This week begins our series on the Lord’s Prayer, also called the “Our Father” or the “Prayer of Jesus”. I began reading Bishop Will Willimon’s book on this prayer this week in preparation for this sermon, and one remark he makes struck me early on: “A Christian is none other than someone who has learned to pray the Lord’s prayer.”
While Willimon argues that we should memorize the prayer so as to have access to it when we don’t know how else to pray, I don’t think mere memorization is what he means by this, and that’s a topic I’m really excited to dive into as we go through the series together. What does it mean to have the prayer of Jesus in our hearts, and to really mean what we say when we pray it?
Luke 11:1
Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Matthew 6:9-13
9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Resources
N.T. Wright: The Lord and His Prayer
Will Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas: Lord, Teach Us
Albert Mohler: The Prayer That Turned the World Upside Down
Consider these questions:
- If you have the Lord’s prayer memorized, when did you learn it? Do you have any special memories associated with it?
- Do you pray the prayer of Jesus “as written”? Do you change some words here and there? Do you use it more as a template for prayer?
- What happens inside you when you pray this prayer?