Category Archives: Lord’s Prayer

The Blessing of Us

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor

and

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.

light surrounding a group of worshippers

I’ve been praying the Lord’s prayer for many many years. Saturday morning as I was thinking about how to go about writing this post, I realized something. Jesus was praying in the pleural! He used words like ‘us’ and ‘we’ and ‘our’. I guess I glossed it over because who better than Jesus to use the “royal we?” But then I began to wonder to myself: might there be more to it than merely an editorial turn of phrase? I didn’t even know how to go about searching, so I asked Gemini, Google’s AI. I learned much to my surprise and delight, that our church fathers had been pondering this question long before I ever entered the world, particularly Cyprian and Augustine. Cyprian wrote what is perhaps the most famous early treatise on the subject, De Dominica Oratione (On the Lord’s Prayer). Writing during a period of intense persecution and internal Church division, he argued that Jesus intentionally designed the prayer to prevent self-centered individualism:

“Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity would not have prayer to be made single and individually, as for one who prays for himself alone. For we do not say ‘My Father…’; nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven… Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one.” — Cyprian, Treatise 4.8

For Cyprian, the plural phrasing is a mandate for solidarity:

One Body, One Voice: He pointed to the three young men in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3) and the Apostles in the Upper Room as examples of praying “with one accord”.

Writing over a century later, Augustine picked up Cyprian’s torch in his Sermons on the New Testament, but he placed special emphasis on how the plural pronoun radically flattens human social hierarchies:
“How great a condescension! This the emperor says, and this says the beggar: this says the slave, and this his lord. They say all together, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven.’ … You have begun to belong to a great family.” — Augustine, Sermon 8 & 9

For Augustine, the plural pronouns acted as a theological reset button:

  • Radical Equality: In Roman society—steeped in rigid class structures, slavery, and imperial privilege—forcing an emperor and a slave to use the exact same possessive pronoun (“our”) before the Creator was revolutionary.
  • No Private Monopolies: Augustine emphasized that no individual, regardless of rank or piety, can claim a private monopoly on God. By forcing every believer to say “us,” the prayer abolishes human pride.

Both Cyprian and Augustine concluded that when Jesus gave us this prayer, He didn’t just teach us what to ask for—He taught us who we are when we ask it: one indivisible body.

Who knew? Certainly not me.

The other thing is that in 1st century Judaism, prayer was communal. The Jewish sages argued that a purely singular prayer was spiritually vulnerable to self-centeredness or accusation, whereas a plural prayer carries the spiritual weight and merit of the whole community. Jesus’ model prayer aligns squarely with this core rabbinic principle.

When we pray the Lord’s Model prayer, therefore, we’re joining all Christians throughout the entire world in a prayer for all believers. “Give us our daily bread” is a petition that’s not answered if I’m full but someone else is hungry. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” is a prayer that can’t be ansered if we ask forgiveness from God but hold a grudge against another–or won’t forgive ourselves.

Maybe if we thought more about this prayer, we’d realize that we really are all united in God–Father, Son, and Spirit.

Lord, thank you for the insight you gave that you weren’t just using the “royal we”, that you had a purpose for doing so, which was to unite all Christians w/you & w/each other. Help us look beyond our individualistic thoughts and find consolation that we are truly all brothers and sisters in your family. Amen.

The Blessing of Daily bread

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are

Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me

and

Abbie Johnson Taylor

A table with homemade bread, olive oil and butter.

This is the fifth part in my series on the Lord’s prayer, Matt 6:9-13. I’m concentrating on v. 11 “Give us today our daily bread.”

Many of us in developed nations have no idea what it means to be hungry. Seems rather foolish, doesn’t it, to be asking for daily bread when there’s practically a grocery store or fast food restaurant on every corner. It’s like get your butt out of your seat, out the door, & get what you need.

But behind closed doors, even in developed nations, hunger is a daily reality for some. Even more so in developing countries, where it’s often a lifelong nightmare.

Even in developed countries, though, this prayer is applicable. Maybe we don’t really need to ask God for our food, but I think daily bread applies to other areas of life. How often do we think about “how am I gonna do this or that?” or “how am I gonna be able to do x or y?” Maybe it’s get a job. Maybe it’s cope with devastating tragedy or health problems. Maybe it truly is coping with not having life’s necessities. This part of the Lord’s prayer reminds us that His provision occurs daily, sometimes just in the nick of time. God’s with us. He is our father, and he cares for us abundantly beyond all that we think or ask. He will provide. Maybe not on our timeframe, maybe not giving us everything we ask for, but He will give us what we need. God tells us to ask Him even though He already knows what it is we want and require.

It’s often tempting to think that we provide things for ourselves, that we earn it through our work or our cunning or our looks. But the reality is it’s all from God.

God gives us so many things–mountain vistas, azure oceans, ploomed musicians, family, friends, knowledge, and so much more that the blessings are innumerable. But it’s still good to remind ourselves daily that it’s God who provides for our every need.

Heavenly Father, make our hearts grateful and humble enough to accept your provision for our lives. But also give us the desire to be Your hands and feet in helping to show Your provision to others. In Jesus’s name, amen.

The Blessing of the Prayer that Never Fails

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are Abbie Johnson Taylor and Lynda Lambert, who shared the idea with me.

lady kneeling talking to God using tin can

This is the 4th part in my series on the Lord’s prayer, and today I’m going to talk about a subject I think most of us struggle with at one time or another–that of “unanswered prayers. And I’m going to propose a prayer that never fails.

The scripture reference is Matthew 9:10, part b–“Your will be done.”

I first learned about this particular prayer In Jan Karon’s Mitford series books, where an Episcopal priest named Father Tim Cavanaugh talks about it. It isn’t a long, eloquent list of requests. It’s just four simple words: “Thy will be done.”
That prayer never fails because it completely shifts our posture from control to surrender.
Think about human parenting. Our parents didn’t give us everything we wanted. Sometimes they were unable, but often it was because what we asked for simply wasn’t good for us. Parents who accede to a child’s every whim don’t produce healthy adults; they raise spoiled, entitled human beings. Giving in every time often reveals a lack of willingness to do the hard work of loving a child enough to say “no.”
God is not a permissive parent. Because He is all-knowing, He knows what is right for us, even though we can’t see the full picture. A “no” or a period of silence doesn’t mean we did something wrong.
As we look back on 9/11, that posture of surrender becomes even more critical. In the wake of immense national tragedy and unexplainable loss, transactional prayer leaves people broken and confused. But this isn’t just about massive historical events; it hits close to home for all of us.
When I was twenty years old, I lost my mother to lung cancer, even though she didn’t smoke. My family and I prayed fervently for her to be healed, but it wasn’t to be. Decades later, I still have no idea why. I don’t believe God’s perfect will was necessarily done in that situation—we live in a broken world where terrible things happen that prevent earthly outcomes from being what we (and God) would wish. But I strongly maintain that her death was not caused by my lack of faith, nor by God’s lack of love.
When we look at scripture, even Jesus prayed for things that—on the surface—appeared to go “unanswered.” During the Last Supper, He prayed deeply that His followers would be unified as one—yet a quick glance at the church today shows how far we are from that. Shortly after, in the Garden of Gethsemane, facing the cross, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” The cup remained. The connection was perfect, the line was clear, and the answer was still a painful “no.” And it was the hardest thing Jesus’s loving Father ever had to do.
If even Jesus surrendered His own desires to the Father’s overarching purpose, what makes us think we’re entitled to get everything on our personal wish list?
I say all this because I struggle with it, too. It’s hard watching others get their visible breakthroughs while my requests seem to be profoundly ignored. But Gethsemane and our own personal heartbreaks prove that a “no” isn’t a penalty. The goal of picking up that tin can isn’t to dictate the outcome—it’s just to stay on the line, trusting in God’s love even when we don’t understand His timing or His answers.
Prayer isn’t about making demands or seeking answers. It’s about sharing our heart with our dear Father, and then trusting the results to His infinite wisdom and love.
Maybe the song “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks summarizes it best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dtopRtx0Co
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” — 1 John 5:14
Today and every day, Lord, may your will be done in my life.

The Blessing of His Coming Kingdom

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor

and
Lynda Lambert, who shared the idea with me.

Jesus descending in the clouds to earth, surrounded by angels.

This is the 3rd post in my series on the Lord’s prayer. Today I’m discussing the first part of Matthew 9:10 “Thy Kingdom Come”.

Every time I think about it, I think I have more questions than answers, but here’s what I’ve come up w/thus far. Next week it might change.

As far as I can tell, there are 3 ways that God’s kingdom can come:

  1. When He comes back, as depicted in the image above;
  2. When He calls us home individually; and
  3. When others who know God and do His will enter our lives.

I made reference to that last week when I wrote a tribute to Dolly Parton. She was a well-known example, but there are those who exemplify God’s love and care for others every single day.

Sometimes I think perhaps this life is like a proving ground. We’re given things to have dominion over because we’re told, after all, that we will be given things to rule over in Heaven. It’s one thing to be given dominion over a waiting room full of cooperative patients, submissive kids, and loving spouses. Unfortunately, sometimes what we visualize doesn’t exactly come to fruition in our real world.

Kitchen chaos--kids crying, milk all over the floor, toys everywhere, a pot boiling over, and a smoke alarm going off.

And yet, somehow, it’s precisely in the midst of the chaos that reveals what God is making of us. Why God would be testing us for a heavenly reign I don’t really know, since there won’t be any unhappiness or chaos in heaven. Sill, with all dominion comes responsibility, and I think that’s what God’s looking for–how we’ll handle the responsibility of ruling with God.

I think we also need to shift our mindsets from ownership to stewardship. That’s not a word often used these days. It’s common to say our home or my car or my money. The truth is that everything we have–children, parents, spouses, siblings, possessions, pets, is on loan from the Father, and that loan can come due at any time. Our rule is temporary because our earthly lives are temporary. Only in heaven will our rule with the Father be permanent. Even there, however, we’re still stewards, because everything there is, was, or ever will be is our Heavenly Father’s. The key is to realize that and share with others what we have, because in doing so, we bring a bit of His kingdom down to earth.

Leviticus 25:23 says:

‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

Lord, help us realize that you own all things, and that when we do what You would have us do, we bring some of Your Kingdom to Earth. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Hallowed Be Your Name

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor
and
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me.

A church w/stained glass windows, a large cross, & tall spiral.

Matt 6:9: This, then, is how you should pray: “’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (NIV)

Last week I discussed the first part of this verse, and today I’ll be talking about the second part–“Hallowed be your name. The definition of hallowed is holy, sacred, revered, respected, honored. The above-pictured church is humanity’s attempt to honor God’s name, and there are so many magnificent churches throughout the world.

Somehow, though, I have this niggling feeling that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind. I’m not saying He rejects these beautiful churches–far from it–but I don’t believe it was a priority of His.

John 13:34-35 NIV says:

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”

The point being is each and every person who calls Jesus their Lord and savior is His church because He lives in us. Our daily lives are our feeble attempt to honor Him. I think God feels His name is more honored by those who obey His commandments than by all the statuary and stained glass contained in the world. For my part I feel my life is pretty mundaine. But it’s precisely there where I can hallow His name. I don’t know who to attribute it to, but there’s a saying that each of us might be the only Jesus someone ever sees. I, for my part, try to take that seriously. Do I measure up? Of course not! That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. I am convinced that there are so many acts performed by people who’ve touched other people’s lives profoundly but who are totally unaware of their impact. I think heaven will have lots of surprises like that for us.

Father, help me honor your name every day this week by how I reflect Your light and love. Amen.

The Blessing of a Heavenly Father

Song at Midnight Posted on by

Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Lynda Lambert who shared the idea with me
and
Abbie Johnson Taylor

God on His throne Surrounded by Many Children

We say it every Sunday in church. We say it at weddings and funerals. It’s a prayer many have learned from earliest childhood. It spills forth from our lips with almost no thought required. Yet its importance can’t be overstated, for it’s the only time Jesus taught His disciples–which includes us–to pray. It’s what many call “the Lord’s prayer”, though I would say that designation is more suited to the prayer in John 17. But what do I know?

For the next however many Sundays it takes, I’m going to write my thoughts on this prayer. So much has been written regarding it already that I really wonder if I have anything to contribute on the subject that hasn’t been said previously. Then again, sometimes it only takes someone saying something in a different way to catch someone’s attention. So here we go–let’s rock and roll!

Matthew 6 9-13 contains the text.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 
Give us today our daily bread.
12 
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 
And lead us not into temptation,[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

Footnotes
a. Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
b. Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

I’m going to focus attention today on just four words: “Our father in heaven.”

My first thought when I look at this passage is that this thing called Christianity is supposed to be communal. More than just a community, we’re a family, headed by a heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us so much that He sent His only Son to die on a cross so that we could be forgiven and live with Him eternally. Instead of the 613 commandments of the Torah, Christians are given but one:

John 13:34-35

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if every Christian took that seriously. I think there’d be a lot less misery on this earth–less hunger, less murder, less adultery, less war, and greater love, joy, and peace.

We are members of a great family–our ancestors in the faith who’ve gone before us, our brothers and sisters who share this world with us, and future generations who will walk this earth when we are long since gone. What we have in common is that we’re all loved dearly by our heavenly father.

The word father, as I mentioned in my post on Father’s Day, can be frought. But God our Father is everything a father should be and nothing he should not.

John 1:12 NRSV tells us:

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,”

Lord please help me to take seriously every day the call you’ve put on my life. Help me to love those you’ve put on my path even half as much as You do, enable me to do your will. In Jesus’s name. Amen.