BACK TO THE WELL; REFRESHMENT FOR THE SPIRIT

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Dr. Joe Kutter

(Part One)

  

It’s a marvelous mystery that prayer offers a channel by which we can talk to God and
God can speak to us. Prayer is nothing other than paying attention to God both in offering the realities of our lives to God and in inviting God to offer the realities of God’s life to us. 

The Lord’s Prayer offers a profound opportunity both to speak the deepest realities of our own lives to God and to attend to the presence of God in our own. In this exchange, we discover the reality that Jesus named “Living Water.”  It is the water that springs up to eternal life. (John 4: 14)

We will pray the Lord’s Prayer a word or a phrase at a time. With each word or phrase we will both speak the realities of our own hearts to God and we will invite God to speak to us, indeed, to live within us.

God, be with us as we pray.

“Our Father who art in heaven….”

OUR

The pronoun “our” speaks to our community.

• Remember your family members and closest friends. Give thanks and/or ask God’s help and healing for each one.
• Remember sisters and brothers in Christ who have been particularly significant in your spiritual journey. Offer prayer for each.
• Remember your church and the small groups who support you in your life’s journey. Offer prayer.
• The word “our” refers to all who walk with Christ. Remember persons around the world who are living as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Offer prayer.
• The family of faith is more than global. It is eternal. Remember those persons in the Bible who have blessed you as well as others who have “gone before” and been a blessing to you. Offer prayer.

Does Jesus suggest, by saying “our Father” that prayer is always both intensely personal and always communal, i.e., we never really pray all by ourselves?

What does it say about God’s character to hear that God wants to be addressed as “Our Father”?

Spend time, aware that you are in God’s presence, and aware that you share the presence of God with all who love and serve God. 

OUR FATHER

 

• The word translated “father” is “abba” which can mean “daddy”. How does addressing the creator of the universe as “Daddy” shape the way that you pray?
• Describe the “fatherliness” or the “fatherhood” of God.  What are the characteristics or attributes of God that prompt us to address God as “Father” or “Daddy”?
• What is Jesus telling us about God by teaching us to begin our prayers with “Our father”?

Spend some time, aware that you are in the presence of The One who, as God, loves you more than any other person ever can. As you prayerfully receive the love of God, give your love to God.

IN HEAVEN

Heaven the sphere of God’s eternity and presence, where God’s will is perfectly fulfilled.

 

• How do you imagine heaven?
• What do you believe about heaven?
• If God is living in heaven, what is God doing on earth?

Spend some time, aware that you are in the presence of the creator of heaven and earth. As you lift the realities of life in this world to God in prayer, allow yourself to dream of heaven and all who will be with you there.

HALLOWED/HOLY 

• What are the attributes or characteristics of someone or something that is holy?
• What separates the holy from the “not-holy”?
• The holiness of God is often associated with God’s love, God’s righteousness, God’s justice, the majesty of God’s creation and that God is ultimate in all things. How do you experience God’s holiness?
• What do you feel as you consider the holiness of God?
• Does God’s holiness create a sense of humility within you?

Spend some time giving your full attention to the holiness of God.  Receive both the holiness of God and your own humility in God’s presence as gifts from God.

HALLOWED/HOLY IS YOUR NAME 

• What is your favorite name for God?
• What other names have been given to God?
• If God’s name is holy, what does that say about the way that we use God’s name?
• If God’s name is holy, what does that say about the way that we approach God in prayer?

Spend some time, aware and that you are in God’s presence and consider that God is both “Father/Daddy” and “hallowed/holy”. Offer to God your deepest reverence, respect and love. Ask God to fill you with God’s own Holy Spirit.  

PRAYER POSSIBILITIES

 Select a specific time and place to pray each day and designate it as your personal chapel.

Take a walk and be aware that you are walking with God.

Invite God to speak to you through the repetition of a specific word or phrase:

Our Father…Our Father…Our Father….

In heaven…In heaven…In heaven….

Holy is your name…Holy is your name…Holy is your name….

Select a word or phrase as the “word for the day” and intentionally repeat it through the course of the day’s activities.

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