A gift to you

“This, then, is how you should pray” Matthew 6.9

The prayer we know as the Lord’s Prayer is strange in some ways. It is a prayer given to us by Jesus, which has become a set prayer we recite line by line in churches everywhere. It was actually given as a reaction to those who babbled words without thinking about them, and Jesus is probably horrified to see his guidance has become just the same – words often spoken atspeed without undue thought.

A meaningful way of praying the Lord’s Prayer is to take it phrase by phrase, spending some minutes repeating each phrase and praying through the sense of it, rather than simply repeating the words. As you ponder each phrase in turn, ask yourself some questions: what do the words stir up in you on this particular occasion? What does the phrase prompt you to pray? It is worth paying special attention to those parts of the prayer you would rather skip over.

This prayer is Jesus’ gift to you; it presumably reflects the things on his heart as he talked to his Father. He gave it to you out of love, so that you might enjoy the wonder of the relationship that is fed by prayer.

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