Continuing in our series on the greatest sermon ever preached, which is, of course, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has taught his disciples the basics of faith through the stairsteps of the Beatitudes, then the difficult teachings of his commands—the "whats" of the Christian life such as taking sin seriously and loving our enemies—and now the basic faith disciplines, the "hows" of the Christian life. Last week, the how of appropriate giving. Next week, fasting—there will be no continental breakfast available next Sunday! Today’s "how" of the Christian life is "how to pray" and the lesson includes the Lord’s Prayer. (Read Matthew 6:5-15)

How to Pray, Part One: Do it in private. Don’t pray long, wordy prayers. Jesus begins with some general teachings for our prayer lives in which much of the language sounds familiar to his teaching from last week on giving. There, addressing showy generosity. Here, addressing showy piety, the person whose prayers are directed more to others around them than they are directed to God. "Don’t be a hypocrite," Jesus says, using that same word he used regarding giving, a word which was normally used to refer to actors playing a part in a play. We might say, "Don’t be a phony." Don’t act the role of a pious person so that we might be impressed. Instead, Jesus says, go to your room, shut the door and pray in private—to God as prayer is meant to be directed. And you don’t have to earn the right to be heard, something the pagans believed. The "pagans" Jesus refers to believed they had to get the gods attention before they’d be heard. So their prayers involved a frenzied kind of babbling to prove their sincerity and the effort they were willing to make. Instead, Jesus says, our God is ready and willing to hear our prayers. God is not a reluctant listener, God is a ready and compassionate listener. We don’t need wordy prayers to get God’s attention! Martin Luther said of this passage and the topic of prayer, "Prayers should be brief, frequent and intense." We might add, "and they should be private." So, first, generally, there is that: Praying should be done in private and we don’t need long, fancy worded prayers to gain God’s attention.

How to Pray, Part Two: Jesus gives us a model for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer. Were going to look at specific sections of the Lord’s Prayer, but before we do that, a couple of general comments about the prayer.

First of all, the Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer to be recited specifically and a model for our prayers. In Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospel of Luke where the Lord’s Prayer is also given (Luke 11:2-4), Jesus introduces the prayer by saying literally "say" these words. In Matthew, however, Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer by saying your prayers should look like this. The Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer to be spoken and a model for our prayers.

Secondly, there is tremendous value and potential danger in praying the Lord’s Prayer specifically. The value is twofold—(1) it is a great prayer, and, (2) praying the Lord’s Prayer to the point of memorizing it gives us words to pray when sometimes other words won’t come. No doubt many of you have found yourselves in moments of severe crisis, or exuberant joy, where our ability to conjure up words to say to God just isn’t there. But, the words of the Lord’s Prayer come to us. There is great value in that. There is also the potential for danger in that the words become irrelevant, spoken by rote memorization with little thought given to what we are saying. In a moment, we’re going to look at what we’re saying when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the meaning behind the words we say. We need reminding because the meaning can get lost in rote repetition. There’s great value in frequently reciting the Lord’s Prayer, but there is also the danger of making our words void of meaning.

Then, thirdly, as we look at exactly what we are saying in the Lord’s Prayer—and also how the prayer serves as a model for our own prayers—you’ll note the importance of the structure of the Lord’s Prayer, intentional, I have no doubt, on Jesus’ part. The first set of petitions are about God. The next set of petitions are about us and others. And note in that, the words "I," "me," and "mine" never appear. Jesus would have us know that our prayers are never just about ourselves as individuals. They are God-directed and always mindful of others.

With those general principles in mind, let’s now look at what we are saying when we recite the Lord’s Prayer and how it also serves as a model for our prayers.

The first series of petitions are about God:

Our Father, who art in heaven: Note immediately the corporate attitude of the prayer. Our Father, not my Father. And the term "Father" is one of childlike affection. We might more appropriately translate the word, "Abba," as "Daddy!" There is an intimate endearment between God and us. An amazing thing to consider because it is our Father, "who art in heaven." Our "daddy" is the creator of the universe! Prayers begin with the attitude of endearing affection of daddy and child, and the awestruck wonder at the majesty and might of the Creator of the universe.

Hallowed by thy name: This may be the least understood section of the prayer. What does it mean to say, "Hallowed by thy name?" The word for "hallowed" is a word that has, at its root, the word for "holy." Yet, "hallowed be thy name" means more than simply "holy be thy name." By "name," we mean much more than just the name for God. We mean the whole character and nature of God. To pray, "hallowed by thy name," is to pray that God would receive the honor and glory He is due, that God would be at the center of everything, including our lives.

Thy kingdom come: Such a loaded statement! Praying for God’s kingdom to come is a statement of hope—the future coming of God’s perfect kingdom when Jesus returns—and a statement of present purpose—the justice and peace that God desires for His creation to be present in the world today. Be mindful of what is meant by "kingdom" when we pray, "thy kingdom come." This is supported by the next section of the prayer.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: Every prayer should carry with it a sense of "your will and not mine, O Lord." We may make our requests—brief, frequent and intense though they may be(!)—but there is always an underlying trust in God. Our will is shortsighted and imperfect. God’s will is all-knowing and perfect. We place our requests before God. We submit to God’s perfect will on the matter.

The petitions now move to our concern for ourselves and others—always there is a concern beyond ourselves—remember, there is no "I," "me," or "mine" in the Lord’s Prayer:

Give us this day our daily bread: Jesus teaches us that it is ok to pray about the basic needs of our lives. It is not selfish, remembering, again, there is a corporate identity to the prayer. Asking for daily bread is more than a request for food. It is a prayer about the basic qualities of life—of work that makes the purchase of bread possible, indeed, that makes the growing of bread possible; of governments and economic structures that make work possible. To pray, "give us this day our daily bread," is much more than a prayer for food. It is a prayer of thanksgiving for those things in our lives that make meeting our basic needs possible, it is a prayer of petition for those whose circumstances result in their basic needs not being met.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: This is another areas where the Lord’s Prayer gets really dangerous. Do we really want God to do that—forgive us as we have forgiven others? Be careful what you are asking for! Jesus wants us to take seriously the issue of forgiveness in our lives. So much so, that this is the only petition in the prayer that Jesus expands on in his teaching. At the conclusion of the prayer, Jesus continues with the theme of forgiveness: "For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Elsewhere in Matthew, Jesus teaches about an ungrateful servant who received mercy on a debt owed, but then failed to show the same mercy to his debtor (Matthew 18:21-35). Forgiveness is very important to Jesus. He knows an unforgiving spirit is a hindrance to our relationship with God. It is difficult to be on speaking terms with God when we are not on speaking terms with a difficult person in our lives. I hope your actions support what you’re asking for when you say, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Then, finally, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: We have prayed about our present circumstances—"give us this day our daily bread,"—and we have prayed about our past failures—"forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Now we pray about our future. It is a fallen world out there. Temptations come. Evil seeks to counterfeit the good God desires for us. And we know our weaknesses. We just prayed for forgiveness where we have failed. The next words out of our mouths ought to be asking for God’s protection from failing again. "Guide us, O Lord, away from the temptations that threaten to snare us." Another way of saying, "not my will, but yours, O Lord."

And that is the Lord’s Prayer. We do not get from Jesus the final line traditionally prayed in the Lord’s Prayer, For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Apparently, leaders in the early church did not want the prayer to conclude with the negative connotation of temptation and evil so they added the final ascription of praise back to God. Not a bad thing, but not how Jesus concludes his teaching on prayer. In any case, the Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful gift from Jesus. He has given us a prayer to be repeated to the point of memorization so that when other words fail us, the words of the Lord’s Prayer are there for us. And he has given us a model for our own prayers: brief, but concise; directed to God, but mindful of others beyond ourselves; very specific about the basic needs of our lives, but submitting to God’s will and His purposes for His Kingdom in the world, now and forever.

In just a moment, we are going to celebrate the Sacrament of Communion which will conclude with our reciting the Lord’s Prayer. You’ll note that the words we’ll be using in the Lord’s Prayer are not the traditional words, but rather what is referred to as the "ecumenical version" of the Lord’s Prayer. Hopefully, with a reminder of what we are saying when we recite the Lord’s Prayer, as well as using some new words with which to recite it, we can offer the prayer to God this day with new emphasis and meaning. Let us prepare ourselves to do that.