The Lord's Prayer as Congregational Prayer - 2 February 2020



Our Father Who art in heaven: we come to you trusting and rejoicing that you are our Father through Jesus Christ, and that you will answer us, as promised, with as much readiness as, and even more readiness than, our earthly parents. And we trust that we may expect from your almighty power all things necessary for body and soul. Hear us, Father, as we pray.

Hallowed be thy name: Enable us rightly to know, reverence, magnify, and praise you in all your works, through which shine forth your power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth; and likewise to so order our whole life, in thought, word, and work, that your name may never be blasphemed, but honored and praised on our account.

Thy kingdom come: Preserve and increase your Church, to include this congregation and these churches in the greater OKC area: Trinity Lutheran Church; University Lutheran; Christ Lutheran; and Cristo Rey Lutheran Church; and so govern us by your Word and Spirit that we may submit ourselves unto you always more and more. Destroy the works of the devil; destroy every power that exalts itself against you; and destroy all wicked devices formed against your holy Word until the full coming of your kingdom where you shall be all in all.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: Grant that we and all people across the U.S.A, the State of Oklahoma, and the nations and leaders of the world – may renounce our own will, and yield ourselves, without gainsaying, to your will, which alone is good; that so every one may fulfill their task and calling, just as willingly and truly as the angels do in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread: Be pleased to provide for all our bodily need, those down with the flu and RSV, the ailing and aged, the poor and penniless, and all in need (…), that we and they may thereby know that you are the only fountain of all good, and so place our trust in you alone.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: Be pleased, for the sake of Christ, to forgive our transgressions and evils; and as we find this witness of your grace in us, may our full purpose be to heartily forgive our neighbor. Lord, hear us as we now mention those we need to forgive (…). Forgive them, forgive us, and give us renewed willingness to forgive them.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand even for a moment, while our deadly enemies—the devil, the world, and our own flesh—assail us without ceasing; be pleased to preserve and strengthen us by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may stand firm against them until we come off at last with complete victory!

All this we ask of you, because as our King who has power over all things, you are both willing and able to give us all good, and thereby we long for your holy name to be glorified now and into eternity: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

(adapted from the Heidelberg Catechism)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more