The Lord's Prayer

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on October 1, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 6:5-14 and Luke 11:1-13.

            As I’m sure you noticed, both of our Bible readings tonight gave what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.  As I’m sure you also noticed, the two versions of the Lord’s Prayer we read tonight are a little bit different from each other.  And neither of them is exactly the way we say the Lord’s Prayer today.  That’s why I don’t usually introduce the Lord’s Prayer by saying, as a lot of people do, that it’s the prayer Jesus taught us.  I’m not saying it’s wrong to introduce it that way, but technically, it’s really not true.  What we pray is similar, but it’s not quite the same prayer Jesus taught the disciples, at least not according to the best sources we have on the subject.

            The other thing you probably noticed is that the setting for the two versions of the Lord’s Prayer are different.  In Matthew, Jesus teaches this prayer to everyone listening.  It’s part of a larger speech Jesus made on a mountainside, what we now call the Sermon on the Mount.  In Luke, Jesus teaches this prayer only to the disciples, and teaches it to them as a direct response to one of the disciples, who asked Jesus to teach them to pray.

            Which setting is the “true” setting?  Which version of the prayer is the “true” version?  We have no way to know.  Does it matter?  Not a lot.  It’s kind of a matter of historical curiosity as to which setting was the “true” one, but that’s all.  The differences in the two prayers, which we will talk about in weeks to come, are really not all that big.  The principles of prayer that Jesus was trying to get across are the same in both cases.

            I do find it interesting, though, that in one case it was Jesus who made the decision to teach people how to pray, and in the other case it was the disciples who made the decision that they needed to learn how to pray.  Because I think both of those things are true.  I think God wants us to pray, and I think we have a need to pray.

            To me, that shows the most powerful thing about prayer.  Prayer involves a relationship.  It involves us talking to God.  It also involves God talking to us.  Both of those things are necessary for us to have a relationship with God.

            Now, I don’t know how much or how often anyone here prays.  Maybe it’s quite a bit.  Maybe it’s occasionally, once in a while.  Maybe it’s rarely if ever.

            That’s okay.  Our prayer life, like other aspects of our faith, involves a process.  If you don’t pray very often right now, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty.  I’ve had times in my life when I did not pray very often, either.

            What I want to do, though, is encourage you to pray more.  Because that’s how we start feeling close to God.  That’s how we start feeling that God is with us in our lives.  By talking to God.  By God talking to us.

            Think about it this way:  have you ever had a close friend who moved away?  Or, have you ever been the one who moved away from a close friend?  What happens?  At first, you call each other up fairly frequently.  You keep in touch with what’s going on in each other’s lives.  You still feel close.  But gradually, what usually happens?  Those calls come a little less frequently.  Then a little less.  Then a little less.  It goes from every day to once a week to once a month.  Then, maybe it’s a call at Christmas.  And maybe you keep up on social media for a while, but as time goes on, that becomes less and less, too.

            And as that happens, what else happens?  You don’t feel like you’re as close as you used to be.  Your friendship is not as strong.  You might still care about each other.  But the close relationship you once had is not there anymore.  It’s gone.

            Why not?  What happened?  You stopped talking to each other.  You’ve drifted apart.  Not because you intended to.  Not because either of you made a conscious decision that you did not want to be close any more.  But you got busy.  You got distracted.  You were living your life.  The other person was living his or her life.  And so, you stopped communicating.  And you don’t feel as close any more.  If it goes on too long, this person you used to be so close to can become a complete stranger to you, because you don’t know what’s going on in their life any more.

            That’s how it is when we don’t pray.  If we don’t talk to God, if we don’t listen when God is talking to us, if we stop communicating with God, that’s what happens.  We stop feeling close to God.  Our relationship to God is not as strong.  God still loves us.  And we may even still feel love toward God.  But the close relationship we once had with God is not there anymore.  It’s gone.

It’s probably not because we intended to break that relationship.  That can happen, but that’s not usually how it works.  Usually, we don’t even make a conscious decision that we don’t want to be close any more.  But we get busy.  We get distracted.  We’re living our life.  And we stop talking to God.  And we don’t feel close any more.  And if it goes on too long, God can feel like a complete stranger to us.

            But the thing is, that relationship can be repaired.  God does not want to feel like a complete stranger to us.  And I don’t think most of us want God to feel like a complete stranger to us, either.  After all, the fact that you’re here, in church, or sitting at home listening to this message, shows that you do want to have a relationship with God.  And it shows that you want that relationship to be closer than it is now.

            But here’s the thing.  Think about that close friend who moved away again.  Have you ever seen them again, after a long time apart?  What happens?  At first, you’re really happy to see each other, right?  You shake hands, or you hug, or you do whatever you do.  You’re excited to get caught up on each other’s lives.  But then, after a while, something else happens.  You start struggling for words.  You cannot think of anything to say.  You want to pick up the relationship, you want it to be close again, you want it to be the way it used to be, but it’s not, because it’s just been too long.  You no longer have much to say to each other.

            And it can be that way with our relationship with God, too.  Sometimes we want to go back to God.  We want to have that close relationship with God again.  We want to start praying again.  But we go to pray and--we start struggling for words.  We cannot think of anything to say.  It’s just been too long.  We no longer have much to say to God.

            And I think that’s one of the reasons Jesus gave us what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  If we need to talk to God, if we need to pray, but we just cannot think of anything to say, we can say that.  Whether we use one of the versions out of the Bible or we use the version we learned as kids, it does not matter.  The important thing is that we use it.  The important thing is that we talk to God.  When we feel like we don’t have anything to say to God, Jesus has given us words to say.  Jesus has given us something we can always use to talk to God and restore that relationship.

            The Lord’s Prayer gives us all the basics we need to say to God.  We acknowledge who God is, that God is our Father and that God’s name is holy.  We state a desire to have God’s kingdom come on earth and have God’s will done on earth.  We ask for as much as we need for today.  We ask for forgiveness, and we ask for the ability to forgive others.  We ask not to be tempted to do wrong, but to be delivered from wrong.  And we acknowledge that God is all-powerful.

That’s really all we need to say to God.  There’s a lot more we can say to God, but those things are all we really need to say.  If we say those things, and mean them, our faith will be strong, and our relationship with God will be restored.

So, if we want a stronger relationship with God, this is the place to start.  Prayer.  Talking to God, and listening as God talks to us.  And if we can think of nothing else to pray, we can always pray the Lord’s Prayer.  If we pray it, and mean it, our relationship with God will get stronger.  And God will not seem like a stranger any more.  We will feel close to God, as close as an old friend.  Because when we pray and come near to God, that’s who God can be--our oldest and best friend.