A Nouwen retreatant fashioned this
crucifix from dried cactus at Ghost Ranch.
No
one should “have to” say the Lord’s Prayer. Anymore than anyone should “have
to” savor quality chocolate, bite into a freshly ripened peach, or make love.
I’ve
been made aware that some folk associate the prayer Jesus taught us with all
those “have to’s” of formal worship, an accessory to a spiritual straitjacket
of liturgical conformity that was required wear in some Christian traditions. I
guess my largely optional Baptist worship experience as a child and youth
prompts me to see it as a choice rather than a requirement, on a par with the
stiff reciting of the Apostles’ Creed or a self-abasing Prayer of Confession. (To
be clear, though, in my better moments I try to value all liturgies and their parts as opportunities
for spiritual expansion.)
But
for me, the prayer Jesus taught is my favorite part of my morning prayer time. Sometimes I save it for last, like dessert. And sometimes I say it first, like
a child unwilling to wait.
I write this to say I do not recite the prayer Jesus taught his disciples
because God somehow “requires” it, but for selfish reasons that I can only hope
become altruistic in the transformation the words may bring me.
It
is a way of transcending my self, even as it connects me to my past and future
selves. It connects me to Jesus, who first recommended it, and all those
disciples and saints, sinners and saviors who followed, are following, and will
follow in our spiritual tradition. It connects me to God—I believe, Jesus’
intent—without the “in Jesus’ name” sign-off to prayer we use as an imprimatur / notary
stamp / access code / password to let God know our legitimacy as Christians.
The
prayer reminds me of the permanent familial relationship we all have with God
AND with each other. For me, it’s not simply a Christian prayer, but a
Universalist prayer, even a Unitarian prayer for those who believe “the Lord
our God is one.” When we pray “thy kingdom come” or the variation “thy kindom
come” we are praying for the world a commonwealth in which everyone is a
citizen, a beneficiary, and an heir—including those who do not subscribe to any
faith or religious tradition. This is the grace of God at work that excludes NO
ONE.
And
it doesn’t ask of us any less than it asks of God: forgiveness. As
synchronicity would have it, the day of writing this post I read Benedictine
monk John Main’s words, “Perhaps the gift our violent and fear-filled world
needs most is forgiveness…in an age so dissatisfied with its own shallowness—a
dissatisfaction that produces so much confusion and violence.”
Finally,
it lifts us up to God’s glory, the transformative power of God’s love, and the
divine value of all that is.
Other
posts on The Lord’s Prayer:
I will again be co-leading
a 5-day contemplative retreat April 27-May 1, 2020 in Cullman, Alabama, through
the Spiritual Formation Program of Columbia Theological Seminary. It is open to
the public.
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