Readings:
Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 34; Matthew 6:7-15

*‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the evil one.’*
Matthew 6

‘Don’t babble as the pagans do.’ We can babble the ‘Our Father’ as well as any pagan! There is a praying neurosis to which we are all liable, which compels us to enter a praying endurance test, success measured by the number of words uttered. When it is over we experience relief and hope God is satisfied for the time being, as though he is a God of prayer tariffs, sending down thunderbolts on all who do not pay up regularly. Prayer is for our benefit, not God’s. He is not interested in our prayers, as the prophets make clear, except in so far as they are expressions of a mind and heart longing for him.

This teaching on prayer must also be a description of Jesus’ own prayer. There are many ways of praying the ‘Our Father’. One method is to pray it in rhythm with our breathing, a syllable, word, or phrase with each breath. When walking, the word or phrase can be with each step, or each two or three steps. Rhythmic prayer has a stilling effect. Stay with the stillness as long as you can and do not feel you have to complete the whole prayer.

Another way of praying it is to dwell on each phrase for as long as you can, reflecting on it, repeating it slowly, speaking to God in whatever way the phrase moves you to do.

‘Our Father’, (or Mother, if that is more helpful to you). ‘Our’, so every other human being is my sister/brother. Pray for that sense of at-one-ness of us all, friends and enemies, acquaintances and strangers.

‘In heaven’. God the transcendent one, always greater, never to be identified exclusively with any particular theory, way of thinking, ideology, nor with any particular church or nation. He is a beckoning God and we are to be a pilgrim people.

‘May your name be held holy.’ May we never use you, claiming our self-centred interests to be your will. May our lives reflect your love and tenderness.

‘Your kingdom come.’ A kingdom of justice, truth and peace. May we let your kingdom reign within our own hearts, within our own immediate circle, within our own church and nation. In all our actions, attitudes and feelings, teach us to keep asking ‘Whose kingdom am I promoting, mine or yours?’

‘May your will be done.’ Help me to recognize your will in the circumstances of my life, to discern your nudgings in life’s joys and sorrows, failures and successes. Help me to change the things I can change, to accept what I cannot change, and give me the wisdom to recognize the difference.

‘Give us today our daily bread.’ Help us to live and act as stewards of all we possess, so that we never deprive others of their daily bread. Deliver us all from the idolatry of consumerism.

‘Forgive us our debts.’ Let us know our need of your forgiveness, so that we can discover the depths of your forgiving love towards us and so enable us to forgive those who have wronged us.

Prayer
Father, Mother of us all, teach us patience in prayer and in life so that we learn to see you in our darkness and hear you in the silence of our own emptiness, our light, our salvation, our God in whom we trust. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.