Notes come from the book The Lord’s Prayer The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught by Rev. Adam Hamlton. This is an exploration of each of the parts of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hamilton writes “I am convinced that this prayer summarizes so much that was essential to Jesus, and praying it daily has the power to change our lives.”
He suggests how to get the most of it. “Over the course of a week, while you pray it, focus on one of the phrases to meditate upon. In six days you will have covered its six petitions. On Sunday simply pray the entire prayer in worship without a particular emphasis.”
- Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name
“Our Father” Prayer is not directed just to me but us. Christianity is not meant to be lived alone, but in community. Our prayers are prayed with others and for others. God is Father to us all, all nations and people. God is the pattern and example of what a father is meant to be; that is, one who is steadfast, faithful, loving, kind, compassionate, merciful, and present. We are not orphans, no matter if our earthly father is dead
“Who Art in Heaven”
Heaven is distinct from earth, the material world, and yet it envelops both. We are surrounded by heaven. Heaven isn’t always “up there” or “out there” in Scripture; it is also all that is around us even though we can’t see it. In this sense, God is as near as the air that we breath.
For Jesus, “heaven” is most often used to represent God’s reign, the world as it was meant to be. While it might include all that is below, heaven most often seems to indicate the realm where God’s will is done, where injustice, poverty, cruelty, inhumanity, violence, corruption, and pain have been banished
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
This is a petition or request for God to act. Hallow something is holy. To be hallowed or holy is be set apart for God and for God’s purposes. Hallow can also mean pure, or that which is wholly different from the ordinary. It can signify something or someone that is cleansed, purified, righteous, or utterly good. Finally, it can mean “revered or something that inspires awe”. I
In the Lord’s prayer, we are asking God to hallow or make holy God’s name in reputation. When we pray, we fix our heart on the things we pray for, and we invite God to work through us and others to answer our prayers. We hallow God’s name by living in a way that reflects God’s goodness, majesty, beauty, and love. All creation is meant to hallow God’s name, to bring God glory and honor. We ask God to help us love others with your low and keep God’s name holy.”
- “Thy Kingdom Come, whose Will Be Done on earth as it is in heaven”
This is the key to Jesus’ ministry according to the author. The author writes , “His teaching, life, death, and resurrection focused on announcing God’s kingdom, inviting people to be a part of it, and encouraging people to not only pray, but to live in such a way that God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.” We need to think less of ourselves, getting our ways, building our own kingdoms and more of God. We are praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven because we sin an act contrary to God’s. Jesus is focused on unleashing heaven here on earth. Unfortunately, much of what happens in the world is not God’s will.
“In Jesus, and in the lives of all who follow him, the heavenly realm is breaking into the earthly realm. When we “repent” as Jesus called his hearers to do, we have a change of mind that leads to a change of heart and ultimately a change of behavior. When we pray “Thy” not “my,” and we yield ourselves to God, seeking to live as citizens of the Kingdom, God’s kingdom does in fact come on earth as it is in heaven.”
“Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer with meaning, we are yielding our lives to God’s will and in some small way the Kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven. In praying this prayer we not only fix our hearts and minds on God’s kingdom coming, but we also invite God to use us as instruments to fulfill our prayer. We’re praying, in part, ‘Here I am, Lord, use me.’”
“So when we pray this prayer, we are inviting God to give us a vision for the world as it should be—and then to not only pray, but to work to help that vision to become a reality.”
“By now you are beginning to see that the Lord’s Prayer is more than a prayer; it is a vision to strive toward, a call to action we seek to live, and a road map for a life of character and faith.”
“When I come to this line of Jesus’s prayer, I ask myself, My or Thy? Mine or Thine? I think about the gap between earth and heaven. And I offer myself to Christ my king, inviting him to use me to close the gap so that God’s kingdom may come and God’s will be done, in my life, in my community, and on earth as it is in heaven.
- “Give us this day our Daily Bread”
“Our daily bread” might better be translated as “the essential bread,” or “the bread we need to survive,” or “the bread of subsistence.” This petition in the prayer is better translated as: “Give us today the bread that we need to exist.”
There are people praying this prayer who pray this prayer to have enough to eat. They are food insecure. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2019 more than one-third of Americans living below the poverty line were “food insecure,” meaning they lack reliable access to an adequate supply of nutritious food. ” Thus the school lunch program is essential
“God’s primary way of answering this prayer is… through people—people who pray”. These people have surplus of food or other means to provide food and answer prayers for those who are suffering from a lack of food. They are blessed when they provide the food to the poor.
“In Deuteronomy 15:10, God tells the Israelites: “Give generously to needy persons.” …” First, the call to give generously is not presented as a suggestion; it is given as a commandment. Second, here and elsewhere in Deuteronomy, God tells the Israelites (and us) that everything we have ultimately belongs not to us, but to God.
“Our food is to do the will of our Father, which is the very thing we pray just before praying for our daily bread, “thy will be done.”” The bread is an expression of Christ’s presence, and the life he wishes to give to us, to sustain us, strengthen us and nourish our souls”
“In the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread” is linked to “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Among other things, the daily bread we ask for is God’s forgiveness and mercy. Forgiveness is part of the essential bread we need to survive.
- “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
This section is about forgiveness and reconciliation
“This simple line, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” is not only central to the gospel, it is central to life. The two sides of this prayer, “forgive us” and “as we forgive,” capture this essential idea: We all need forgiveness, and we must extend ourselves to forgive. Every time we pray this prayer, we are both seeking and being reminded to extend forgiveness.
“We talk about what forgiveness is not: it is not excusing the offense. It is not saying it didn’t matter. It is not saying it is okay. It is not forgetting or reconciliation or a restored relationship. Forgiveness is choosing to let go or release the right to retribution, anger, or bitterness. It is letting go of the right to hold the offense over another’s head”
“Without forgiveness our world is left with vengeance and retribution. In our spiritual life, without forgiveness we’re left with a life of guilt and alienation from God. Without forgiveness in our interpersonal lives, no marriage can survive, no friendship will endure, and humanity is condemned to bitterness, resentment, anger, and hate. Researchers have linked unforgiveness to higher stress, poorer mental health, and cardiac diseases.”
According to the author, forgiveness is choice and process – “It means to let go, to release, or to send away. Forgiveness is letting go, releasing, sending away the resentment or the right to exact revenge. We’re asking God to release us from God’s right to hold our sins over us, to release us from the guilt and shame we feel.”
It doesn’t mean that we are relieved of any other consequences of our actions, such as legal.
“Forgiveness is also not reconciliation with the other, though reconciliation sometimes occurs after forgiveness.”
Every time we pray this prayer, we are both asking for forgiveness and hearing Christ’s call to forgive.
This section of the prayer links God’s forgiveness to us to our forgiveness to others. Jesus doesn’t just tell us to pray for God to forgive us, and that we should forgive others. He tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Said another way, “Forgive us of our wrongs in the same way and to the same degree as we forgive those who wrong us.” He has us directly link the grace we ask for to the grace we are willing to show toward others.”
- And Lead Us, Not into Temptation
“ Jesus connects our request for forgiveness with the petition that God might lead us, might keep us from temptation, and deliver us from evil. Forgive us and lead us. These two petitions go hand in hand”
“It is said that Martin Luther went to bed every night praying, “Forgive us our trespasses,” and that he woke up every morning praying, “Lead us not into temptation.”
Temptation suggests that we act in way wrong – morally, legally, or physically not helpful for us . It also includes non-action “when God is calling us to act.” Temptation is not whether we will be tempted but how we will act when we are tempted. “We’re tempted to overconsumption, tempted to gossip, tempted to not care, tempted by the desire for more, tempted by the need for affirmation, tempted to want what is not ours, tempted to blow up at one another, tempted to live and think as if the world revolves around us.”
Some people leave out the comma. “We typically pray the prayer like this: “Lead us not into temptation.” Heard this way, we naturally interpret the petition to mean something like: “Please, God, don’t lead us into places where we’ll be tempted.” God does not tempt us to do what is wrong. We tempt and do it to ourselves.
We should respect the comma. ”Now the emphasis is on “lead us,” as it should be. It is even more helpful if we understand that Jesus is asking us to pray to our Father to lead us, while it is the tempter, either within or without, who leads us into temptation. So think of the prayer this way: “Lead us, not into temptation as the tempter, or we ourselves, might lead, but deliver us from evil (or, as some translations have it, the evil one). The focus of this petition is that God lead us.”
“In the Lord’s Prayer we are asking God to lead us as opposed to our leading ourselves.“
“How does God lead us? By the Holy Spirit—that nudge we feel and hear in our hearts. And God leads us by means of the Scriptures, as we saw modeled by Jesus in his response to the tempter. God leads us as we pray, meditate, and listen. God leads us as we worship, when we join others in small groups, and in a host of other ways. The key is learning to listen. Lead us, not into temptation.”
“Jesus calls us to not only pray, “Lead us, not into temptation,” but also, “deliver us from evil.”… So this petition in the prayer is a call for God to rush to us, to rescue us, or deliver us, or snatch us out of the hands of evil.”
- “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen”
“…The reason we can pray for all of these things in the Lord’s Prayer is for or because the kingdom, power, and glory already belong to God. God is our Father in heaven, the author of creation. All things belong to God, who made them.”
Thine – As earlier, thine relates our need to focus on God rather ourselves.
This section is “a pledge of our allegiance to God’s kingdom, power, and glory. ” It settles all our conflicts in allegiances. “We commit to use our power and influence for God’s good purposes” to the furthering of God’s Kingdom.
Power –“God’s power is unquestioned. God is the reason why we exist and is rightfully ruler of all”
Glory– We’re meant to bring honor and glory to God in the eyes of others by how we live. “It (Glory) means “weight,” “reputation,” “splendor,” “impressiveness,” “majesty.” Glory belongs to God.
Forever- God and his kingdom last forever. Forever means “into the ages. ”In so many ways this prayer is meant to train and prepare us for the forever that lies ahead, the eschatological kingdom of heaven that begins here on earth as we pray and work and live this prayer. As Jesus said that kingdom is already here among us.” It is training us for the final realization of the Kingdom.
Amen- “It literally means, “So be it!” or “May it be so!”