The Lord's Prayer
Growing up in contemporary evangelical protestant non-mainline denominational churches (was that enough big qualifying words) I remember feeling that it was part of our "tradition" that we didn't value the Lord's prayer and even kind of scoff at "believers" from mainline denominations that did value the prayer. Empty words read as a magical incantation are meaningless to me. But I have to admit the Lord's prayer has finally become meaningful to me. It really is a good summation of foundational thoughts for the day. Things to base your day on...OUR Father - Not just my father but the father of my enemies as well
who is in heaven - A place as beyond my comprehension as God is
hallowed be your name - You and everything (people, animals, the earth)you are attached to deserves respect
Your kingdom come - Not mine, not my church's, not my work's, not my country's, but yours
Your will be done - again not my will be done, help me to give up control
on earth as it is in heaven - we are to work to bring about God's will on earth and make it more like heaven
Give us today our daily bread - We trust you to provide us with what we will need today and remember that as much as we may think otherwise you provide it all.
Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors - Daily we will make the incredibly difficult decision to forgive those who have hurt us just as you forgave us when we hurt you.
Lead us not into temptation - Help us to look out for temptation and not blame you when we stupidly decide to wander into it
But deliver us from the evil one - And help us out of temptation when we do stupidly wander into it
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. - (This doesn't appear in the earliest manuscripts from the first and second century, of which there are only a handful, but does appear in most late manuscripts, of which there are a lot. So NIV says it doesn't belong because the earliest copies of the Bible didn't have it and the KJV say it belongs because the greatest number of manuscripts has it.) You are the source and purpose of everything.
I want to teach it to our kids but I keep going back and forth between whether to teach it to them in the King's English - Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name - which may be so foreign as to mean nothing,
or in today's english for kids- Our Father God who is in heaven, your name is clean or special/has a good name/your name should be respected - which may be understandable but not connect them with historic christianity. It is kind of cool when you walk into a church of another tradition and may feel completely lost during the whole service but are still connected through the Lord's prayer.
By the way what is a modern day equivalent of hallowed? Do we have a modern day word that better comunicates holiness?

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