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The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer has a special place in the life of the Christian community. For centuries it has stood both as the prayer which unites us all when we meet together, and as the prayer which draws together all of our prayers when we recite it alone. Line by line, it gathers up all that we are. Line by line, it draws in the whole community: it is there for us all, and it needs us all.

Our Father…

The prayer draws us together in its very first line. In saying ‘Our Father,’ we seek to be people who belong easily to one another, with no barriers between us: one people united before God, at peace with God and one another. This first line calls us together into the place of prayer – the loving presence of our God. It comes from a peaceful and trusting place within us that reaches out directly to God, in fellowship with one another. As an entry into prayer it is open and unselfconscious. ‘Our Father’ is a line that belongs to the gut zone – and ultimately to NINE. This is the line that draws in NINE, and draws in that peaceful, open, and unselfconscious place in every one of us – and the gifts of sector NINE live out its meaning.

…who art in heaven

Location matters to the gut and to the gut types: place – groundedness – is important. But information about location is not the purpose of this line. Consider the richness which is missed if this line is omitted: we would be taking out a reference to heaven, the place of perfection – perfect love, perfect beauty, perfect wisdom, perfect safety, perfect peace, perfect joy, the perfection of all God’s creation – the place of every perfected ideal. ‘Who art in heaven…’: it is whispered in awe; it is all about perfected ideals. It belongs to ONE – and to that gut-and-heart place in every one of us.

Hallowed be thy name

This line is a small offering of adoration. Again, imagine the prayer without it: without this line, the prayer lacks worship, and feels mechanical and cold. This is the Christian’s whisper of love to the God of compassionate care. It springs from the love in the Christian soul, one to one, for God. It is the loving prayer of TWO – and of that heart-and-gut place in everyone.

Thy kingdom come

There is a central place in Jesus’ teaching for the kingdom: the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, growing like a mustard seed, leavening the dough, already among us and yet still to come. The journey toward the kingdom is the shared adventure into which we are called: it is an adventure of fellowship and community, of sharing gifts and supporting one another, of promoting the weak and sharing the gifts of the strong, of being one active, moving, supportive team with one goal – to be living within God’s purposes. Among us are those whom God has gifted to help hold this fellowship together, inspiring and encouraging, turning a crowd into a kingdom: God’s kingdom, when they work for God alone. Let THREEs redeemed proclaim their vision: ‘Thy kingdom come’ – and let the heart in every one of us seek to capture and share in that vision of what could be.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Another mention of heaven – only this time it is all about this project to establish heaven on earth: to see God’s will done on earth, to see the unsurpassed splendor and beauty of heaven right here on earth. Among us are those who long to bring a glimpse of heaven into our imperfect world – who paint the beauty of heaven onto the rough canvas of this world. FOURs – and that heart-and-head place in every one of us – speak your prayer: may God’s will be done, ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’

Give us this day our daily bread

Enough, you folks from the heart side – idealists and lovers and inspirers and dreamers. Now is the time to think this through. Now is the time to be practical if we are to begin this journey together, rather than merely dream. There will be difficult times. There will be challenges. And there will be the ordinary stuff of daily life. We need practical resources for the journey: nothing too greedy, the basics will do. Bread: we shall need daily bread – or literally ‘bread for tomorrow.’ Give us this day our bread for tomorrow. This is redeemed FIVE – and that head-plus-heart place in every one of us: not fearful, not greedy, not hoarding – just practical and wise. Give us what we need on your adventure, O God: ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’

And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us

In the objective and rational logic of our heads, we know when we have ‘trespassed’ – and we know when others have trespassed against us. Among us are those for whom the head is very clearly the primary resource – and they observe these trespasses with clarity: drawing their boundaries starkly, they know when they have transgressed, and they know when others have transgressed against them. ‘Forgive us our trespasses,’ says SIX, feeling this plea so deeply. And then, with open heart and open hands – kindling all of SIX’s fears but so in line with God’s will – ‘…as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ SIX and the head lead the way in this prayer – and the head and heart and gut of every one of us must surely follow.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

We are surrounded by simply too many temptations, and too much pain – or so it feels to that head-gut place in each one of us, and especially to SEVEN; so ‘lead us not into temptation,’ and deliver us from all that would cause pain.

For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory, for ever and ever

Another mention for God’s kingdom – only this time it is all about eternal glory and power. EIGHT is the one who understands where power lies and what power means. EIGHT, and the gut-plus-head place in every one of us, proclaims where the true power and glory lie – bowing in acknowledgment and adoration: ‘Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and for ever.’

Amen.

‘Amen’ – or ‘we assent,’ or ‘let it be so.’ ‘Amen’: it gathers all of the people, and the whole of the prayer, together in this one word – a perfect concluding moment of unity and peace. In this concluding moment of stillness, the whole community and the whole prayer reach out silently to God: this breath of a word belongs to NINE, welcoming us back to the central place of stillness and unity and peace. Let NINE and the people say: ‘Amen.’

This prayer begins in our ‘guts,’ in our createdness, in our direct engagement with the world and with our creator – and it completes a circuit of all that we are: through the passions and emotions and dreams of the heart; through the wisdom and faithfulness and choices of the mind; and back to base, back to the center of our createdness, our wholeness, our being. This one prayer offers to God all that we are – all that we find within ourselves. It offers all of our temptations, all of our gifts, every part of what it means to be human. It offers the parts of our humanity that we understand the most, and the parts of our humanity that we are yet to explore or fully understand. It embraces the whole of our present – all that we are – and the whole of our journey – past and still to come – and offers it all to God.

In a gathering of the Christian community, this prayer moves among the people like a wave. Everyone has a contribution to make, to make the prayer complete. Everyone has their special offering, their particular gift, in this prayer which unites us all – which draws us all in and makes us all one. In this prayer, everyone is needed – everyone has a role. In community or in solitude, this is our prayer.

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Quick links to summaries and diagrams: Three resources / Nine strategies / EIGHT / NINE / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN / Full strategy board / Gifts and temptations / Daily prayers for the nine types: Introduction EIGHT NINE ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN The Lord's Prayer

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