Monday, May 11, 2009
Our Father...Who Art In Heaven...
There's something about the Lord's Prayer. Mumbled at the end of countless meeting at the church where I worked, I found it to be rote and dry, merely words without heart, a cultish chant. But I've been re-thinking these words and have come to find the age-less, pure words focusing, uniting, and pure. There's something about each and every word. As I uttered "our..." I was reminded of the common bond Christians and all humanity have. We are all in need of a Father, the Saviour. Wow. All that from one word. Being a "Baptist", I like to change up the words and be a little more specific or imaginative to keep the "chant" from becoming cultish once again...bring on the trespasses vs. temptations debate :-)
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I've definitely felt myself being on both sides of this question: sometimes lamenting the dry repetition, sometimes being very grateful for the consistent foundation. In my own case (not implying that this is true of you), I think that when the Lord's prayer has felt dry, it's generally because I myself have been fairly dry and therefore under-engaged with what Jesus taught us to pray for.
I think we'll be following your advice at FLC soon, though. As we seek to incorporate this really deep prayer from Jesus more fully into our worship life, we'll also want to mix up the translations (at least) to avoid creating ruts.
If you're up for a book recommendation, btw, you might try The Lord and His Prayer by N. T. Wright.
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