{"id":261,"date":"2010-07-23T11:11:50","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T19:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thisrestlesspilgrim.wordpress.com\/?p=261"},"modified":"2015-03-19T14:16:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T21:16:35","slug":"teach-us-to-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2010\/07\/23\/teach-us-to-pray\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Lectionary: Teach Us To Pray"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I’m going to cheat a bit. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

S<\/span><\/em>hocking, I know…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I’m in the middle of writing several other blog entries at the moment, so rather than spending time writing a brand-new entry for this Sunday’s Gospel, I’m going to recycle something I wrote a few years ago.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Gospel in <\/span><\/em>this Sunday’s Lectionary<\/span><\/em><\/a> continues on from <\/span>last week<\/span><\/a> in<\/span><\/span> Luke’s Gospel<\/span><\/em>:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,one of his disciples said to him,”Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

He said to them, “When you pray, say:Father, hallowed be your name,your kingdom come.Give us each day our daily breadand forgive us our sinsfor we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,and do not subject us to the final test.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friendto whom he goes at midnight and says,’Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journeyand I have nothing to offer him,’and he says in reply from within,’Do not bother me; the door has already been lockedand my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’I tell you,if he does not get up to give the visitor the loavesbecause of their friendship,he will get up to give him whatever he needsbecause of his persistence.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;seek and you will find;knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives;and the one who seeks, finds;and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What father among you would hand his son a snakewhen he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked,know how to give good gifts to your children,how much more will the Father in heavengive the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” – Luke 11:1-13<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a reflection I gave on this same passage at a “Cheltenham In Prayer” service back in 2004…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The passage we’ve just heard is not some obscure piece of scripture; it\u2019s quite a well-known passage.\u00a0 However, its message is one that we need to be reminded of because it\u2019s so encouraging<\/strong>, and you can always<\/strong> go deeper into the truth it holds.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it happened that [Jesus] was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, \u2018Lord teach us to pray\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever been around someone who prays a lot?\u00a0 There\u2019s something almost tangible about it.\u00a0 You can tell, merely from being in that person\u2019s presence, that they have been in the presence of God.<\/p>\n

Prayer was a characteristic habit of Jesus \u2013 we see throughout scripture that he regularly went off to pray as well as praying at particular events in his life such as his baptism, his arrest and even during his execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cone of his disciples said, \u2018Lord teach us to pray\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I often wonder what the prayer-life of that disciple had been like.\u00a0 When I<\/strong> read this passage, I <\/strong>always imagine the disciple to be having difficulty in prayer, a very dry, desert-like experience.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I think the he asks for teaching because he was longing for prayer to be so much more than he was experiencing.\u00a0 He saw what it meant to Jesus and saw the kind of person Jesus was and he was so attracted by his character that wanted to imitate him.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Jesus] said to them, \u2018When you pray, this is what to say:\u00a0 Father, may your name be held holy.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I have to remind myself of how radical the start of this prayer is.\u00a0 Traditional Jewish prayers would have begun \u2018Lord God of Israel\u2019 of something like that, but Jesus begins it with \u2018Father\u2019<\/span>, \u2018Abba\u2019<\/span>, a very close familial, loving term.\u00a0 The best equivalent I could come up with was being asked to dinner at Buckingham Palace and calling the Queen \u201cLiz\u201d all night.<\/em> When we say \u201cOur Father\u201d<\/span> do we fully understand the closeness of relationship that is on offer?\u00a0 Also, if God is our Father, we are his children and therefore we are brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Do we fully understand that when we say \u201cOur Father\u201d<\/span> we are acknowledging the person that we are sitting next to as our brother or our sister?\u00a0 This prayer is a prayer said by members of God\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, may your name be held holy\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Even after he has just shown us the closeness of our relationship with God, Jesus is reminding us that he is still God<\/strong> \u2013 the one who formed the world, who sustains our life and who reigns in heaven, the one who is always<\/strong> worthy of glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cyour kingdom come; give us each day our daily bread\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I love how those two statements are side by side.\u00a0 We are taught to pray for God\u2019s Kingdom, pray for the big things \u2013 God\u2019s will to be done and the needs of the world. \u00a0But we are also taught to pray for the smaller things.\u00a0 It is proper to petition the Father for the basic necessities of life \u2013 food, clothing, shelter.\u00a0 There is nothing too small to pray for, which is a good thing because I remember praying very earnestly during my exams at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cforgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the opportunity for repentance.\u00a0 An opportunity to receive forgiveness from God and to draw closer to Him.\u00a0 The statement about forgiving others is about the removal of any block which would hinder God\u2019s Grace.<\/p>\n

\u201c And do not put us to the test.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Scripture tells us that we will not be tempted any more than we can bear, but we pray for temptation to be avoided.<\/p>\n

The parable that follows explains something of the nature of prayer.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that God is like the neighbour who doesn\u2019t want to get up to help his friend \u2013 it is saying that if a little persistence will get someone out of bed at midnight to help you then how much more will God, who is not reluctant to give, according to His will, respond to prayer.<\/p>\n

The passage ends with a really encouraging affirmation.\u00a0 Each of the things we are told to do is more radical than the last \u2013 ask, seek, knock.\u00a0 Approach prayer with boldness and expectation and in the knowledge that God is longing to give us good things:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Postscript<\/span><\/h3>\n

At the prayer evenings where I gave this reflection we used to pray the “Our Father” towards the end of each service. \u00a0Since this was an ecumenical event we were initially a little worried about this. \u00a0Some Christian groups use the more traditional English words such as <\/span>“art”<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>“hallowed”<\/span> and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>“thy”<\/span>, but other groups use more modern renderings. \u00a0Protestants usually add the doxology (“For thine is the kingdom, …”) but Catholics generally do not.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To avoid upsetting any particular group, Amy and I wrote a <\/span><\/span>new<\/span> rendering of the <\/span><\/span>“Our Father”<\/span>, based primarily upon versions I used at my university chaplaincy. \u00a0Here it is:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Our Father, Lover of us all, most Holy One,
\nThe wonder of Your presence fills us with awe,
\nHelp us to respond to You,
\nTo live as one Holy Community,
\nTo create the Kingdom you desire for us here on earth.
\nWith the bread we need for today, feed us,
\nFor the hurts we inflict upon one another, forgive us.
\nIn times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
\nFrom trials too great to endure, spare us.
\nFrom the grip of all that is evil, free us.
\nFor Your ways of love, compassion, power and glory are eternal. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I’m going to cheat a bit. Shocking, I know… I’m in the middle of writing several other blog entries at the moment, so rather than spending time writing a brand-new entry for this Sunday’s Gospel, I’m going to recycle something I wrote a few years ago. The Gospel in this Sunday’s Lectionary continues on from last week in Luke’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,25],"tags":[2969,112,157],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-sunday-lectionary","tag-featured","tag-our-father","tag-the-lords-prayer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56265,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/56265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}