The Lord's Prayer - Part II

Our Father

Dear Friends! I wish to speak to you about a way of personalizing the Lord's Prayer. We have all been taught to say the Lord's Prayer word for word, and yet I want you to think about something that Jesus said about prayer:

Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

I would like you to broaden your vision of what Jesus was meaning here. You might think he was referring to "heathens" as doing these things (for the sake of self-aggrandizement)...and this certainly is one of them. But, let's look at this statement within the context of being repetitious with the Lord's prayer. Look at what Jesus said: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions..." You can only imagine how it must be for God to hear the same prayer, over and over again, repeated endlessly to God, day and night. Christians are taught to recite this prayer, word for word and it is droned out over and over and over again. What then, can we do to listen to what Jesus instructed on both matters? How then, can we say the most beautiful prayer ever devised or invented, and still be faithful to the intent that Christ had in his instruction in Matthew 6:7?

Let's be very personal about this. Imagine that everyone that ever came to you, had just one thing to say. They said it to you, over and over again, endlessly, day and night? Imagine a whole room full of people speaking to you, saying just one thing. How about a million people all just saying, one thing? Over and over again, endlessly. Droned, on and on....

I do not believe that Jesus' intention was to teach a prayer that must be recited, word for word with no thought given to it, no meditation of it's meaning or delivery. There was a reason and a purpose why these words were given. And it wasn't just to deliver a prayer that everyone could say forever without thought...I have been in churches where this prayer is uttered as a part of ritual, where whole congregations moan it out as if it is a duty, rather than from the heart and mind...we might as well just put it onto a tape recorder and blare it out without even digesting it. And some of it, does not make sense (at least to me). Of course, you have to look at what Jesus said in context of his time and the situation he faced daily. He was constantly threatened with the possibility of being arrested. Spies were sent to watch him and dog his every move. He had to be wiser than the wisest not just because he was the Son of God, but because a single word could have landed him in jail, if it could in any way be misconstrued. And as you know, there were times when he was accused and walked away because it was "not yet his time." This must have sorely constrained him in delivering the truth in easy to understand and straightforward ways. I believe, that his method, was to teach in parables, but parables also provide fruit for thought...they are meditational in nature. Jesus desired you to THINK about things. For in the process of thinking about them, you ingrain them in your being. Parables, allow for discussion of meaning. They create topics of discussion and meditational enlightenment. This leaves them open-ended rather than closed ended. People have been speculating about them ever since they were spoken. And so, I believe, that Jesus' intent was that all of his instruction was to be open ended. It was spoken and designed to be flexible. Jesus wanted you to THINK ABOUT THINGS! Not just recite them without thought. And within this context then, the gospel of Christ is an open ended dialogue which allows for the continuous and flexible discussion between you and God rather than the limited and constrained, fixed recitation or quotation. Just the very existence of many versions of the Bible says, there are an endless number of ways to state the truth.

The point I am making here, is that the Lord's Prayer does not have to (nor do I beleive that Christ intended it to be), recited without thought or meditation, that it be repeated endlessly to God, over and over without personalization (and remember, when Jesus taught this prayer, it was to a crowd, and thus the "OUR" Father, reflecting the plurality of those he was instructing at the time), or that it is somehow blasphemous to say it any other way (and remember, Jesus was quite often accused of beng a blasphemer). We must be willing to take the risks that tell us that any method which brings us closer to God are the right methods to take. They asked and so Jesus taught, this prayer...yet I do not believe it was delivered with the intention that it become the central doctrine of recitation for Christianity. You see, I believe in a very personal relationship with God...and I believe that God also desires that each of us have that close relationship...and we must not feel constricted in that relationship.

But since the Lord's Prayer has been taught to be recited verbatim, droned on and on...it has become a way of bringing us mindlessly and thoughtlessly close to God. God is there when we say it, but God also must feel impersonalized by the method of delivery. And it is the method of delivery that is the key element here.

The method I am referring to is a meditational method of saying it, and included in this, are the thoughts which affirm the truest nature of God and Yourself: God is One and we are One with God Inseperable." This would, of course, have been cause for death, if said in ancient times...for any hint that a man could possibly be God (as Jesus found) was cause for death.

Yet here we are, in the 21st century, still afraid to admit that the most fundamental and central truth of our relationship, does not exist...that Christians all over the world are taught to think they are SEPARATE from God. This leads to hundreds of millions of people feeling DISCONNECTED from God and urgently desiring to connect. You were given a way to connect through the Lord's Prayer, yet I bet, if you believe you are separate from God, you have been feeling disconnected in reciting it, frustrated and hoping that God would hear it, and know the intent through which it was delivered. No wonder you drone it on and on and feel helpless, as if God will listen to it some of the time and perhaps there is a chance it will not be heard, at other times.

Every prayer is heard by God at all times and each and every prayer is answered.

So by my argument, I am saying, it is more than possible to personalize the Lord's Prayer. It is entirely possible to meditate upon it and bring enlightenment to yourself in the process. By establishing a new way of saying it, with a new (re-newed) and invigorated way of delivering it, you no longer have to say it as if it is a ritual chant...you can make that prayer very personal indeed and feel connected when you do. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing it this way either. For Jesus never warned you, not to say it in words that are meaningful to you. He certainly told you, not to recite prayers over and over again in a repetitive manner.

So when you say it, give thought to each word. Say: "OUR" and then STOP! Stop an think about that one word. Let it stand in your mind as one discrete element. What does that word mean? Say it a few times to yourself in your mind and meditate upon it. Do this for each word. As you do so, broaden the context, "Our" then "Our Father" and then "Our Father Who." You might also take it apart and think about the words within small fragments "Who art in heaven..." Which might become "Who Are You In Heaven?" Which might become "Who Are You?" Do you see how this can take you to new places? What do those words really mean if they were not to be recited repetitiously? For Jesus' admonishment on the one hand does not translate properly on the other, if one is instructed not to be repetitive yet gives prayer repetitive and unchanging delivery.

So within the context of the words, we can construct a new dialogue with the infinite. And even more than this, we can personalize our relationship with God by changing the tense.

Instead of OUR Father, say:

"My Father" or "My God"

- or even say it as:

"You are my God" more as an affirmation of what Is.

"You are My God who Is in heaven" This is an affirmation of the truth.

"Your Name is Holy."

"The Name of the One God in heaven is holy"

"The Name of God is Holy"

"God is Holy" "The One is Holy"

It does not have to be impersonal, you see. It does not have to be recited without changing a single word. It can have flavor! It can have a deeper, more instrinsic meaning. It can become dynamic. It can be a discourse between you and God. It can lower the barrier of feeling separate and personalize things quickly. You should be thinking about ways to personalize The Lord's Prayer as we step through each of the parts that will follow this second commentary.

I am going to leave this for now, just so you can think about it a while and then I shall come back again and we shall think about this some more. The homework I want you to take with you is to think about how to make the Lord's Prayer a personal meditation and how you can use this prayer to truely bring God closer to you. That is your homework assignment! And so, on the morrow, I expect to hear from you about your thoughts.