A Lesson from "The Lord's Prayer"

For some reason, my favorite part of a church service, be it Protestant or Catholic, is the part where we say "The Lord's Prayer." [Editor's Note: That's an "Our Father" for my Catholic readership.] I know that saying "The Lord's Prayer" every Sunday may seem like one of those things that can easily turn into a habit and mean very little to us after a few Sundays, but should we let it?

It seems that saying "The Lord's Prayer" should be one of those things that constantly reminds us of how we are to prayer and what our responsibility is in prayer and in our lives. I guess what I mean is, if we really think about the words while we say them, they really tell us so much about what our lives are meant to be.

When I say "The Lord's Prayer" aloud in church, along with everyone else, I can't hold onto grudges. I have to forgive those who trespass against me. It's tough, but how do I continue with the prayer and really mean it if I don't start forgiving people right then? And, how do I ask God not to lead me into temptation if I let myself rush headlong into it? It's not a prayer we pray and do nothing with; it's a prayer that tells us how to live, how to take responsibility, how to forgive others as we would have God forgive us.

I say this, not as one who has always done this. For a while, I'd been attending a church where we said "The Lord's Prayer" every Sunday, and I liked that part of the service because it seemed so churchy. You know, it just made me feel like I was really an adult in "big church." We all like to feel grown up sometimes, right? Well, this was my way of feeling grown up. I suppose there are worse ways to feel grown up, really.

But, anyways, I hadn't given much thought to saying "The Lord's Prayer" until one Sunday when I was in a bad mood. This is just to say that God often reveals Himself when we're in the midst of being rude or annoying or, well, any number of things. So, I was full of foul moods and making my way through "The Lord's Prayer" when it struck me that I didn't mean it. There were heaps of people who I had never forgiven for even the smallest things and a few who I hadn't forgiven for bigger things.

But the prayer doesn't say anything about who hurt you the smallest or the biggest. It just asks God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. If God really was forgiving me just as I was forgiving others, I was in big trouble because I could hold a grudge like none other; thankfully God is more gracious than I am. So, then I had to face it. I had to face that I was dead wrong not to forgive people. So, now I do. And, I've never thought about "The Lord's Prayer" in the same way since.

Sometimes we shy away from prayers that are already written out for us, thinking that sincerity can come only from a prayer that is spontaneous, but I think that sometimes we can learn unexpected lessons about prayer from other people. Learning what and how they pray may teach us ways that we can grown in our own faith. But, what is special about "The Lord's Prayer" is that it is the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, and praying this prayer teaches us to pray as we should, even if we forget the importance of it sometimes because we've prayed it so often.