Lord's Prayer

Let’s start this out like I might start a youth lesson… with a game of name that tune:

1. Down on the Farm – Tim McGraw

2. We Shall Overcome – Pete Seeger

3. A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

4. Get Together – The Youngbloods

5. Imagine – John Lennon

6. Fightin Side of Me – Merle Haggard

These songs all have something in common: have become somewhat of anthem songs. Songs that united a group of people and gave them an identity.

Down on the Farm – Just for me personally as a lot of my childhood was spent at my great grandparents farm.

We Shall Overcome – The words “We shall overcome, some day. Oh deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome.” Evolved from an early 1900s hymn and became a rallying cry, or anthem for the entire civil rights movement.

Likewise in A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke laments that “I go to the movie, and I go downtown, Somebody keep telling me don’t hang around” but the declares a hope filled “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come”. Once again, this anthem became a rallying cry that gave identity to an entire movement.

Then came songs that united they hippie and anti-war movement:

Lyrics like Youngblood’s “come on people now, smile on your brother. Everybody get together try to love one another right now” and John Lennon’s “You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man.” These poems gave identity to an entire movement based on love and peace and anti-war.

And then you had those on the opposite side of that movement creating their own movement and rallying cry. People like Merle Haggard who wrote “if you don’t love it leave it, let this song that I’m singin be a warnin, when you’re runnin down our country, man you’re walking on the fightin side of me”

These songs are all poetry that became an anthem for a group of people. A rallying cry. At their core, these songs gave identity. And that’s the beauty of poetry. It transcends the word and gives identity. It reminds you of who you are.

And throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus giving us words that have become an anthem. Words that give us identity. Jesus was creating a movement and he gave the gift of words to unite people around this movement.

We’ve been working through a series called Identity Crisis and we’ve been focusing on Jesus’ sermon on the mount and how we can find our true identity as followers in Christ in the words that Jesus gave us. This morning I want to zero in on one particular section of this. A poem, if you will, that I believe Jesus gave to his disciples, and in turn us, to help shape us. To remind us of our identity. To give his people an anthem that would help create a movement. So let’s dive in.

It’s right smack dab in the middle of the sermon on the mount that Jesus gives this anthem. He has just finished teaching the disciples how not to pray. He’s reminded them that they are not to be a people centered on self-glorification. That they need not pray using fancy words and broadway worthy recitations. And then he teaches them how to pray:

Matthew 6:9-13 - This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]

but deliver us from the evil one

What I love about this teaching is that I don’t think it’s some random words that Jesus thought up on the spot. I think he’s giving his disciples the prayer that he uses. Those times when he removes himself from the crowd to pray to God… I think this is the prayer, or at least the model that he uses. And he shares it with the disciples. This was a prayer that Jesus used that centered his identity. And he shared it as a reminder to the disciples of their identity.

And as you take a close look at this prayer that Jesus gives, it truly sums up the entire gospel. In fact in other parts of the gospels, Jesus seems to sum up the gospel this way: love God, love others. And this prayer seems to follow that model. It starts with a focus on God, and then it moves to a focus on us (others).

Jesus gives this gift of a poem or prayer that allows his disciples to find and remember their identity. To give them a place within his movement. And this prayer models the same thing Jesus teaches throughout his entire ministry – love God and love others. Let’s break it down quickly:

OUR FATHER

Notice it’s not MY father. This isn’t just Jesus’ prayer, but ours.

Our father becomes this reminder and declaration of our identity – that WE are children of God.

It’s one thing for Jesus to pray this (of course he’s the son of God) – it’s another thing for “us”. When Jesus says “our”, it’s an invitation for all to find their identity in being beloved children of God.

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME

This is a declaration of who God is. Set apart. Holy. Distinct. To be revered. In the midst of this movement, it reminds us of who God is. It also invites us to recognize those times and areas in our lives where we have failed to acknowledge God as these things and it helps us to re-center our lives on those truths.

YOUR KINGDOM COME

Again, it’s this declaration of who we are. A declaration that we believe the kingdom of God is here and now. That it was ushered in through Jesus. And that we are a part of that kingdom. But it’s also a recognition that the kingdom has not yet permeated every part of God’s creation. And it creates for us a rallying cry and it reminds us to invite and actively work toward God’s kingdom doing just that.

And then we come to what I believe is a central point of this prayer:

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

If love God and love others is central, this is right there, too. It’s the epitome of God’s kingdom. It’s the model that Jesus showed us throughout his life. It’s exactly what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane – not my will, but your will be done. And when we allow this to happen, that’s when God’s kingdom comes.

And then we shift to love others:

GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD

We are a people who are completely reliant on God for all that we need in life. No doubt this idea of asking just for the bread needed for the day conjures up memories and images of the stories of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and relying on God for the day’s manna. This prayer for daily bread keeps us focused. Keeps us from falling into a hoarding mindset and an attitude of never being content. But it also has implications for the we we interact with our world. When we seek and ask for daily bread for US, its not just me. It’s for all people.

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS

Once again, this is a prayer that reminds us of who we are, our identity. Jesus reminds us that we are a people of forgiveness. This is what Jesus showed us on the cross. He entered into a system of tit for tat, getting even, an eye for an eye, revenge. A system that creates a vicious cycle and never ends and he broke the system by going to the cross, offering forgiveness rather than self defense and revenge. He enacted a kingdom that is centered on forgiveness.

And in this prayer of identity, Jesus reminds us that we are not only a people who are forgiven, but also a people who forgive. This is another way that the kingdom, God’s will, is done on earth as it is in heaven.

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

Jesus invites us to seek and ask God to steer us clear of temptation. But the truth is, that’s not a promise. It’s a petition. Jesus, himself, was lead to temptation. I think the key to this thought is the next phrase – knowing that at some point temptation will, indeed, come, we are a people who rely on God to deliver us (both individually and communally) from evil.

I hope you begin to see the significance of this prayer, this poem of identity that Jesus gave his followers. It’s obviously significant given the fact that it has been passed down from generation to generation. Recited in countless amounts of church services. But I don’t think Jesus wanted this to just be a set of words that we memorize and recite once a week. I truly believe that Jesus was giving us, reminding us of who we are. Giving us an anthem, or a rallying cry. This is prayer that sums up who we are as Christians. Almost a creed.

We are Huffs

It’s a reminder that we are children of God, that God is holy and to be revered, that we are a part of a kingdom, a movement that was initiated by Jesus, that central to our lives is this phrase “not my will, your will”, that we are totally reliant on God for all that we need, that we operate in a system of forgiveness, and that we are reliant on God for deliverance from evil. That is who we are.

We are going to respond at the very end by simply reciting this prayer together. But before that, we are going to respond by participating in the Eucharist – an act that parallels beautifully this prayer that Jesus taught us. When we participate in communion – the bread and the cup – we are reminded of, and actively participating in, the identity that Jesus gave us through this prayer.