What we know as The Lord's Prayer or "Our Fathers" was part of Jesus' sermon on attitudes. It represents more about the way we pray than it does a pattern or prescription. Jesus was clear that God already knows our needs. There is no use in convincing or pleading to have those needs met. "Behold the lilies of the field…" What Jesus was attempting to establish was our attitudes of prayer. I have a suspicion Jesus didn't want us to say this prayer. He wanted us to live it.
1. Our great parent the one that gives us life, sustains us, nurtures, protects and teaches us. This was not to be "oh big banker in the sky"
2. Being that is beyond our ordinary reality
3. Names were considered power. To name something was to own or control it. God's name is sacred in that we are not controlling or commanding the divine.
4. People think of Kingdom as a place that is ruled by a king. In fact it is primarily a place where the king resides and cares for all that is there.
5. Surrender to the will or flow of that which is greater than our knowledge or understanding.
6. Today is the most important time, the only time. Yesterday and tomorrow are memories or expectations. Live for today not the worries of tomorrow and not the hurts of the past.
7. Forgiveness is foundation of Jesus' teachings. Pay backs are hell, forgiveness is divine
8. Temptation has more to do with our own strength or weakness than the power of temptations. Jesus taught us that in the forty days in the desert.
9. Kingdom is being where God is, living in his power and glory. The Glory was the energetic presence of God. God in the burning bush. The presence of God settled once a year on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holys. The inner, sacred space of the temple. That place resides within us. This is the place opened to all at the time of the crucifixion. When the curtain was torn from top to bottom. |
