Pilgrim 1: The Lord’s Prayer. Steven Croft

      The aim of this session is to explore and experience the truth that Jesus invites us into a new relationship with God as our Father in prayer and we are sisters and brothers together.

      Opening Prayers

      O God, make speed to save us.

      O Lord, make haste to help us.

      As a father has compassion on his children,

      so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him.

      Psalm 103.13

      O Lord, my heart is not proud;

      my eyes are not raised in haughty looks.

      I do not occupy myself with great matters,

      with things that are too high for me.

      But I have quieted and stilled my soul,

      like a weaned child on its mother’s breast;

      so my soul is quieted within me.

      O Israel, trust in the Lord,

      from this time forth and for evermore.

      Psalm 131.1–4

      But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

      Matthew 6.6

      Loving Father,

      strengthen our hearts by your Holy Spirit.

      Grant us power with all the saints

      to appreciate how wide and long and high and deep

      is the love of Christ.

      Amen.

      Based on Ephesians 3.16–19

      Conversation

      What is your earliest memory of saying the Lord’s Prayer? How old were you? Who taught you to say the words?

      Reflecting on Scripture

      Reading

      According to the gospels, Jesus himself gives the prayer to his disciples. We find the prayer in two different places. In Luke 11.1–4, Jesus gives the prayer when the disciples say to him: ‘Lord, teach us to pray. ‘In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in the central section of the Sermon on the Mount.

      7‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

      9‘Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

      14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’

      Matthew 6.5–15

      Explanatory note

      You will notice some differences between the wording of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and in Luke and in the versions we use today (see page 12).We will look at these in more detail in future weeks.

       Read the passage through once

       Keep a few moments’ silence

       Read the passage a second time with different voices

       Invite everyone to say aloud a word or phrase that strikes them

       Read the passage a third time

       Share together what this word or phrase might mean and what questions it raises

      Reflection STEVEN CROFT

      Finding our place in the Universe

      The first line of the Lord’s Prayer summons you to discover your place in the universe. The prayer begins with the essential kindness of God and captures a sense of the Christian family. In just eight words the prayer leads us into the cosmic struggle which is taking place on the earth.

      How does this one line help me find my place in the universe?

      Through the very first word, ‘Father’, Jesus invites us to call the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, Father. Jesus invites us into the same relationship with God which he himself enjoys.

      We need to remember that in much of the Jewish tradition and in other religions, God is seen as all powerful and mighty. In Judaism, God is seen to be so holy that his name could not even be said out loud. But Jesus encourages his disciples to address God simply, in a familiar way, as part of his family, as Father. In doing that we find our place in the universe.

      Where do we fit into the created order? Did this beautiful world come about by chance? Our place in the universe is as children of our Father in heaven. We are not atoms floating in a sea of chaos or chance. The universe is not about randomness but relationship. We are created in God’s image and likeness. We are made to know God and enjoy God for ever. To say ‘Our Father in heaven’ is to stand by faith in the whole of that world view.

      Humanity has turned away from God our creator and we have not lived in relationship with God. But God has sent us his Son. Jesus comes to us so that we can call God ‘Father’. Through the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus we can know God as Father. The words of the prayer are only possible because of the one who gives us the prayer.

      What difference does the ‘Our’ make in ‘Our Father’? Again, it is about finding our place in the universe. Every time we say this prayer, we remember that we are connected not only vertically to God but horizontally to others.

      If you pray this prayer, you are part of a family. Does Jesus mean us to pray as though we are part of one big family of the entire human race? Or does he mean us to pray as though we are part of his own family – the Christian Church – the family of the disciples.