Sunday 3 June 2012

The Lord's Prayer

I've spend this morning planning for this week's service at The Sanctuary (www.sanctuary-westminster.org), the first in our series on the Lord's Prayer. 

In the pretty informal church services I've attended since I became a Christian, I've always valued the freedom and encouragement to 'just talk' to God without the need for fancy words or eloquence; and the reassurance that sometimes silence or tears are prayer enough when you just don't have any words at all.

But Lord's Prayer is the anomaly. At times of trouble, trauma and thankfulness, it often runs through my mind and out of my mouth like a reflex action. I'm not at all sure where or when I learnt it, but given that even today I have a half-remembered tune in my head when I recite it, I have feeling I may have first sung  it in assembly at my primary school.  (Not a Christian school I might add; I distinctly remember also singing 'Are you going to Scarborough Fair?' and something to do with a Big Rock Candy Mountain.)

I've been pondering on the first line for the last couple of hours: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." How often does God come first in my prayers? Do I use prayer as way of understanding God's nature more, or as an opportunity to download a wish list of stuff I want God to do for me? Do I take as much time, let along more, to sit and consider God as I do thinking about my needs and wants? Probably not. I wonder how thing would change if I did.


Oh - and the mango cheesecake was  triumph - making a double size one tomorrow for my in-law's jubilee street party.

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