look closely at Matthew ch. 6 you’ll see that Jesus is not praying, but teaching.
Here in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, "The Lord’s Prayer" is in the section where Jesus is teaching his disciples how to develop a, piety or spirituality (lit. "righteousness) that God will approve. Right after giving and tithing (which he taught them first, by the way) Jesus teaches his Kingdom disciples how to pray.
Now, for reasons that I will explain in another post, this prayer is usually recited as a liturgy, a set prayer, an act of worship. And while I believe that is perfectly proper, we have to be clear that Jesus didn’t intend it that way. As I said earlier, "The Lord’s Prayer" is not a prayer to say, but a way to pray.
The Lord’s prayer is a framework for prayer. It’s the scaffolding for building a life of prayer. Not a technique, but instruction on how to transform our prayers into Kingdom prayers.
And I said “transform” here, because I am assuming, just as Jesus did, that everybody prays. Prayer is not limited to Christians. We pray because we are people, not because we are believers. To be human is to know deep within us that there is something in this universe bigger than us and we desire to connect and communicate with it. Any attempt to communicate with the Being-Beyond-Us is prayer.
Now most of us would say that any prayer is better than no prayer. That prayer is always a good thing because it’s better to be spiritually open then secular and self-striving. But interestingly enough, Jesus doesn’t come and affirm the way people pray, instead he criticizes the most common forms of prayer and offers a correction.
And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. …
“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Jesus is mindful that most prayers fall into two categories, attempts to impress people and attempts to manipulate God. So many of us approach prayer as if it nothing but either ceremony or or an opportunity to ask the Divine Genie to fulfill our wishes.
Whether prayer is an act of public piety intended to enhance your reputation, or prayer is a set of incantations meant to tweak the universe to your liking, Jesus condemns both as falling short of real and true prayer. Instead he offers instruction on Kingdom prayer.
But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you…. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Kingdom praying is not about our fulfillment, but our transformation. In Kingdom praying, we seek only the face and favor of the King. In Kingdom praying we focus our attention on the God who knows what we need even before we ask.
In the Kingdom, Prayer is how we let the God who is both King and Father into every area of our lives.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
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.
Prayer is the arena for letting the God who is both King and Father to bring his Kingdom, his will to the little piece of earth that is your life. And then through your life begin to invade this world with his love and grace, truth and peace.
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